Live Systems

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DKtoolian and Disklessian

• DKtoolian and Disklessian
• Why DKtoolian / Disklessian
• Why dklivesys
• How to use dklivesys
  • Quick intro: The fast track to your own Disklessian
  • The complete documentation

The dklivesys project is an add-on to the live-build package to produce customized Debian GNU/Linux live systems. Two live system types are supported:

DKtoolian
Use DKtoolian to rescue, deploy, and administer systems.

Disklessian
In Disklessian access to internal storage is disabled in the kernel by blacklisting and removing libata and NVME related kernel modules.
You can use it for online banking and privacy related purposes as malicious software probably present on internal disks can not start from within Disklessian.

Alternatively you can use it as surf station. Malicious software i.e. from drive-by attacks when visiting web sites can infect the running Disklessian itself but can not infect the system on your disks.

But be carefully, please: Do not use it for both purposes at same time!

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Why DKtoolian / Disklessian

• Fully configurable
   
  • Your package selection
    Choose which packages from the Debian repositories you want to install in the live system.
     
  • Your files in the live system
    Add further files to the live system, i.e. software packages built from source or scripts to automate your work.
     
  • Your files in /etc
    The live system automatically configures some /etc files during boot. You can overwrite these files.
     
  • Your hook scripts in the startup process
    Specify hooks, scripts executed after starting all services but before showing a login prompt. One hook is added automatically to overwrite /etc files (see above).
     
  • Your files in the initramfs stage
    Add/overwrite files visible in the initramfs stage.
     
• Network boot
   
  • No need for lots of boot media
    Network boot allows to run a live system on a large number of PCs in parallel without having to create boot sticks or other boot media for each PC.
     
• Automatic login
   
  • Login as root or user
    The default for DKtoolian CLI is automatic login as “root”, so you can start administrative work immediately. For DKtoolian with graphical desktop and Disklessian the “user” user can use sudo to become root. You can change the default behaviour to disable automatic root login and to deny sudo use.

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Why dklivesys

Using live-build without dklivesys the procedure to build a live system is:

• Initialize live system
  Run

  lb config ...
  

  to initially configure the live system and set up the directory structure in the “livesys” directory.
   
• Add or modify files
  Add or modify files in the “livesys” directory.
   
• Build live system
  Run

  lb build ...
  

  to build the live system.

You end up with a “livesys” directory structure containing both your manually placed/edited/modified files and files created by the live-build scripts.

The dklivesys scripts use a “custom” subdirectory containing original configuration data (configuration files and files you want to insert into the live system).
From this configuration the dklivesys scripts

• choose appropriate arguments for the “lb config” command,
• copy files into the “livesys” directory, and
• choose appropriate arguments for the “lb build” command.

Keeping original configuration data in a separated directory allows to

• reuse the configuration data in another live system build process with reproducable results, and
• keep the original configuration data on the virtualization host where you can create backups more easily.

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How to use dklivesys

Quick intro: The fast track to your own Disklessian

• [Disklessian fast track]
  This page shows just the steps to build a Disklessian in default configuration.
   

• [Customization How-To]
  Hints to perform specific customization tasks.

The complete documentation

Here is a more complete documentation describing optional steps and customization mechanisms too:

• [Prepare Virtual Machine]
  You should use a virtual machine or a container to build live systems. During live system creation some scripts modify the boot process of the live system. Using a VM or a container ensures you still have a bootable computer even if there is any bug in the dklivesys scrips, the live-build scripts, or hooks you added.
   

• [Configure Live System]
  Before building a live system you need to configure some details and provide files you want to inject into the live system.
   

• [Build Live System]
  Building the live system requires to invoke one script, it takes some time.
   

• [Test Live System in VM]
  Optionally you want to test the live system in a virtual machine before writing to USB stick.
   

• [Install Live System]
  Install the live system to USB thumb devices, to CD or DVD, or to a network boot server.
   

• [Use Disklessian]
  Use Disklessian either for banking and private purposes or as surf station, but not for both purposes at same time.
   

• [Use DKtoolian]
  Use DKtoolian for administration and system deployment.

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