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<article>
  <articleinfo>
    <title>Introduction to NanoBSD</title>

    <authorgroup>
      <author>
	<firstname>Daniel</firstname>
	<surname>Gerzo</surname>
	<!-- 14 March 2006 -->
      </author>
    </authorgroup>

    <pubdate>$FreeBSD$</pubdate>

    <copyright>
      <year>2006</year>
      <holder>The FreeBSD Documentation Project</holder>
    </copyright>

    <legalnotice id="trademarks" role="trademarks">
      &tm-attrib.freebsd;
      &tm-attrib.general;
    </legalnotice>

    <abstract>
      <para>This document provides information about
	the <application>NanoBSD</application> tools, which can be used to
	create &os; system images for embedded applications, suitable for
	use on a Compact Flash card (or other mass storage medium).</para>
    </abstract>
  </articleinfo>

  <sect1 id="intro">
    <title>Introduction to NanoBSD</title>

    <indexterm><primary>NanoBSD</primary></indexterm>

    <para><application>NanoBSD</application> is a tool currently
      developed by &a.phk;.  It creates a &os; system image for embedded
      applications, suitable for use on a Compact Flash card (or other
      mass storage medium).</para>

    <para>It can be used to build specialized install images, designed for
      easy installation and maintenance of systems commonly
      called <quote>computer appliances</quote>.  Computer appliances have
      their hardware and software bundled in the product, which means all
      applications are pre-installed.  The appliance is plugged into an
      existing network and can begin working (almost) immediately.</para>

    <para>The features of <application>NanoBSD</application> include:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
	<para>Ports and packages work as in &os; &mdash; Every single
	  application can be installed and used in
	  a <application>NanoBSD</application> image, the same way as in
	  &os;.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
	<para>No missing functionality &mdash; If it is possible to do
	  something with &os;, it is possible to do the same thing with
	  <application>NanoBSD</application>, unless the specific feature
	  or features were explicitly removed from
	  the <application>NanoBSD</application> image when it was
	  created.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
	<para>Everything is read-only at run-time &mdash; It is safe to
	  pull the power-plug.  There is no necessity to run
	  &man.fsck.8; after a non-graceful shutdown of the system.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
	<para>Easy to build and customize &mdash; Making use of just one
	  shell script and one configuration file it is possible to
	  build reduced and customized images satisfying any arbitrary set of
	  requirements.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="howto">
    <title>NanoBSD Howto</title>

    <sect2 id="design">
      <title>The design of NanoBSD</title>

      <para>Once the image is present on the medium, it is possible to
	boot <application>NanoBSD</application>.  The mass storage
	medium is divided into three parts by default:</para>

      <itemizedlist>
	<listitem>
	  <para>Two image partitions: <literal>code#1</literal>
	    and <literal>code#2</literal>.</para>
	</listitem>

	<listitem>
	  <para>The configuration file partition, which can be mounted
	    under the <filename class="directory">/cfg</filename> directory
	    at run time.</para>
	</listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <para>These partitions are normally mounted read-only.</para>

      <para>The <filename class="directory">/etc</filename> and
	<filename class="directory">/var</filename> directories are
	&man.md.4; (malloc) disks.</para>

      <para>The configuration file partition persists under the
	<filename class="directory">/cfg</filename> directory.  It
	contains files for <filename class="directory">/etc</filename>
	directory and is briefly mounted read-only right after the
	system boot, therefore it is required to copy modified files
	from <filename class="directory">/etc</filename> back to the
	<filename class="directory">/cfg</filename> directory if changes
	are expected to persist after the system restarts.</para>

      <example>
	<title>Making persistent changes to <filename>/etc/resolv.conf</filename></title>

	<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>vi /etc/resolv.conf</userinput>
[...]
&prompt.root; <userinput>mount /cfg</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>cp /etc/resolv.conf /cfg</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>umount /cfg</userinput></screen>
      </example>

      <note>
	<para>The partition containing
	  <filename class="directory">/cfg</filename> should be mounted
	  only at boot time and while overriding the configuration
	  files.</para>

	<para>Keeping <filename class="directory">/cfg</filename> mounted at
	  all times is not a good idea, especially if
	  the <application>NanoBSD</application> system runs off a mass
	  storage medium that may be adversely affected by a large number
	  of writes to the partition (i.e. when the filesystem syncer
	  flushes data to the system disks).</para>
      </note>
    </sect2>

    <sect2>
      <title>Building a NanoBSD image</title>

      <para>A <application>NanoBSD</application> image is built using a
	simple <filename>nanobsd.sh</filename> shell script, which can
	be found in the
	<filename class="directory"><replaceable>/usr</replaceable>/src/tools/tools/nanobsd</filename>
	directory.  This script creates an image, which can be copied on
	the storage medium using the &man.dd.1; utility.</para>

      <para>The necessary commands to build a
	<application>NanoBSD</application> image are:</para>

      <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/src/tools/tools/nanobsd</userinput> <co id="nbsd-cd">
&prompt.root; <userinput>sh nanobsd.sh</userinput> <co id="nbsd-sh">
&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/obj/nanobsd.full</userinput> <co id="nbsd-cd2">
&prompt.root; <userinput>dd if=_.disk.full of=/dev/da0 bs=64k</userinput> <co id="nbsd-dd"></screen>

      <calloutlist>
	<callout arearefs="nbsd-cd">
	  <para>Change the current directory to the base directory of the
	    <application>NanoBSD</application> build script.</para>
	</callout>

	<callout arearefs="nbsd-sh">
	  <para>Start the build process.</para>
	</callout>

	<callout arearefs="nbsd-cd2">
	  <para>Change the current directory to the place where the built
	    images are located.</para>
	</callout>

	<callout arearefs="nbsd-dd">
	  <para>Install <application>NanoBSD</application> onto the
	    storage medium.</para>
	</callout>
      </calloutlist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2>
      <title>Customizing a NanoBSD image</title>

      <para>This is probably the most important and most interesting
	feature of <application>NanoBSD</application>.  This is also
	where you will be spending most of the time when
	developing with <application>NanoBSD</application>.</para>

      <para>Invocation of the following command will force the
	<filename>nanobsd.sh</filename> to read its configuration from
	the <filename>myconf.nano</filename> file located in the current
	directory:</para>

      <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>sh nanobsd.sh -c myconf.nano</userinput></screen>

      <para>Customization is done in two ways:</para>

      <itemizedlist>
	<listitem>
	  <para>Configuration options</para>
	</listitem>

	<listitem>
	  <para>Custom functions</para>
	</listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <sect3>
	<title>Configuration options</title>

        <para>With configuration settings, it is possible to configure options
          passed to both the <maketarget>buildworld</maketarget>
          and <maketarget>installworld</maketarget> stages of the
          <application>NanoBSD</application> build process, as well as internal
          options passed to the main build process of
          <application>NanoBSD</application>.  Through these options it is
          possible to cut the system down, so it will fit on as little as
          64MB.  You can use the configuration options to trim down &os; even
          more, until it will consists of just the kernel and two or three
          files in the userland.</para>

	<para>The configuration file consists of configuration options,
	  which override the default values.  The most important
	  directives are:</para>

	<itemizedlist>
	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>NANO_NAME</literal> &mdash; Name of build
	      (used to construct the workdir names).</para>
	  </listitem>

	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>NANO_SRC</literal> &mdash; Path to the source
	      tree used to build the image.</para>
	  </listitem>

	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>NANO_KERNEL</literal> &mdash; Name of kernel
	      configuration file used to build kernel.</para>
	  </listitem>

	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>CONF_BUILD</literal> &mdash; Options passed
	      to the <maketarget>buildworld</maketarget> stage of the build.</para>
	  </listitem>

	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>CONF_INSTALL</literal> &mdash; Options passed
	      to the <maketarget>installworld</maketarget> stage of the build.</para>
	  </listitem>

	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>CONF_WORLD</literal> &mdash; Options passed to both
	      the <maketarget>buildworld</maketarget> and
	      the <maketarget>installworld</maketarget> stage of the build.</para>
	  </listitem>

	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>FlashDevice</literal> &mdash; Defines what type of
	      media to use.  Check the <filename>FlashDevice.sub</filename>
	      file for more details.</para>
	  </listitem>
	</itemizedlist>
      </sect3>

      <sect3>
	<title>Custom functions</title>

	<para>It is possible to fine-tune
	  <application>NanoBSD</application> using shell functions in
	  the configuration file.  The following example illustrates the
	  basic model of custom functions:</para>

	  <programlisting>cust_foo () (
	echo "bar=baz" &gt; \
		&dollar;{NANO_WORLDDIR}/etc/foo
)
customize_cmd cust_foo</programlisting>

        <para>A more useful example of a customization function is the
          following, which changes the default size of the
          <filename class="directory">/etc</filename> directory
          from 5MB to 30MB:</para>

	<programlisting>cust_etc_size () (
	cd &dollar;{NANO_WORLDDIR}/conf
	echo 30000 &gt; default/etc/md_size
)
customize_cmd cust_etc_size</programlisting>

	<para>There are a few default pre-defined customization functions
	  ready for use:</para>

	<itemizedlist>
	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>cust_comconsole</literal> &mdash; Disables
	      &man.getty.8; on the VGA devices
	      (the <filename>/dev/ttyv*</filename> device nodes) and enables
	      the use of the COM1 serial port as the system console.</para>
	  </listitem>

	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>cust_allow_ssh_root</literal> &mdash; Allow
	      <username>root</username> to login via &man.sshd.8;.</para>
	  </listitem>

	  <listitem>
	    <para><literal>cust_install_files</literal> &mdash;
	      Installs files from the
	      <filename class="directory">nanobsd/Files</filename>
	      directory, which contains some useful scripts for system
	      administration.</para>
	  </listitem>
	</itemizedlist>
      </sect3>

      <sect3>
	<title>Adding packages</title>

	<para>Packages can be added to a <application>NanoBSD</application>
	  image using a custom function.  The following function will install
	  all the packages located in
	  <filename>/usr/src/tools/tools/nanobsd/packages</filename>:</para>

	<programlisting>install_packages () (
mkdir -p ${NANO_WORLDDIR}/packages
cp /usr/src/tools/tools/nanobsd/packages/* ${NANO_WORLDDIR}/packages
chroot ${NANO_WORLDDIR} sh -c 'cd packages; pkg_add -v *;cd ..;'
rm -rf ${NANO_WORLDDIR}/packages
)
customize_cmd install_packages</programlisting>
      </sect3>

      <sect3>
	<title>Configuration file example</title>

	<para>A complete example of a configuration file for building a
          custom <application>NanoBSD</application> image can be:</para>

	<programlisting>NANO_NAME=custom
NANO_SRC=/usr/src
NANO_KERNEL=MYKERNEL
NANO_IMAGES=2

CONF_BUILD='
NO_KLDLOAD=YES
NO_NETGRAPH=YES
NO_PAM=YES
'

CONF_INSTALL='
NO_ACPI=YES
NO_BLUETOOTH=YES
NO_CVS=YES
NO_FORTRAN=YES
NO_HTML=YES
NO_LPR=YES
NO_MAN=YES
NO_SENDMAIL=YES
NO_SHAREDOCS=YES
NO_EXAMPLES=YES
NO_INSTALLLIB=YES
NO_CALENDAR=YES
NO_MISC=YES
NO_SHARE=YES
'

CONF_WORLD='
NO_BIND=YES
NO_MODULES=YES
NO_KERBEROS=YES
NO_GAMES=YES
NO_RESCUE=YES
NO_LOCALES=YES
NO_SYSCONS=YES
NO_INFO=YES
'

FlashDevice SanDisk 1G

cust_nobeastie() (
	touch &dollar;{NANO_WORLDDIR}/boot/loader.conf
	echo "beastie_disable=\"YES\"" &gt;&gt; &dollar;{NANO_WORLDDIR}/boot/loader.conf
)

customize_cmd cust_comconsole
customize_cmd cust_install_files
customize_cmd cust_allow_ssh_root
customize_cmd cust_nobeastie</programlisting>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>

    <sect2>
      <title>Updating NanoBSD</title>

      <para>The update process of <application>NanoBSD</application> is
        relatively simple:</para>

      <procedure>
	<step>
	  <para>Build a new <application>NanoBSD</application> image, as
	    usual.</para>
	</step>

	<step>
	  <para>Upload the new image into an unused partition of a
	    running <application>NanoBSD</application> appliance.</para>

	  <para>The most important difference of this step from the
	    initial <application>NanoBSD</application> installation is that
	    now instead of using the <filename>_.disk.full</filename> file
	    (which contains an image of the entire disk),
	    the <filename>_.disk.image</filename> image is installed (which
	    contains an image of a single system partition).</para>
	</step>

	<step>
	  <para>Reboot, and start the system from the newly installed
	    partition.</para>
	</step>

	<step>
	  <para>If all goes well, the upgrade is finished.</para>
	</step>

	<step>
	  <para>If anything goes wrong, reboot back into the previous
	  partition (which contains the old, working image), to restore system
	  functionality as fast as possible.  Fix any problems of the new
	  build, and repeat the process.</para>
	</step>
      </procedure>

      <para>To install new image onto the running
	<application>NanoBSD</application> system, it is possible to use
	either the <filename>updatep1</filename> or
	<filename>updatep2</filename> script located in the
	<filename class="directory">/root</filename> directory, depending
	from which partition is running the current system.</para>

      <para>According to which services are available on host serving
	new <application>NanoBSD</application> image and what type of
	transfer is preferred, it is possible to examine one of these
	three ways:</para>

      <sect3>
	<title>Using &man.ftp.1;</title>

	<para>If the transfer speed is in first place, use this
	  example:</para>

	<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>ftp myhost
get _.disk.image "| sh updatep1"</userinput></screen>
      </sect3>

      <sect3>
	<title>Using &man.ssh.1;</title>

	<para>If a secure transfer is preferred, consider using this
	  example:</para>

	<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>ssh myhost cat _.disk.image.gz | zcat | sh updatep1</userinput></screen>
      </sect3>

      <sect3>
	<title>Using &man.nc.1;</title>

	<para>Try this example if the remote host is not running neither
	  &man.ftp.1; or &man.sshd.8; service:</para>

	<procedure>
	  <step>
	    <para>At first, open a TCP listener on host serving the
	      image and make it send the image to client:</para>

	    <screen>myhost&prompt.root; <userinput>nc -l <replaceable>2222</replaceable> &lt; _.disk.image</userinput></screen>

	    <note>
	      <para>Make sure that the used port is not blocked to
		receive incoming connections from
		<application>NanoBSD</application> host by
		firewall.</para>
	    </note>
	  </step>
	  <step>
	    <para>Connect to the host serving new image and execute
	      <filename>updatep1</filename> script:</para>

	    <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>nc myhost <replaceable>2222</replaceable> | sh updatep1</userinput></screen>
	  </step>
	</procedure>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>
</article>