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NAME

       live-helper - the Debian Live tool suite

SYNOPSIS

       lh  COMMAND  [-h|--help]  [-u|--usage]  [-v|--version]  [--breakpoints]
       [--conffile] [--debug] [--force] [--quiet] [--verbose]

DESCRIPTION

       live-helper is a set of scripts to build Debian Live system images. The
       idea  behind  live-helper  is  a  tool  suite that uses a configuration
       directory to completely automate and customize all aspects of  building
       a Live image.

       The COMMAND is a name of a live-helper command (see below).

       More  documentation  about  how  to use live-helper is available in the
       individual  manpages  for  each   helper   and   in   the   manual   at
       <http://live.debian.net/manual/>.

OPTIONS

   Shared live-helper options
       The  following  command  line  options are supported by all live-helper
       programs.

       -h, --help
           display help and exit.

       -u, --usage
           show usage and exit.

       -v, --version
           output version information and exit.

   Common live-helper options
       The following command line options are supported  by  most  live-helper
       programs.  See  the man page of each program for a complete explanation
       of what each option does.

       --breakpoints
           run with breakpoints.

       --conffile
           use custom configuration file.

       --debug
           show debug information.

       --force
           force helper execution, even if stage file exists.

       --quiet
           be quiet.

       --verbose
           be verbose.

LIVE-HELPER COMMANDS

       We divide live-helper into high level ("porcelain")  commands  and  low
       level ("plumbing") commands.

       Here  is  the  complete list of all available live-helper commands. See
       their man pages for additional documentation.

HIGH-LEVEL COMMANDS (PORCELAIN)

       We separate the porcelain commands into  the  main  commands  and  some
       ancillary user utilities.

   Main porcelain commands
       lh_config(1)
           create configuration for live-helper

       lh_bootstrap(1)
           create the first stage by bootstrapping a basic debian system

       lh_chroot(1)
           create the second stage by customizing the chroot

       lh_binary(1)
           create the third stage by generating a binary image

       lh_source(1)
           create the optional fourth stage by generating a source image

       lh_clean(1)
           clean up system build directories

   Ancillary Commands
       lh(1)
           generic live-helper wrapper

       lh_build(1)
           alias for all stages

       lh_local(1)
           helper for using a local live-helper

       lh_testroot(1)
           ensure that a system is built as root

LOW-LEVEL COMMANDS (PLUMBING)

       The  actual  work  of  live-helper  is  implemented  in  the  low-level
       commands, called plumbing. They are not supposed  to  be  used  by  end
       users,  they  should  stick with porcelains as they ensure that all the
       different plumbing commands are executed in the right  order.  However,
       if  you  intend to reuse live-helper commands in your own scripts, then
       the plumbings might be of interest for you.

       Note that the interface (set of options and  the  semantics)  to  these
       low-level  commands  are  meant  to be a lot more stable than Porcelain
       level commands. The interface to Porcelain commands on the  other  hand
       are subject to change in order to improve the end user experience.

   Bootstrap commands
       lh_bootstrap_cache(1)
           cache bootstrap stage

       lh_bootstrap_cdebootstrap(1)
           bootstrap a Debian system with cdebootstrap(1)

       lh_bootstrap_copy(1)
           bootstrap by copying the host system

       lh_bootstrap_debootstrap(1)
           bootstrap a Debian system with debootstrap(8)

   Chroot commands
       lh_chroot_apt(1)
           manage /etc/apt/apt.conf

       lh_chroot_cache(1)
           cache chroot stage

       lh_chroot_debianchroot(1)
           manage /etc/debian_chroot

       lh_chroot_devpts(1)
           mount /dev/pts

       lh_chroot_dpkg(1)
           manage /sbin/dpkg

       lh_chroot_hacks(1)
           execute hacks in chroot

       lh_chroot_hooks(1)
           execute hooks in chroot

       lh_chroot_hostname(1)
           manage /bin/hostname

       lh_chroot_hosts(1)
           manage /etc/hosts

       lh_chroot_install-packages(1)
           install queued packages into chroot

       lh_chroot_interactive(1)
           make build interactive

       lh_chroot_linux-image(1)
           manage /etc/kernel-img.conf

       lh_chroot_local-hooks(1)
           execute local hooks in chroot

       lh_chroot_local-includes(1)
           copy local files into chroot

       lh_chroot_localization(1)
           install localization packages into chroot

       lh_chroot_local-packages(1)
           queue install of local packages into chroot

       lh_chroot_local-patches(1)
           apply local patches against chroot

       lh_chroot_local-preseed(1)
           use debconf local preseeding file

       lh_chroot_packages(1)
           queue install of packages into chroot

       lh_chroot_packageslists(1)
           queue install of packages lists into chroot

       lh_chroot_preseed(1)
           use debconf preseeding file

       lh_chroot_proc(1)
           mount /proc

       lh_chroot_resolv(1)
           manage /etc/resolv.conf

       lh_chroot_selinuxfs(1)
           mount /selinux

       lh_chroot_sources(1)
           manage /etc/apt/sources.list

       lh_chroot_symlinks(1)
           convert symlinks

       lh_chroot_sysfs(1)
           mount /sys

       lh_chroot_sysvinit(1)
           configure sysvinit

       lh_chroot_sysv-rc(1)
           manage /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d

       lh_chroot_tasks(1)
           install tasks into chroot

   Binary commands
       lh_binary_chroot(1)
           copy chroot into chroot

       lh_binary_debian-installer(1)
           install debian-installer into binary

       lh_binary_disk(1)
           install disk information into binary

       lh_binary_encryption(1)
           encrypts rootfs

       lh_binary_grub(1)
           installs grub into binary

       lh_binary_grub2(1)
           installs grub2 into binary

       lh_binary_includes(1)
           copy files into binary

       lh_binary_iso(1)
           build iso binary image

       lh_binary_linux-image(1)
           install linux-image into binary

       lh_binary_local-hooks(1)
           execute local hooks in binary

       lh_binary_local-includes(1)
           copy files into binary

       lh_binary_local-packageslists(1)
           install local packages lists into binary

       lh_binary_manifest(1)
           create manifest

       lh_binary_checksums(1)
           create binary checksums (md5, sha1, and/or sha256)

       lh_binary_memtest(1)
           installs a memtest into binary

       lh_binary_net(1)
           build netboot binary image

       lh_binary_rootfs(1)
           build rootfs image

       lh_binary_silo(1)
           installs silo into binary

       lh_binary_syslinux(1)
           installs syslinux into binary

       lh_binary_tar(1)
           build harddisk binary image

       lh_binary_usb(1)
           build binary usb-hdd image

       lh_binary_virtual-hdd(1)
           build binary virtual-hdd image

       lh_binary_win32-loader(1)
           installs win32-loader into binary

       lh_binary_yaboot(1)
           installs yaboot into binary

   Source commands
       lh_source_debian(1)
           download sources

       lh_source_debian-live(1)
           copy debian-live config into source

       lh_source_disk(1)
           install disk information into source

       lh_source_iso(1)
           build iso source image

       lh_source_checksums(1)
           create source checksums (md5, sha1, and/or sha256)

       lh_source_net(1)
           build source net image

       lh_source_tar(1)
           build source tarball

       lh_source_usb(1)
           build source usb-hdd image

       lh_source_virtual-hdd(1)
           build source virtual-hdd image

CONFIG FILES

       Many live-helper commands make use of files in the config/ directory to
       control what they do. Besides the common config/common, which  is  used
       by  all  live-helper  commands,  some  additional  files can be used to
       configure the behavior of specific live-helper  commands.  These  files
       are  typically named config/stage or config/stage_helper (where "stage"
       of course, is replaced with the name of the stage that they belong  to,
       and "helper" with the name of the helper).

       For example, lh_bootstrap_debootstrap uses files named config/bootstrap
       and config/bootstrap_debootstrap to read the options it will  use.  See
       the  man  pages  of individual commands for details about the names and
       formats of the files they use. Generally, these files contain variables
       with   values  assigned,  one  variable  per  line.  Some  programs  in
       live-helper use pairs of values or slightly more  complicated  variable
       assignments.

       Note  that  live-helper  will  respect  environment variables which are
       present in the context of the shell it is running. If variables can  be
       read  from  config files, then they override environment variables, and
       if command line options are used,  they  override  values  from  config
       files. If no value for a given variable can be found and thus is unset,
       live-helper will automatically set it to the default value.

       In some rare cases, you may want to have different  versions  of  these
       files  for  different  architectures  or  distributions. If files named
       config/stage.arch or config/stage_helper.arch, and config/stage.dist or
       config/stage_helper.dist  exist, where "arch" is the same as the output
       of "dpkg --print-architecture" and "dist" is the same as  the  codename
       of  the  target  distribution,  then they will be used in preference to
       other, more general files.

       All config files are shell scripts which are sourced by  a  live-helper
       program.  That  means  they have to follow the normal shell syntax. You
       can also put comments in these files;  lines  beginning  with  "#"  are
       ignored.

FILES

       n/a

SEE ALSO

       live-initramfs(7)

       This program is a part of live-helper.

HOMEPAGE

       More  information  about live-helper and the Debian Live project can be
       found on the homepage at <http://live.debian.net/> and in the manual at
       <http://live.debian.net/manual/>.

BUGS

       Bugs  can  be  reported  by  submitting a bugreport for the live-helper
       package in the Debian Bug Tracking System at  <http://bugs.debian.org/>
       or  by  writing  a  mail  to  the  Debian Live mailing list at <debian-
       live@lists.debian.org>.

AUTHOR

       live-helper was written by Daniel Baumann <daniel@debian.org>  for  the
       Debian project.