While trying to add a disk image install feature to the PXE rescue system, I ran into a few minor problems that unexpectedly turned out to be quite a can of worms.
Table of Contents
00:01:00 Putting the install images on a separate NFS share
00:01:10 Why mounting the NFS share doesn’t work
00:01:25 The /etc/mtab legacy and Debian’s init system
00:02:15 Dealing with /var on a read-only root file system
00:03:10 Populating /var from a tarball
00:03:30 Forcefully mounting the NFS share
00:04:02 Using make to make results reproducible
00:04:20 Is this the way to go? Are there alternatives?
00:04:50 Using DHCP options instead of PXElinux?
00:05:30 PXElinux and non-Linux systems?
00:06:20 Linux or FreeBSD?
00:06:40 Debian or another Linux distribution?
00:07:05 Building a custom Linux system?
00:07:50 Kludging up Debian for a read-only root file system
00:08:05 Using a Makefile
00:08:25 Puppet as an alternative
00:09:05 A closer look at the Makefile
00:14:25 Reasons for and limitations of the Makefile approach
00:16:00 Why not FreeBSD after all?
00:16:45 Keeping options available