Content-type: text/html Manpage of MINDI

MINDI

Section: Maintenance Commands (8)
Updated: 2007-04-27
Index Return to Main Contents
 

NAME

mindi - a tool for creating boot/root disks  

SYNOPSIS

mindi
mindi -v| --version| -V| -version
mindi --findkernel
mindi --makemountlist file
mindi [--max-compressed-size max] --custom parameters  

DESCRIPTION

mindi creates a set of boot/root floppy disk images and/or a bootable ISO image using files from the system it runs on. mindi will try hard to reproduce the environment of its host system including loaded modules to ensure that the system can be booted properly from the created rescue media. mindi is used by monodarchive(8) to produce the required boot/root floppy or CD images but can also be used stand-alone.

For stand-alone usage, mindi is called without any parameters or switches. It will then interactively ask the user for all information required to create a set of boot/root media.

The probably more frequent way of calling mindi is non-interactively from mondoarchive(8) using the --custom switch. All required information is then provided via command line parameters. The sequence of these parameters is listed below.  

OPTIONS

-v| --version| -V| -version
Prints the version of mindi.
--findkernel
Finds the image of the running kernel in the file system.
--makemountlist file
Creates a mount list and writes it to file file.
--max-compressed-size max
Maximum size for disk image in KB.
--custom parameters
Provide all required parameters to mindi for non-interactive calling. This usually means a call from mondoarchive(8). The following parameters are used:
01) directory to use for temporary files
02) directory to put disk images in
03) path to kernel image
04) tape device
05) tape size [MB]
06) total number of files in file list
07) use LZO [yes|no]
08) CD recovery media [yes|no]
09) devices to include
10) conservative LiLo settings [yes|no]
11) number of last file list
12) estimated total number of slices
13) devices to exclude
14) compare mode [yes|no]
15) use lilo [yes|no]
16) use star (rather than tar) [yes|no]
17) internal tape block size [bytes]
18) number of diffenrential backup
19) make non-bootable [yes|no]
(Blank parameters must be specified as "" on the command line.)
 

DIAGNOSTICS

mindi writes some output to the console and extensive information to log file /var/log/mindi.log. When seeking technical support for mindi, please attach this file to your email.  

FILES

/var/log/mindi.log
Log file of mindi run. Contains important information to analyze mindi problem reports.
/etc/mindi/deplist.txt
List of files to be included on boot/root disks.
/var/cache/mindi/N.tar.gz
Number N of multiple tar balls together containing root file system for rescue media.
/var/cache/mindi/all.tar.gz
Single tar ball of root file system for rescue media.
/var/cache/mindi/initrd.img
initrd image for bootable ISO image.
/var/cache/mindi/mindi-boot.F.img
mindi boot floppy of size F [KB].
/var/cache/mindi/mindi-root.F.img
mindi root floppy of size F [KB].
/var/cache/mindi/mindi-data.N.img
mindi data floppy number N for boot/root floppies.
/var/cache/mindi/mindi.iso
mindi bootable ISO image.
 

CONFIGURATION FILE

You may create a mindi configuration file under /etc/mindi called mindi.conf which overwrites default values by setting up the following variables:
TMPDIR
(default /tmp): directory to create temporary files
EXTRA_SPACE
(default 24576): increase if you run out of ramdisk space
IA64_BOOT_SIZE
(default 8192): size of the ia64 boot disk
CACHE_LOC
(default /var/cache/mindi): directory where boot/root files and iso are generated
WARNING: This directory is erased before usage
 

SEE ALSO

mondoarchive(8), mondorestore(8).
See mailing list at http://www.mondorescue.org for technical support.
 

AUTHORS

Bruno Cornec (lead-development) bcornec_at_mondorescue.org
Andree Leidenfrost (co-developper) aleidenf_at_bigpond.net.au
 

ORIGINAL AUTHORS

Hugo Rabson (original author) hugo.rabson_at_mondorescue.org
Jesse Keating (packaging) hosting_at_j2solutions.net
Stan Benoit (testing) troff_at_nakedsoul.org
Mikael Hultgren (docs) mikael_hultgren_at_gmx.net


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
DIAGNOSTICS
FILES
CONFIGURATION FILE
SEE ALSO
AUTHORS
ORIGINAL AUTHORS

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Time: 23:47:14 GMT, April 26, 2007