root/branches/stable/mondo-doc/mindi.8

.\" Copyright (c) 2005 Andree Leidenfrost
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.TH MINDI 8 "PBDATE" "Mondo Rescue PBVER-rPBREV"
.SH NAME
mindi \- a tool for creating boot/root disks
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B mindi
.br
.BR "mindi -v"| " --version"| " -V"| " -version"
.br
.BI "mindi --findkernel"
.br
.BI "mindi --makemountlist "file
.br
.BI "mindi --usb "device
.br
.BI "mindi --printvar "variable
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
.B mindi
creates a bootable ISO/USB image using files from the system it runs on.
.B 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.
.B mindi
is used by
.B monodarchive(8)
to produce the required USB/ISO images but can also be used stand-alone.

For stand-alone usage,
.B 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.
.LP
The probably more frequent way of calling
.B mindi
is non-interactively from
.B mondoarchive(8)
using the
.B --custom
switch. All required information is then provided via command line parameters.
The sequence of these parameters is listed below.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BI "-v"| " --version"| " -V"| " -version"
.RI Prints the version of mindi.
.TP
.BI "--findkernel"
.RI Finds the image of the running kernel in the file system.
.TP
.BI "--makemountlist "file
.RI "Creates a mount list and writes it to file "file ".
.TP
.BI "--usb "device
.RI Create a bootable USB device 
.TP
.BI "--printvar "variable
.RI "prints the value of the variable (useful for mondo-archive and debug)"
.TP
.BI "--custom " parameters
.RI "Provide all required parameters to"
.B mindi
.RI "for non-interactive calling. This usually means a call from"
.BR "mondoarchive(8)".
The following parameters are used:
.br
01) directory to use for temporary files
.br
02) directory to put disk images in
.br
03) path to kernel image
.br
04) tape device
.br
05) tape size [MB]
.br
06) total number of files in file list
.br
07) use LZO [yes|no]
.br
08) CD recovery media [yes|no]
.br
09) devices to include
.br
10) conservative LiLo settings [yes|no]
.br
11) number of last file list
.br
12) estimated total number of slices
.br
13) devices to exclude
.br
14) compare mode [yes|no]
.br
15) use lilo [yes|no]
.br
16) use star (rather than tar) [yes|no]
.br
17) internal tape block size [bytes]
.br
18) number of diffenrential backup
.br
19) make non-bootable [yes|no]
.br
20) use gzip [yes|no]
.br
(Blank parameters must be specified as "" on the command line.)
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
.B mindi
writes some output to the console and extensive information to log file
.IR /var/log/mindi.log ".
When seeking technical support for
.BR "mindi",
please attach this file to your email.
.SH FILES
.TP
.I /var/log/mindi.log
Log file of mindi run. Contains important information to analyze mindi problem
reports.
.TP
.I /etc/mindi/deplist.d
Files containing the list of files to be included on boot/root disks.
.TP
.I /etc/mindi/deplist.txt 
List of additional files to be included on boot/root disks.
.TP
.I /var/cache/mindi/N.tar.gz
Number N of multiple tar balls together containing root file system for rescue
media.
.TP
.I /var/cache/mindi/all.tar.gz
Single tar ball of root file system for rescue media.
.TP
.I /var/cache/mindi/initrd.img
initrd image for bootable ISO image.
.TP
.I /var/cache/mindi/mindi-boot.F.img
.B mindi
boot media of size F [KB].
.TP
.I /var/cache/mindi/mindi-root.F.img
.B mindi
root media of size F [KB].
.TP
.I /var/cache/mindi/mindi-data.N.img
.B mindi
data media number N for boot/root media.
.TP
.I /var/cache/mindi/mindi.iso
.B mindi
bootable ISO image.
.SH CONFIGURATION FILE
You may create a mindi configuration file under 
.B /etc/mindi 
called 
.B mindi.conf 
which overwrites default values described in
.B mindi.conf.dist
in the same directory. (Cf comments in this file)
.br
.SH "SEE ALSO"
mondoarchive(8), mondorestore(8).
.TP
See mailing list at http://www.mondorescue.org for technical support.
.SH AUTHORS
Bruno Cornec (lead-development) 
.I "bruno_at_mondorescue.org"
.br
Andree Leidenfrost (co-developper) 
.I "aleidenf_at_bigpond.net.au"
.br
.SH ORIGINAL AUTHORS
Hugo Rabson (original author)
.I "hugo.rabson_at_mondorescue.org"
.br
Jesse Keating (packaging)
.I "hosting_at_j2solutions.net"
.br
Stan Benoit (testing)
.I "troff_at_nakedsoul.org"
.br
Mikael Hultgren (docs)
.I "mikael_hultgren_at_gmx.net"
.br
.