UML Builder

Walkthrough

This page takes you through downloading, installing and first use of UML Builder. If you have any problems or questions, please post them to the UML Builder mailing list

Download User Mode Linux (UML)

Go to the User Mode Linux download page. Download the recommended download. You will need to be root to do the installation, or get your system administrator to install the downloaded package.

You can check that UML is installed by verifying that the file /usr/bin/linux exists.

Download UML Builder

Go to UML Builder download page. You will need to be root to do the installation, or get your system administrator to install the downloaded package.

You can check that UML Builder is installed by verifying that file /usr/bin/umlbuilder exists.

Obtain the distribution you want to install

You need the CDs or ISO images for whichever distribution you wish to install. Note that it doesn't need to be the same as the host you are running. There are around 20 supported distributions.

Note that most distributions are 2 or 3 CDs, and that corresponds to 1.3 to 1.8GB if you are downloading ISO images instead.

Extract the RPMs

You need to extract the RPMs from the CDs or ISO images. In this example, we are going to extract the RPMs to a directory named /space/rpms.

CDs

ISO images

Place the first CD in your CD drive. If you are using a graphical desktop, a CD icon normally appears, and you should navigate to the RPMS directory. This is normally in RedHat/RPMS for RedHat distributions, Mandrake/RPMS for Mandrake etc. Drag the files to /space/rpms If you have no CD icon, or are in console mode, you should be able to mount the cd: $ mount /mnt/cdrom Consult your system documentation if this does not work. Change to the CD directory: $ cd /mnt/cdrom You then need to navigate to the RPMS directory. This is normally in RedHat/RPMS for RedHat distributions, Mandrake/RPMS for Mandrake etc: $ cd RedHat/RPMS You should then copy the files. $ cp *.rpm /space/rpms unmount and eject the CD. Try pressing the eject button. If you are in a graphical desktop, you should be able to right click on the CD icon and choose eject. In console mode, you need to change directory off the CD and then unmount it. $ cd / $ umount/mnt/cdrom Repeat this process for each of the remaining CDs

You will need to have root access on your system, and will be doing something called loopback mounting. Choose a location to mount the image. This should be a directory. In this example, we are going to use /mnt/loop. # mkdir /mnt/loop Loopback mount the first ISO image # mount -o loop distro-cd1.iso /mnt/loop Change to the loop directory: # cd /mnt/loop You then need to navigate to the RPMS directory. This is normally in RedHat/RPMS for RedHat distributions, Mandrake/RPMS for Mandrake etc: # cd RedHat/RPMS You chould then copy the files. # cp *.rpm /space/rpms Change directory off the loop, and unmount # cd / # umount /mnt/loop Repeat this for each remaining ISO image. Change the owner of the RPMs to you (not root) # chown yourlogin /space/rpms/*

The directory /space/rpms should now contain all of the RPMs from each of the distribution CDs or ISO images.

Run UML Builder

Run umlbuilder_gui and you will be walked through the steps to complete the installation of your first distribution. It has a wizard interface and every page has help information. You should see the same interface as is in the screenshots.

There is also a command line tool. Just run umlbuilder (man page).

Run your new instance

Once UML Builder completes, it places a control script in the target directory. This takes several commands, for example control start will start it. Run control without any arguments to see the full list of commands.

Join the UML Builder mailing list

Details of the mailing list are in the contacts. Discuss your experience on this list, and any suggestions for improvement. The list also contains announcements of new releases of UML Builder.