Bootable DVD

[tech1214]

I am having a problem creating a bootable DVD. The golden image I created is > 2GB. When I try to combine the boot lif and the hfs image I recieve an error:
[
instl_combine: The CD/DVD image is larger than 2GB (or is expected to end up
larger than 2GB). To make a bootable CD/DVD this large you must
use an ISO9660 image while including the LIF volume as an El Torito
boot volume. Then run instl_combine without the -F option. ]
It tells me that the inst_combine command doesn't support files > 2GB. I then tried mkisofs, as it suggests. That did not work either:
[
mkisofs -b uxboot.lif -c boot.catalog -o ./iso.img /golden
mkisofs: Value too large to be stored in data type. File /golden/gbrhad.gz is too large - ignoring
]

Is there somehting I am missing? Do I have to break up the golden image into pieces for this to work?

[Bill Hassell]

2Gb is the magic number...files larger than 2Gb require largefile support both on the taret medium as well as the programs that create the files. It is doubtful that mkisofs has any code to support lseek64 and related largefile system calls. A bootable HP-UX system will easily fit in less than 2Gb. Given the very limited support of writable CD/DVD media on HP-UX, I would stay with the basic system and use a separate CD/DVD for additional files.

[John Meissner]

below are the steps necessary to create the said bootable DVD. I've created a script (sort of) that works on some systems... some tweaking will probably be required. You'll need to install burning software on your HP system in order to create the iso. but if you follow the steps in the script you will be going in the right direction.
some of the sections of the script can and should not be used... i was experamenting with nfs mounting and writting the image to another server (which was extreemly slow) but i'll let you decide what to use and not to use
I call the script "make_sys_dvd"
see attached:

[tech1214]

John,
Where do you add the dvd_image.gz to the iso image?

[John Meissner]

I can't remember which but it does one of two ways.

1. It finds the archive (.gz file) in the directory you specify in the make_medialif command.

2. It is in the archive impact statement. In this file it states the image file and archive impact file is read grabbing the image file name

You made me worry that I forgot something - And I'm sorry I can't remember which of the two methods above it the way it determines the file. But these are basically the correct steps to use. I had to read a lot of man pages to put this together. some useful man pages I read were for

make_sys_image
instl_combine
make_medialif
mkisofs
archive_impact
save_config

[John Meissner]

actually I believe it must be a combination of both 1 and 2... it must be in the directory you specify... but it must also be specified in the file as well in order for the script to know what file to use.


at or about line 32 in the script you will see this linecat core11.cfg3 | sed 's/archive_path = "B.11.00_32bitCDE.gz"/archive_path = "dvd_image.gz"/g' > core11.cfg4
which is the line that puts the info into the core11 file.

and the make_medialif uses the core11 file (and the information within to automatically pick up the image
$make_medialif -f $archive_path/core11.cfg -f $archive_path/config.recovery -l $archive_path/ilif

I hope this helps

[tech1214]

Have you actually gotten this to work?

The dvd_image.gz is > 2GB and the iso image is something like 200MB. How have you added the golden image. It cannot be contained within the 200MB.

[John Meissner]

if you look at mkisofs you can set the options to allow for images greater than 2 GB. do a man on it. There are options you can pass the command that will set the filesystem to allow for more that 2 Gig.

off hand i believe its one of these options (copied directly from the output of running
/opt/OpenSource/xcdroast-0.98/lib/bin/mkisofs):

-b FILE, -eltorito-boot FILE
Set El Torito boot image name
-eltorito-alt-boot Start specifying alternative El Torito boot parameters





I don't have one of my images handy on DVD (at another site currently

Personally I havn't had to try going over 2 gb as all our images have been 1.9 Gb or less
But according to the man for mkisofs and it will explain everything.