1DEBOOTSTRAP(8) Debian GNU/Linux manual DEBOOTSTRAP(8)
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6 debootstrap - Bootstrap a basic Debian system
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9 debootstrap [OPTION...] SUITE TARGET [MIRROR [SCRIPT]]
10 debootstrap [OPTION...] --second-stage
12
14 debootstrap bootstraps a basic Debian system of SUITE into TARGET from
15 MIRROR by running SCRIPT. MIRROR can be an http:// or https:// URL, a
16 file:/// URL, or an ssh:/// URL.
17 The SUITE may be a release code name (eg, sid, stretch, jessie) or a
19 symbolic name (eg, unstable, testing, stable, oldstable)
20 Notice that file:/ URLs are translated to file:/// (correct scheme as
22 described in RFC1738 for local filenames), and file:// will not work.
23 ssh://USER@HOST/PATH URLs are retrieved using scp; use of ssh-agent or
24 similar is strongly recommended.
25 Debootstrap can be used to install Debian in a system without using an
27 installation disk but can also be used to run a different Debian flavor
28 in a chroot environment. This way you can create a full (minimal)
29 Debian installation which can be used for testing purposes (see the
30 EXAMPLES section). If you are looking for a chroot system to build
31 packages please take a look at pbuilder.
32
34 --arch=ARCH
35 Set the target architecture (use if dpkg isn't installed). See
36 also --foreign.
37 --include=alpha,beta
39 Comma separated list of packages which will be added to download
40 and extract lists.
41 --exclude=alpha,beta
43 Comma separated list of packages which will be removed from
44 download and extract lists. WARNING: you can and probably will
45 exclude essential packages, be careful using this option.
46 --extra-suites=alpha,beta
48 Also use packages from the listed suites of the archive.
49 --components=alpha,beta
51 Use packages from the listed components of the archive.
52 --no-resolve-deps
54 By default, debootstrap will attempt to automatically resolve
55 any missing dependencies, warning if any are found. Note that
56 this is not a complete dependency resolve in the sense of dpkg
57 or apt, and that it is far better to specify the entire base
58 system than rely on this option. With this option set, this be‐
59 haviour is disabled.
60 --log-extra-deps
62 If you want to record additional dependencies when resolving
63 package dependencies, set this option to track them through
64 debootstrap.log.
65 --variant=minbase|buildd|fakechroot
67 Name of the bootstrap script variant to use. Currently, the
68 variants supported are minbase, which only includes required
69 packages and apt; buildd, which installs the build-essential
70 packages and fakechroot, which installs the packages without
71 root privileges. The default, with no --variant=X argument, is
72 to create a base Debian installation with all packages of prior‐
73 ity required and important, including apt.
74 --merged-usr
76 Create /{bin,sbin,lib}/ symlinks pointing to their counterparts
77 in /usr/. (Default for most variants.)
78 --no-merged-usr
80 Do not create /{bin,sbin,lib}/ symlinks pointing to their coun‐
81 terparts in /usr/. (Default for the buildd variant.)
82 --keyring=KEYRING
84 Override the default keyring for the distribution being boot‐
85 strapped, and use KEYRING to check signatures of retrieved
86 Release files.
87 --no-check-gpg
89 Disables checking gpg signatures of retrieved Release files.
90 --force-check-gpg
92 Forces checking Release file signatures, disabling automatic
93 fallback to HTTPS in case of a missing keyring. Incompatible
94 with the previous option.
95 --verbose
97 Produce more info about downloading.
98 --print-debs
100 Print the packages to be installed, and exit. Note that an
101 empty or non-existing TARGET directory must be specified so that
102 debootstrap can download Packages files to determine which pack‐
103 ages should be installed, and to resolve dependencies. The TAR‐
104 GET directory will be deleted unless --keep-debootstrap-dir is
105 specified.
106 --download-only
108 Download packages, but don't perform installation.
109 --foreign
111 Do the initial unpack phase of bootstrapping only, for example
112 if the target architecture does not match the host architecture.
113 A copy of debootstrap sufficient for completing the bootstrap
114 process will be installed as /debootstrap/debootstrap in the
115 target filesystem. You can run it with the --second-stage
116 option to complete the bootstrapping process.
117 --second-stage
119 Complete the bootstrapping process. Other arguments are gener‐
120 ally not needed.
121 --second-stage-target=DIR
123 Run second stage in a subdirectory instead of root. (can be used
124 to create a foreign chroot) (requires --second-stage)
125 --keep-debootstrap-dir
127 Don't delete the /debootstrap directory in the target after com‐
128 pleting the installation.
129 --cache-dir=DIR
131 Cache .deb files under directory. It should be an absolute path.
132 --unpack-tarball=FILE
134 Acquire .debs from gzipped tarball FILE (specified with absolute
135 path) instead of downloading via HTTP(S).
136 --make-tarball=FILE
138 Instead of bootstrapping, make a gzipped tarball (written to
139 FILE) of the downloaded packages. The resulting tarball may be
140 passed to a later --unpack-tarball. Note that an empty or non-
141 existing TARGET directory must be specified so that debootstrap
142 can download packages to prepare the tarball. The TARGET direc‐
143 tory will be deleted unless --keep-debootstrap-dir is specified.
144 --debian-installer
146 Used for internal purposes by the debian-installer
147 --extractor=TYPE
149 Override automatic .deb extractor selection to TYPE. Supported
150 extractors are: dpkg-deb and ar.
151 --no-check-certificate
153 Do not check certificate against certificate authorities
154 --certificate=FILE
156 Use the client certificate stored in file (PEM)
157 --private-key=FILE
159 Read the private key from file
160
163 To setup a stretch system:
164 debootstrap stretch ./stretch-chroot http://deb.debian.org/debian
166 debootstrap stretch ./stretch-chroot file:///LOCAL_MIRROR/debian
168 Full process to create a complete Debian installation of sid (unstable)
170 in a chroot:
171 main # debootstrap sid sid-root http://deb.debian.org/debian/
173 [ ... watch it download the whole system ]
174 main # echo "proc sid-root/proc proc defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
175 main # mount proc sid-root/proc -t proc
176 main # echo "sysfs sid-root/sys sysfs defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
177 main # mount sysfs sid-root/sys -t sysfs
178 main # cp /etc/hosts sid-root/etc/hosts
179 main # chroot sid-root /bin/bash
180
182 debootstrap was written by Anthony Towns <ajt@debian.org>. This man‐
183 page was written by Matt Kraai <kraai@debian.org>.
184Debian Project 2001-04-27 DEBOOTSTRAP(8)