How to make a custom ISO image with mkimage

This document explains how to build a custom ISO image using the new mkimage scripts located in aports directory.

Prerequisite

First make sure we have the needed tools

apk add alpine-sdk build-base apk-tools alpine-conf busybox fakeroot syslinux xorriso squashfs-tools sudo

For efi you should additionally add the following:

apk add mtools dosfstools grub-efi

Create a user (e.g. build) and add it to abuild group:

adduser build -G abuild

Give administrative access to abuild group:

echo "%abuild ALL=(ALL) ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/abuild

Change to build user:

su - build

Then create signing keys (-i installs them in /etc/apk/keys which is required for later)

abuild-keygen -i -a

Tip: Make sure your public keys are placed in /etc/apk/keys/ (example: build-xxxxxxxx.rsa.pub)

ls /etc/apk/keys/

Clone (or update) the git repository.

git clone https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports.git

Make sure the apk index is up to date (so apk finds the packages):

apk update

Configuration

The mkimg scripts are shipped with pre-configured profiles.

The format is mkimg.$PROFILENAME.sh

So, in order to have a custom ISO, you should create your own mkimg.$PROFILENAME.sh script.

This is an example used to have ZFS module, overlayfs (which allows to have /lib/modules in r/w), a serial console output and some other useful apks to build a simple NAS:

export PROFILENAME=nas

cat << EOF > ~/aports/scripts/mkimg.$PROFILENAME.sh
profile_$PROFILENAME() {
        profile_standard
        kernel_cmdline="unionfs_size=512M console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200"
        syslinux_serial="0 115200"
        kernel_addons="zfs spl"
        apks="\$apks iscsi-scst zfs-scripts zfs zfs-utils-py
                cciss_vol_status lvm2 mdadm mkinitfs mtools nfs-utils
                parted rsync sfdisk syslinux unrar util-linux xfsprogs
                dosfstools ntfs-3g
                "
        local _k _a
        for _k in \$kernel_flavors; do
                apks="\$apks linux-\$_k"
                for _a in \$kernel_addons; do
                        apks="\$apks \$_a-\$_k"
                done
        done
        apks="\$apks linux-firmware"
}
EOF

Set the script as executable:

chmod +x mkimg.$PROFILENAME.sh

Making packages available on boot

A package may be made available in the live system by defining the generation of an apkovl which contains a corresponding /etc/apk/world file, and adding that overlay definition to the mkimg-profile, e.g. with `apkovl="genapkovl-mkimgoverlay.sh"`

The definition may be done as in the genapkovl-dhcp.sh example. Copy the relevant parts (including the rc_add lines) into a `genapkovl-mkimgoverlay.sh` file and add the package(s) that should be installed in the live system on separate lines in the file contents for /etc/apk/world.

Create the ISO

mkimage.sh [--tag RELEASE] [--outdir OUTDIR] [--workdir WORKDIR] [--arch ARCH] [--profile PROFILE] [--hostkeys] [--simulate] [--repository REPO] [--extra-repository REPO] [--yaml FILE] mkimage.sh --help options: --arch Specify which architecture images to build (default: x86_64) --hostkeys Copy system apk signing keys to created images --outdir Specify directory for the created images --profile Specify which profiles to build --repository Package repository to use for the image create --extra-repository Add repository to search packages from --simulate Don't execute commands --tag Build images for tag RELEASE --workdir Specify temporary working directory (cache) --yaml known profiles: ali rpi uboot base minirootfs standard vanilla extended virt xen

Tip: You can use the --repository option multiple times, which is very useful when mixing local and official repositories. The --extra-repository option is only there for backward-compatibility.

Create a iso directory in your home dir:

mkdir -p ~/iso

Then create the actual ISO. In this example we will use the edge version x86_64:

sh mkimage.sh --tag edge \ --outdir ~/iso \ --arch x86_64 \ --repository http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main \ --profile $PROFILENAME

Notes:

Of course, several passages of this doc can be automated with a script, like the repository/arch/outdir settings. This steps are left to you and to your imagination :)

Testing your ISO image

Qemu is useful for a quick test of your created ISO image.