fixes plus readme updates

[automated-distro-installer] / README

diff --git a/README b/README
index 32cd82954b4c117562c599ef5ca0573ee6eb58dc..60c6e6f4c690b958c00cbfc0a3b3ce05b53e7b27 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 PXE install w multi-boot, btrfs & Libreboot support
 
 Some things are specific to my home network, and uses files with secrets
-that are not in this repo. Uses pxe or pxe-kexec (on libreboot, I have
-not added a pxe rom, I use a minimal debian stable subvolume which acts
-like a pxe rom). I use this for bare metal and vms, and two scripts
-which can run post boot so I use them on vps distributed image as well.
+that are not in this repo. I use this for bare metal and vms, and two
+scripts which can run post boot so I use them on vps distributed image
+as well.
 
 Features people may find useful: installs encrypted trisquel, debian,
 ubuntu, and arch (havne't done recently, probably a bit broken), in a
@@ -12,6 +11,27 @@ multi-boot setup using multiple subvolumes of a single btrfs filesystem.
 Utilizes multiple disks, with scripts to automatically decrypt on
 intentional reboots, but not after shutdown or power loss.
 
+Normal install mode for fai is using pxe, but on a libreboot system,
+there is no pxe. The pxe in a normal computer is nonfree firmware. What
+I've done instead:
+
+* Use a live cd to call pxe-kexec, this is described later in this file.
+
+* Use the fai autodiscover iso. This is more automated, so nicer.
+
+* Use an install method above to setup a gnu/linux disk partition that
+  acts like a pxe boot using kexec, but it takes a bit longer. This is
+  the bootstrap partition in my scripts.
+
+Things I haven't tried:
+
+* There is iPXE, which requires standard bios functions, which can be
+  provided by seabios, which can be a libreboot payload.
+
+* The bios chip has enough room for an initrd. This could be setup to
+  work like the partition I use to kexec, but it would be faster, and
+  not require installing to disk.
+
 The partititioning and filesystem script is at
 fai/config/hooks/partition.DEFAULT. Disks are grouped as ssd or hdd and
 raided in raid 1 or raid 0 per configuration. The base partitions are
@@ -43,6 +63,8 @@ Some of the scripts have dependencies for some simple obvious utility
 scripts from https://iankelling.org/git, and of course there are some
 hostnames that are specific to my network.
 
+
+
 All scripts meant to be used directly are listed here:
 
 
@@ -81,6 +103,7 @@ fai-wrapper # use fai classes outside of fai. sourced, not called.
 faiserver-disable # Disable the fai nfs server exports
 fresize # resize swap or boot partitions in a host
 
+
 # Replacing a raid 10 disk
 
 pxe-server -S HOST fai
@@ -107,7 +130,7 @@ reboot
 
 host=kw
 distro=trisquel
-t=/tmp/d
+t=/dev/shm/t
 myfai-chboot default
 sudo sed -i 's/^LOGUSER=/#LOGUSER=/' /etc/fai/fai.conf
 # config umount required after a failed run, proc umount always required
@@ -129,7 +152,10 @@ sudo rm -f $t/etc/hostname $t/etc/resolv.conf \
 echo | sudo dd of=$t/etc/machine-id
 sudo tar --one-file-system -C $t -cf - . | gzip > /a/bin/fai-basefiles/basefiles/FLIDAS64X.tar.gz
 
-License stuff:
+
+
+# License
+
 The license for the project is GPLv2 or later, mostly because fai is and
 I periodically merge the upstream example config, which contains small
 scripts. Also, there is a modified encrypt.upstream, which is from the