buildiso

This role makes remastering Ubuntu images easier. There is support for copying your own files to the installation media, and to sync Personal Package Archive(s) (PPA) from Launchpad to the image.

Requirements

The role requires the isohybrid, xorriso and mksquashfs binaries (the latter if you use the PPA sync functionality). If you are on a version of Ubuntu later than 21.10, you will likely want to install cd-boot-images-<architecture>, unless you've overridden buildiso_efi and buildiso_grub with your own locations.

Role Variables

Available variables are listed below, along with default values (see defaults/main.yml, tasks/main.yml and vars/main.yml):

Which Ubuntu image to fetch and customise, and where to place these images. The filename can be added to buildiso_input for backwards compatibility, but will otherwise be found from buildiso_pattern in conjunction with the SHA256SUMS file found in the buildiso_input directory.

buildiso_arch: amd64
buildiso_input: "http://releases.ubuntu.com/{{ ansible_distribution_release }}/"
buildiso_pattern: ".*-{{ buildiso_type }}-{{ buildiso_arch }}.iso$"
buildiso_output: ./custom.iso
buildiso_type: desktop

You can create or alter /preseed/<item.name>.seed by following these examples. Remember that content and src is mutually exclusive. You likely want to create a buildiso_bootmenu to use these.

buildiso_preseed:
  - name: test1
    content:
      # Your preseed file
  - name: test2
    src: path/to/file

The boot menu of the image can be set to alternative options. The first entry will be the default. preseed, kernel and initrd have default values defined.

buildiso_bootmenu_hd provides the option to boot from the first hard disk, and buildiso_bootmenu_memtest lets the user start a memory test. buildiso_bootmenu_bios will active the option to change your BIOS settings (fwsetup in UEFI). All of those options defaults to True.

There is also builtiso_bootmenu_timeout, which defaults to 5 (seconds).

buildiso_bootmenu:
  - name: '^Try Ubuntu without installing'
    label: live
    kernel: /casper/vmlinuz
    initrd: /casper/initrd
    preseed: file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed

  - name: '^Install Ubuntu'
    label: live-install
    cmdline: maybe-ubiquity

  - name: 'OEM install (for manufacturers)'
    cmdline: 'only-ubiquity'
    pkgconf: 'oem-config/enable=true'

  - name: 'Check disc for defects'
    label: check
    cmdline: integrity-check

List of files to copy on to the image, if wanted. You only need to specify src if you want the basename of that filename as dest. If you put a directory as src, the contents will end up in /extras/.

buildiso_files:
  - src: files/
  - src: /etc/resolv.conf
    dest: resolvconf
    mode: preserve

There are a few variables for generating the ISO file. buildiso_name variable sets the volume ID, the rest should have sensible defaults.

buildiso_boot: "{{ 'boot/grub/i386-pc/eltorito.img' if ansible_distribution_version is version('21.10', 'ge') else 'isolinux/isolinux.bin' }}"
buildiso_cat: "{{ 'boot.catalog' if ansible_distribution_version is version('21.10', 'ge') else 'isolinux/boot.cat' }}"
buildiso_efi: "{{ '/usr/share/cd-boot-images-amd64/images/boot/grub/efi.img' if ansible_distribution_version is version('21.10', 'ge')
                   else buildiso_writable + '/boot/grub/efi.img' }}"
buildiso_grub: "{{ '/usr/share/cd-boot-images-amd64/images/boot/grub/i386-pc/boot_hybrid.img' if ansible_distribution_version is version('21.10', 'ge')
                    else False }}"
buildiso_name: Ubuntu

If something went wrong, but the role will not pick up enough changes to actually build the images, you can now define buildiso_forcebuild to make it always run the build tasks.

When you require extra packages, this role provides support for syncing a PPA(s) (Personal Package Archive) if the buildiso_ppa variable is set. It uses the standard ppa:team/ppa structure, either a string or a list of strings. See the example playbook to see how you would synchronise the Ansible Stable PPA.

Role Tags

If you specify the cleanup tag when running ansible-playbook, we will unmount and remove all the temporary directories.

Example Playbook

- hosts: localhost
  become: true
  roles:
    - { role: vcc_caeit.build_iso, buildiso_ppa: ppa:ansible/ansible }

License

GPLv2

Author Information

This role was created in 2019 by Nafallo Bjälevik, whilst doing consultancy work for Volvo Cars.