Linux: How to Update and Rebuild CentOS 4 Installation CDs

Question: I found your Fedora Core 2 update page. How can I create new installation CDs for CentOS 4 with the updates already included?@H_404_7@

Answer: As with Fedora Core 2,CentOS comes with all of the tools you need to accomplish this. To be consistent,we've provided our procedure broken down into 5 steps below. (This procedure assumes CentOS 4.1 since this is the latest release at the time of writing.)@H_404_7@

Since CentOS 4 seems to have the same problem with the DAC960 RAID controller as Fedora Core 2,we've also included a DAC drive fix in our procedure.@H_404_7@

Step 1: Preparation

This procedure is not for the novice. If you find this document confusing,it would be best to find an experienced Linux user to help you through it.@H_404_7@

To start,a proper build environment is required.@H_404_7@

You'll need a computer with CentOS 4 installed on it and 10GB of free hard disk space.@H_404_7@

You'll need to be the super user (root) to proceed from here. Commands are assumed to be executed from a bash shell.@H_404_7@

The following packages (As well as any packages these require.) will also need to be installed from the installation CD:@H_404_7@

anaconda-10.1.1.19-1
anaconda-help-10.1.0-1
anaconda-runtime-10.1.1.19-1

Find a location on your hard disk which has the necessary space and type the following commands:@H_404_7@

export PYTHONPATH=/usr/lib/anaconda
export PATH="$PATH:/usr/lib/anaconda-runtime"
export BUILDBASE='pwd'
mkdir -p $BUILDBASE/linux/i386/SRPMS
export ARCH=i386

These commands will create a scratchpad area to work from and setup some convenience environment variables.@H_404_7@

Next,download all four of the installation ISOs from the CentOS website into the $BUILDBASE/linux directory.@H_404_7@

Once the ISO files are downloaded,we will need to extract their contents into our working directory. You can do so with the following commands. (You should place these into a script and execute it.)@H_404_7@

#!/bin/bash

for iso in CentOS-4.1-i386-bin1of4.iso CentOS-4.1-i386-bin2of4.iso CentOS-4.1-i386-bin3of4.iso CentOS-4.1-i386-bin4of4.iso; do

   mount -o loop $BUILDBASE/linux/$iso /mnt ; cd /mnt ; \
   tar -cf - * | ( cd $BUILDBASE/linux/i386/ ; tar -xpf - ) ; \
   cd $BUILDBASE ; umount /mnt

done

If all went well,you can erase the installation ISO files. (You may need the space!)@H_404_7@

Step 2: DAC960 Fix

The following steps are required ONLY if you are attempting to fix a booting issue with the DAC960 RAID controller. (The installation CD released by CentOS has a bug which does not allow CentOS 4 to be installed on some computers.)@H_404_7@

Proceed to Step 3 if you wish to skip this step.@H_404_7@

First,retrieve the latest CentOS 4 kernel source update from a CentOS mirror site. (At the time of writing this web page,it was: kernel-2.6.9-11.EL.src.rpm)@H_404_7@

Install the RPM by typing:@H_404_7@

rpm -i kernel-2.6.9-11.EL.src.rpm

Go to the /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES directory and modify the following line in the kernel-2.6.9-i586.config file:@H_404_7@

# CONFIG_X86_UP_APIC is not set

Change it to:@H_404_7@

CONFIG_X86_UP_APIC=y

Next,add the following line below this one and save the file:@H_404_7@

CONFIG_X86_UP_IOAPIC=y

Go to the /usr/src/redhat directory and rebuild all of the kernel RPMs by typing:@H_404_7@

rpmbuild -ba --target=i586 SPECS/kernel-2.6.spec

This will take a while,but if all goes well,there should be a new set of kernel RPMs in this directory:@H_404_7@

/usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586

Replace the kernel in the $BUILDBASE/linux/i386/CentOS/RPMS directory with the corresponding update from the /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586 directory. To do this,type the following command:@H_404_7@

cp /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/kernel-2.6.9-11.EL.i586.rpm $BUILDBASE/linux/i586/CentOS/RPMS/.

Step 3: Other updates

If desired at this point,you can download any available updates from a CentOS mirror site and replace each RPM package in the $BUILDBASE/linux/i386/CentOS/RPMS directory with its update.@H_404_7@

Step 4: Build

First,we need to re-generate the hdlist file. Do so with the following command:@H_404_7@

genhdlist $BUILDBASE/linux/i386

Next,create our package order file by issuing the following command:@H_404_7@

pkgorder $BUILDBASE/linux/i386 i386 | tee $BUILDBASE/linux/pkgfile.'date +%Y-%m-%d'

Now,update the installation files by entering the following command:@H_404_7@

buildinstall --comp dist-4.1 --pkgorder $BUILDBASE/linux/pkgfile.'date +%Y-%m-%d' \
--version 4.1 --product 'CentOS' --release 'CentOS 4.1' \
$BUILDBASE/linux/i386

Step 5: CD creation

Now that we have completed the build,it's time to split up the files into their CDs and make new ISOs. The following commands will do the split and re-create the hdlist files for each CD:@H_404_7@

RELEASE="CentOS 4.1 with updates to $(date '+%Y-%M-%d %H:%m')"

rm -rf $BUILDBASE/linux/i386-disc[1-8]
splittree.py --arch=i386 --total-discs=8 --bin-discs=4 --src-discs=4 --release-string="$RELEASE" \
--pkgorderfile=$BUILDBASE/linux/pkgfile.'date +%Y-%m-%d' \
--distdir=$BUILDBASE/linux/i386 \
--srcdir=$BUILDBASE/linux/i386/SRPMS --productpath=CentOS

rm -f $BUILDBASE/i386-disc1/CentOS/base/hdlist*
genhdlist --withnumbers --fileorder \
$BUILDBASE/fedora/pkgfile.'date +%Y-%m-%d' \
$BUILDBASE/linux/i386-disc[1234]

Finally,create a bash script with the commands listed below and execute it. This will create brand new modified ISO images,which you can use to install CentOS Linux!@H_404_7@

(You will need to run the following script from the $BUILDBASE/linux directory.)@H_404_7@

#!/bin/sh

myname="Joe Blow <joe@joe.blow>"
bootimg="isolinux/isolinux.bin"
bootcat="isolinux/boot.cat"
distname="CentOS"
distvers="4.1"
mkisopts="-R -J -T"
bootopts="-no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table"
mydate="$(date '+%d %b %Y')"
mkisofs $mkisopts $bootopts \
-V "CentOS $distver ($distname) UPDATED Disk 1" \
-A "CentOS $distver ($distname) update created on $mydate" \
-P "$myname" \
-p "$myname" \
-b "$bootimg" \
-c "$bootcat" \
-x lost+found \
-o "$distname"-i386-disc1.iso \
i386-disc1

for i in 2 3 4 ; do
mkisofs $mkisopts \
-V "CentOS $distver ($distname) UPDATED Disk $i" \
-A "CentOS $distver ($distname) update created on $mydate" \
-P "$myname" \
-p "$myname" \
-x lost+found \
-o "$distname"-i386-disc${i}.iso \
i386-disc${i}
done

@H_404_7@

https://www.techonthenet.com/linux/centos4_update.PHP @H_404_7@

centos 4.0 update