rmauer/netboot.nix
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Actions Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

Restructure the readme

Browse Source
This commit is contained in:
Graham Christensen 2020-06-08 10:05:47 -04:00
parent eece64679c
commit 9e6f3170e8
No known key found for this signature in database
GPG Key ID: FE918C3A98C1030F
1 changed files with 18 additions and 22 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

40
README.md
View File

@ -1,33 +1,20 @@
# netboot.nix
Alternative expressions for netboot.
In the future, I'd like to structure this as a module, to easily
turn on recursive Nix builds, or target a ZFS filesystem, etc.
Also, the future should include tests in this repo.
## Included Module Expressions
* `./quickly.nix` uses recursive Nix to build the initrd and squashfs
filesystems more quickly, allowing for faster iteration of images.
Initial testing reduced build time from 5-10 minutes per image to
15-30 seconds.
The `./size-test/build.sh` test is able to build an incremental
netboot image in just 12 seconds, and the initrd is not rebuilt.
# netboot.nix: 15 second netboot iterations
## How to Use
First set up recursive nix on your builder. Then:
1. set up recursive nix on your builder (see below)
2. add `quickly.nix` to your system's imports, like in
`./size-test/base.nix`
3. then build your iPXE boot directory:
```
$ nix-build '<nixpkgs/nixos>' -I nixos-config=./size-test/base.nix -A config.system.build.ipxeBootDir
```
and boot off of `./result/netboot.ipxe`. The initial build may take
a few minutes, but subsequent builds will only take a few seconds.
4. boot off of `./result/netboot.ipxe`.
The initial build may take a few minutes, but subsequent builds will
only take a few seconds.
## Setting up recursive nix
@ -44,3 +31,12 @@ Setting up recursive Nix requires support on the build machine:
};
}
```
## How it works
`./quickly.nix` uses recursive Nix to build the initrd and squashfs
filesystems more quickly, allowing for faster iteration of images.
Initial testing reduced build time from 5-10 minutes per image to
15-30 seconds.
The `./size-test/build.sh` test is able to build an incremental
netboot image in just 12 seconds, and the initrd is not rebuilt.