How to create a Fedora install ISO for testing

The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

This page shows you how to build an ISO of Rawhide that you can use for testing. The tutorial requires that you open a root shell. To access a root shell, open a terminal and run the command su -, and provide the root password.

Setup

In order to create Fedora ISO images, you must use a Fedora release that matches the release of the desired ISO images. For example, to create Fedora Rawhide images, you need to be running Fedora Rawhide. The examples in this document use mock to simulate the target environment and create ISO images.

First, install the necessary packages
```
yum install mock
```
Initialize the mock chroot
```
mock -r fedora-rawhide-$(uname -i) --init
```
Behind the scenes...
Mock does a lot of work behind the scenes. If you want to see what commands it's running in the chroot, add the --verbose option.

Prepare the mock chroot for running pungi

mock -r fedora-rawhide-$(uname -i) --install spin-kickstarts pungi

Create a local mirror (optional)

This section is optional. You can use a nearby official Fedora mirror over a broadband connection. However, you may find it useful to mirror Rawhide locally if you regularly participate in testing. Note that the mirrormanager package may be useful in some situations. Refer to the detailed MirrorManager page for more information.

If you don't have Rawhide available on a fast, local link, you may want to mirror it locally using rsync. Note the following commands assume you are interested in testing the x86_64 (64-bit) architecture. Substitute i386 as needed for 32-bit architecture.
```
mkdir -p /var/www/fedora/linux/development/x86_64/os
cd /var/www/fedora/linux/development/x86_64/os
rsync -Pavy --delete-after <MIRROR_NEAR_YOU>::fedora-linux-development/x86_64/os .
```

In the mock chroot, edit the repository configuration to use your local mirror.

mock -r fedora-rawhide-$(uname -i) --shell vi /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-rawhide.repo

Replace mirrorlist with a pointer to the local mirror. Using the example above, you would end up with ...

baseurl=file:///var/www/fedora/linux/development/$basearch/os
#mirrorlist=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/metalink?repo=rawhide&arch=$basearch

When finished, exit the chroot by pressing Ctrl-D or typing logout

Build a DVD ISO

This section assumes you have installed the mock package and prepared the mock chroot as suggested in #Setup. If you haven't completed those steps, please do so now.

Activate a shell inside the mock chroot

mock -r fedora-rawhide-$(uname -i) --shell

Next, create a DVD (this may take a while)

pungi --nosource --nosplitmedia --nodebuginfo --all-stages \
  --flavor Fedora --name Fedora --ver rawhide \
  -c /usr/share/spin-kickstarts/fedora-install-fedora.ks

If the previous command complete without error, you now have a DVD ISO image in your chroot. Copy the ISO image out of the chroot.
```
mock -r fedora-rawhide-$(uname -i) --copyout /rawhide/Fedora/$(uname -i)/iso/Fedora-rawhide-$(uname -i)-DVD.iso /tmp/
```

Testing a release candidate

As indicated in the release engineering schedule, special candidate ISO images are made available for QA at the serverbeach1.fedoraproject.org staging site. You can simply download a release candidate from this site. Depending on your transfer speeds, you may have to wait a while to complete the download.

One solution is to use the rsync command to upgrade your local Fedora DVD ISO image to match the remote image. The assumes you have already built or downloaded a Fedora DVD ISO image, and the contents of your image are reasonably close to the state of the remote ISO image.

After running rsync, the resulting DVD ISO image can be verified as identical using the sha256sum command.

Get the official file name of the DVD from the mirror. Note the directory location and the file name.
Rename your local DVD ISO image to match the file name used on the remote location.
```
mv Fedora-rawhide-$(uname -i)-DVD.iso Fedora-14-$(uname -i)-DVD.iso
```
Use rsync to download the required bits to match your DVD to the original. The switches below deliver stats as you download, and effectively minimize the amount of downloading. Note that the location shown is an example only.
```
rsync -Pavy alt.fedoraproject.org::stage/14.RC1/Fedora/$(uname -i)/iso/Fedora-14-$(uname -i)-DVD.iso .
```
Use the sha256sum command to test the image for integrity. The resulting checksum should be identical to that shown in the *-CHECKSUM file that accompanies the image on the staging site.
```
sha256sum Fedora-14-x86_64-DVD.iso
```

References

For additional information on using pungi, see the Pungi documentation.
For additional information on using mock, see Projects/Mock.

Search