[00:27] <xnox> realtime-neil:  _gateway is not currently usable inside initrd. only running system. so yeah, unfortunately one cannot yet use _gateway for url=
[00:27] <xnox> realtime-neil:  there is nfs access for netboot=nfs if you can mount iso over nfs somewhere, that might take less RAM, but nfs is slow.
[00:27] <xnox> whole iso, in ram = fast install
[12:00] <realtime-neil> xnox: yeah, I remember learning this a few times over the years of working with early user space; namely that the initrd has _far_ less than one might assume.
[12:03] <realtime-neil> xnox: I might be interested in serving the iso from NFS ... is there a `python -m nfs.server` I can use to quickly/easily export a network share?
[12:20] <xnox> realtime-neil:  i do not know of such a thing. I install "the full thing" using https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpNFSHowTo when i have to.
[12:20] <xnox> realtime-neil:  i hate nfs
[12:21] <cjwatson> You might find nfs-ganesha (a userspace server) easier to set up than the kernel server FWIW
[12:21] <cjwatson> Big advantage is that if it gets horribly confused you can just restart a single service
[12:22] <realtime-neil> cjwatson: thanks for the suggestion, I'll have to look into that one
[12:23] <cjwatson> It's still a bit of a pain, just IME quite a bit less bad
[13:31] <realtime-neil> What's the best way to go about remastering a cdimage for the purposes of adding packages and setting debconf values? I found this, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization , but I don't know how much of it has been superseded.
[13:32] <realtime-neil> Any approach that preserves the monolithic nature of the *.iso will work for my purposes. Serving a separate `seedfrom=` value will not, though.
[13:47] <realtime-neil> I'm also not opposed to patching/building https://code.launchpad.net/ubuntu-cdimage , if anyone knows a way to do that on a host that's _not_ an "Ubuntu production instance".
[14:06] <CarlFK> realtime-neil:  .iso implies you want physical media ?  I thought you wanted to serve the files over a network?
[14:11] <realtime-neil> I do want *.iso files, but they'll be consumed in a variety of ways; humans burning CDROMs, humans `dd`ing USB sticks, and netbooters serving the *.iso.
[14:12] <realtime-neil> CarlFK: one file, many delivery vectors
[14:17] <CarlFK> got it
[14:42] <CarlFK> realtime-neil: mk_usb_installer.sh  - that relies on the image being a rw fs, makes the script easier and makes R&D easier (I can edit syslinux.cfg and retest, no image/burn step)
[14:43] <CarlFK> let me know if you do something like that for ubuntu's new installer
[14:44] <CarlFK> I'll try to squeeze it into mk_usb_installer.sh ... but currently no one is asking for it for years now.
[14:47] <realtime-neil> CarlFK: I don't know that it has to be an *.iso, but it should be something supported by the `url=` scheme. Maybe there's a different kernel param that instructs the installer to mount a regular disk image, not specifically an *.iso?
[15:09] <CarlFK> realtime-neil: no idea.  I try to keep the boot media as simple and unaltered as possible, then both pxe and usb pull files from various servers
[15:10] <realtime-neil> I have something similar, but it's netboot-centric --- everything lives in one repository, is served therefrom, but everything else is pulled in via preseed actions.
[15:11] <realtime-neil> CarlFK: and netboot is great, except because the rootfs squash and packages live on the internet, it's not reproducible
[18:06] <xnox> realtime-neil:  just to double check 1) you want/preffer http url= netboot 2) use stock iso as "base" 3) tweak it futher to have extra things in the seed / more packages / extra debconf settings (aka a "superset" of "stock" iso?)
[18:06] <realtime-neil> yes
[18:07] <realtime-neil> xnox: stock iso, gently massaged, repacked, and made available for both download and netbooted `ip=dhcp url=`
[18:08] <xnox> realtime-neil:  it's not unreasonable. it doesn't currently exist over here. I'll need to think about how to make it easier to do that.
[18:08] <xnox> it's a very valid use-case / story.
[18:09] <realtime-neil> xnox: excellent; now regarding the possible obsolescence of this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization ?
[18:10] <realtime-neil> If there's better/newer documentation available, I'm interested
[18:10] <xnox> realtime-neil:  i think it was out of date on arrival. I think it was written about an old series, where $devel has moved on, when it was written.
[18:10] <realtime-neil> xnox: understood
[18:11] <xnox> realtime-neil:  the "best" documentation on tweaking server Iso that I know of, is our test scripts inside subiquity => https://github.com/CanonicalLtd/subiquity/tree/main/scripts
[18:11] <xnox> realtime-neil:  specifically the inject-subiquity-snap.sh
[18:11] <xnox> realtime-neil:  it unpacks an iso, tries to inject things, and repack it back.
[18:11] <realtime-neil> xnox: i can work with that; much thanks
[18:11] <xnox> realtime-neil:  it's meant for testing/developer of suibquity snap wihtout/without customized filesystem.squashfs / installer.squashfs / etc.
[18:12] <xnox> realtime-neil:  but like you could tweak installer.squashfs to have different backed in seed (i think that's the one that has the regular "stock" seed)
[18:12] <xnox> realtime-neil:  and the filesystem.sqaushfs is the "base" layer that is copied to target. So like extra packages, i'd install into that one.
[18:13] <xnox> realtime-neil:  ideally, i'd want to make installer.squashfs / iso pool to be a partial mirror of ubuntu.
[18:13] <xnox> realtime-neil:  such that one can do "apt install --download-only $foo" and append that, and voila local offline authenticated packages are avialable.
[18:13] <xnox> which one then can reference in the seed, in an airgapped enviornment.
[18:14] <xnox> but again this is vaporware dreams of mine =)
[18:14] <realtime-neil> xnox: they have to start somewhere!
[18:30] <CarlFK> it's a nice dream