4.3 KiB
BDisk User and Developer Manual
Thanks
See CREDITS in the project source for a list of thanks.
Preface
About the Author
I am a GNU/Linux Systems/Network Administrator/Engineer- I wear a lot of hats. I have a lot of side projects to keep me busy when I’m not working at ${dayjob}, mostly to assist in other side projects and become more efficient and proficient at those tasks. “Shaving the yak,” [1] indeed.
A lot of research went into how low-level boot operations take place when writing BDisk, both in BIOS and UEFI [2] (and corresponding concepts such as Secureboot, etc.) which is no easy task to understand and very commonly misunderstood. (For instance, a common misconception is that UEFI necessarily implies Secureboot. This is quite far from the truth and UEFI by itself is quite a useful replacement for BIOS). I invite you to do research into the specifications yourself; it’s rather fascinating.
What is BDisk?
BDisk refers to both a live distribution I use in my own uses (for rescue situations, recovery, etc.) but foremost and most importantly, it also refers to the tool I use for building that distribution. In other words, it’s both a complete GNU/Linux distribution you can run entirely from USB/CD/DVD/etc. (without needing to install it to your hard drive)… and also the name of a tool to create a custom GNU/Linux install. The latter is what this project and documentation refer to when the word “BDisk” is used.
This documentation was started when I rewrote BDisk in Python 3.x; versions 0.x-2.x of BDisk were written in Bash, and horribly inelegant and rigid. It was a valiant effort, and mostly worked. Until it stopped working. To my knowledge, it is (or was) in use by NinjaOS as well as a project for education purposes in Indonesia, though I imagine it’s in use other places as well. Ideally it should help those wishing to offer specialized GNU/Linux live media or install CDs.
Version 4.x is an entire rewrite to be much more modular and implement a much more flexible structure based on feature requests that have accumulated over time. [3]
One of my main goals was to make BDisk as easy to use as possible. This is surprisingly hard to do- it’s quite challenging to try to approach software you’ve written with the mindset of someone other than you.
It’s my hope that by releasing this utility (and documenting it), you can use it and save some time for yourself as well (and hopefully get the chance to learn a bit more in the process!).
It of course is not the only live media creator out there, but most others only focus on remastering an existing ISO, or creating an installer ISO — not creating a custom live-centric environment.
Copyright/Licensing
The BDisk code is GPLv3-licensed. This means that you can use it for business reasons, personal reasons, modify it, etc. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with the full set of terms. You can find the full license in docs/LICENSE.
This document, and all other associated author-generated documentation, are released under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0 copyright. It’s essentially the GPL for non-software, so similar terms apply.
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