bootlinux

• A customizable webkiosk filesystem based on Debian-Live (Debian 12 / Bookworm) and seb2 Kiosk-Browser https://github.com/eqsoft/seb2

Build Requirements (local)

• requires Linux "Debian"
• apt-get install live-build live-boot live-config build-essentials squashfs-tools syslinux
• execute ./build.sh

Build Requirements (docker)

• requires docker on a Linux host (it does not work in OSX or Windows hosts)
• build within a prebuild docker image: ./build-docker.sh
• the build-docker script executes the build script in docker environment and saves the created artefacts in the local working directory
• the build scripts should be executed as root user

Usage

• Main build artefact (local and docker): binary/live/(filesystem.squashfs,initrd.img,vmlinuz)
• Main build artefact (gitlab-ci, manual trigger): https://gitlab.com/eqsoft/bootlinux/-/jobs/artifacts/buster-seb2/download?job=build
• To save some space the unused boot files vmlinuz and initrd.img are extracted from the filesystem.squashfs
• The artefacts are tested in a syslinux environment with bios and uefi firmware like described here: https://web.archive.org/web/20220523072110/https://wiki.debian-fr.xyz/PXE_avec_support_EFI
• After booting into the webkiosk linux the seb2 browser should start in an openbox-session

Documentation

• For customizinig see config/*
  • edit packages in config/package-lists
  • edit files in the root filesystem config/includes.chroot
  • see debian live documentation: https://live-team.pages.debian.net/live-manual/html/live-manual/index.en.html

Custom kernel parameters

xbrowser (seb2|firefox|chromium)

• xbrowser=firefox : locked-down firefox is started (see config/includes.chroot/etc/firefox/* for lockdown configs.)
• xbrowser=seb2 : seb2 is started
• xbrowser=chromium : chromium is started

xbrowseropts (string: comma seperated list)

A comma seperated list of options (depends on xbrowser paramater):

• xbrowser=seb2 xbrowseropts=-url,https://gitlab.com/eqsoft/bootlinux,-purgecaches,-no-remote

  • full list of seb2 commanline options: https://github.com/eqsoft/seb2

• xbrowser=firefox xbrowseropts=-url,https://gitlab.com/eqsoft/bootlinux,-private

  • full list of firefox commandline options: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Command_Line_Options

• xbrowser=chromium xbrowseropts=-url,xbrowseropts=https://gitlab.com/eqsoft/bootlinux,--start-fullscreen,--kiosk,--incognito,--noerrdialogs,--disable-translate,--no-first-run,--fast,--fast-start,--disable-infobars,--disable-features=Translate

  • full list of chromium commanline options: https://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/
  • further chrome flags for tooling: https://github.com/GoogleChrome/chrome-launcher/blob/master/docs/chrome-flags-for-tools.md

xpanel (0|1)

show | hide a panel with a clock at the bottom of the screen

• xpanel=1
• xpanel=0
• for customizing the panel see: config/includes.chroot/etc/skel/.config/tint2/tint2rc ** for a full docu: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/tint2#Configuration

xrtcagent (string)

• set user-agent string for wget downloads like fs_overlays (see xrtcrepo) or filesystem.squashfs per http
• should be the password for /etc/ssh/id_rsa which is used by ssh-agent for git client
• Security: web ressources can be restricted to the predefined user-agent by secific web-server directives
• Note: boot files are not encrypted. For more security xrtcagent string should be embedded into a precompiled ipxe.krn and chainloaded.

xrtcrepo (string: persist|tgz|git)

xrtcrepo="extended runtime configuration repository"

It provides three ways to add or override ressources in the root filesystem at boot-time. With xrtcrepo the linux runtime can be dynamically altered without changing the read-only filesystem.squashfs. In any case the repos must deliver a root folder "fs_overlay/*" which contains the ressources for copying to the rootfs.

• persist

  • fs_overlay folder is searched on partition sda2 with volume label "persistence".
  • This is only usefull within a specific boot-device environment and requires an additional "persistence" kernel parameter
  • For further documentation: https://gitlab.com/eqsoft/bootlinux-image

• tgz

  • requires: xtgzurl, web-ressource: xtgzurl/(xrtcbranch|xrtchost)?/fs_overlay.tgz
  • A web ressource "fs_overlay.tgz" (as tar.gz file) is tried to be downloaded from xtgzurl, unpacked and copyied fs_overlay/* to rootfs.
  • If xrtcbranch kernel param is not empty the ressource url should be: xtgzurl/xrtcbranch/fs_overlay.tgz
  • If xrtchost kernel param is not empty the ressource url should be: xtgzurl/HOSTNAME_OF_CLIENT/fs_overlay.tgz

• git

  • requires: xgiturl, (xrtcbranch | xrtchost), xrtcagent, /etc/ssh/id_rsa with password xrtcagent parameter
  • A git repo with fs_overlay folder is tried to be cloned from xgiturl and branch xrtcbranch
  • If xrtchost kernel param is not empty the clients hostname is used as branch name
  • There must be a private /etc/ssh/id_rsa key with password of xrtcagent parameter
  • The pubkey must be registered for accessing the git repo
  • Note: boot files are not encrypted. For more security xrtcagent string should be embedded into a precompiled ipxe.krn and chainloaded.

xexit

• requires: xpanel=1
• shows an exit icon in panel which reloads the openbox-session

xterminal

• requires: xpanel=1
• shows xterminal icon

xaudio (0|1)

• xaudio=1 : a pulseaudio server is started and master volume is set to 100%
• xaudio=0 : pulseaudio server is not started, master volume is 0%