Tazinst Manual

NAME

Tazinst - Tiny autonomous zone installer manager

SYNTAX

tazinst [command] [option]

DESCRIPTION

Tazinst is a lightweight SliTaz HDD installer (~ 31 KB). It installs SliTaz to a hard drive from a Live-CD, a LiveUSB key, a SliTaz ISO image, or from the web by downloading a stable, cooking or rolling version or by giving the http link of another iso (eg: Development ISO).

Tazinst can format the target partition to ext2, ext3, ext4 or other formats if the matching packages are installed. The home partition can be installed on another partition and if need be, formatted before installation into any one of the available formats. Tazinst may upon request install the Grub bootloader in the MBR of the target disk. A dual-boot with an existing Windows© partition is possible, finding the Windows© partition can either be done automatically or manually specified.

Tazinst can also update SliTaz installed on a hard disk partition which is handy in case of version changes. In this case, Slitaz is updated, data in /home is preserved and additional packages are reinstalled on to the new version.

Tazinst was created independently for the needs of the SliTaz GNU/Linux mini distribution.

Tazinst is written from scratch in shell script and is compatible with Busybox Ash and Bash. Tazinst is licensed under the GNU Free gpl v3.

SETUP FILE

Tazinst installer is able to perform an installation automatically based on a simple setup file with clear variables such as: INST_TYPE="iso", TGT_PARTITION="/dev/hda1". With this way, it allows developers to create a different kind of frontend: Dialog, GTK and CGI/web in TazPanel. The frontend just has to create a setup file and start the cmdline installer and report steps in a nice way (progress bar or/and messages).

The setup file contains the following variables:

• The variables describing the installation source:

  1. *INST_TYPE: the type of media containing the SliTaz source files, either: cdrom (SliTaz LiveCD), usb (SliTaz LiveUSB), iso (ISO image of SliTaz), web (ISO image on the Web), weboot, ex: INST_TYPE=web
  2. SRC_FILE: the name of the source file containing SliTaz. It depends on the type of support:

     • cdrom (SliTaz LiveCD): unused
     • usb (SliTaz LiveUSB): name of the partition on the host USB device, ex: SRC_FILE=/dev/sdb1
     • iso (ISO image of SliTaz): name of the ISO file, ex: SRC_FILE=~/slitaz.3.0.iso
     • web (ISO image on the Web): name of the URL, ex: SRC_FILE=http://mirror.slitaz.org/iso/cooking/slitaz-cooking.iso. Note that 3 URLs are predefined: 'stable', 'cooking, 'rolling', ex: SRC_FILE=cooking downloads the latest cooking available from the web
     • weboot: unused

• The variables describing the target partition:

  1. *TGT_PARTITION: the name of the target partition SliTaz will install to or update, ex: TGT_PARTITION=/dev/hda3
  2. TGT_FS: if this variable is entered, the target partition will be formatted in the file system specified, otherwise the partition will be cleaned and /home will be preserved, ex: TGT_FS=ext3
  3. TGT_HOME: this variable indicates if need be, the name of the partition to receive the /home directory, ex: TGT_HOME=/dev/hda5
  4. TGT_HOME_FS: if this variable is entered, the home partition will be formatted in the file system specified, ex: TGT_HOME_FS=ext2

• The system settings:

  1. TGT_HOSTNAME: name of the system, ex: TGT_HOSTNAME=hd-slitaz, by default TGT_HOSTNAME=slitaz
  2. TGT_ROOT_PWD: superuser password, ex: TGT_ROOT_PWD=toor, by default TGT_ROOT_PWD=root
  3. TGT_USER: user name, ex: TGT_USER=toto, by default TGT_USER=tux
  4. TGT_USER_PWD: user password, ex: TGT_USER_PWD=titi, by default TGT_USER_PWD=tux

• The boot loader (bootloader) configuration variables:

  1. TGT_GRUB: install the GRUB bootloader (yes or no), ex: TGT_GRUB=yes, by default TGT_GRUB=no
  2. TGT_WINBOOT: if this variable is entered, it indicates the partition containing Windows© to implement a dual-boot. It can also be set to 'auto', in this case the dual-boot will be on the first partition Windows© detects, ex: TGT_WINBOOT=auto

Note that only variables preceded by a asterisk are mandatory, others are optional. Thus a minimal setup file can be:

INST_TYPE=cdrom
TGT_PARTITION=/dev/hda3

This file will install SliTaz on /dev/hda3 formatting the partition from a LiveCD.

COMMANDS

new

Generates a new self-documenting setup file which when edited as required by the user will install or update SliTaz to a hard drive.

tazinst new /var/lib/tazinst.conf

install

Performs a SliTaz install on a HDD based on data in the setup file. If you decide to format your HDD, all data will be lost. If you do not format, all data except for any existing /home directory will be removed, the home directory will be kept as is.

tazinst install /var/lib/tazinst.conf

upgrade

Upgrade an existing SliTaz system on a HDD based on data in the setup file. Your /home /etc /var/www directories will be kept, all other directories will be removed. Any additional package added to your old Slitaz system will be updated as long you have an active internet connection.

tazinst upgrade /var/lib/tazinst.conf

showurl

Display the full URL of the predefined shortcuts: 'stable', 'cooking, 'rolling'.

Note: You may overwrite these shortcuts in the system file: /etc/slitaz/tazinst.conf.

tazinst showurl stable

check

Check a setup file for errors.

tazinst check /var/lib/tazinst.conf

log

Display the last log file contents and exit.

tazinst log

version

Print the version information and exit.

tazinst version

SYSTEM FILE

The /etc/slitaz/tazinst.conf configuration file allows you to change the default settings of tazinst, if you want to use custom values for URLs, directories and files, you'll have to create one and modify the following variables:

• Predefined urls:

  1. URL of the current stable version:
     URL_STABLE="http://mirror.slitaz.org/iso/stable/slitaz-4.0.iso"
  2. URL of the current cooking version:
     URL_COOKING="http://mirror.slitaz.org/iso/cooking/slitaz-cooking.iso"
  3. URL of the current rolling version:
     URL_ROLLING="http://mirror.slitaz.org/iso/rolling/slitaz-core.iso"

• Mount points:

  1. Source partition mount point:
     SOURCE_ROOT="/media/source"
  2. Target partition mount point:
     TARGET_ROOT="/mnt/target"

• Log and Debug:

  1. Log File Location:
     LOG="/var/log/tazinst.log"
  2. Debugging: (quiet => 0, debug => 1)
     DEBUG=0
     It is highly recommended to set DEBUG=1 and attach the contents of the resulting Log file when sending a bug report to developers.

MAINTAINERS

Christophe Lincoln <pankso at slitaz.org>
Dominique Corbex <domcox at slitaz.org>