Install Ubuntu with debootstrap

Octobre 2016

How to create a bootable fully functional Ubuntu from debootstrap ?

We are here to install a full functional (and bootable) Ubuntu from deboostrap. Two remarks :

First of all : make your backup.
If you are not familiar with things like mkfs and /dev/XXX you should not read this page.

Formating the partition and installing the base system


sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/XXX
sudo mount /dev/XXX /ubuntu
sudo debootstrap --arch i386 xenial /ubuntu

Now you have a minimal system in /ubuntu, but this is not bootable.

source.list and fstab


sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /ubuntu/etc/apt/sources.list
sudo vim /ubuntu/etc/fstab

Here is what you need in your new fstab :


#
#                
pMqroc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
UUID=SLASH_UUID   /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
UUID=SWAP_UUID   none            swap    sw              0       0

where you have to replace SLASH_UUID by the UUID of the partition that will be the root of your new system. This is the one which is now mounted in /ubuntu. Use

sudo blkid

in order to know the uuid.

chroot

In order to be able to make the requested manipulation in your new system by chroot, you need to mount some repertories. Here you are :


sudo mount --bind /dev /ubuntu/dev 
sudo mount --bind /proc /ubuntu/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /ubuntu/sys

and you can chroot to you new system :


chroot /ubuntu

The first thing to do is an update :


# apt update
# apt full-upgrade

Some configuration

Here is the most tricky part, because there are some manipulations to be done before to make your new system bootable.

Localization. You may not need this step.


        # apt instal language-pack-fr language-pack-li

Keyboard configuration. You may not need this step.


        # dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

locales


# locale-gen fr_FR && locale-gen fr_FR.UTF-8 && dpkg-reconfigure locales && update-locale LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8

Packages installation

We first install the needed packages :


# apt install linux-image-generic  cryptsetup libpam-mount vim grub-pc grub2-common bash-completion

One remark : when you are asked where to install the boot-stuff, you only select the drive you want : sda, sdb, ... you don't select the specific partitions. You can now launch the installation of the packages you need. Here is a part of my list :

System: unity-greeter kubuntu-desktop linux-image-generic grub-pc grub2-common grub-splashimages grub2-splashimages cryptsetup libpam-mount
Utilities: bash-completion htop verbiste verbiste-gnome pdftk git git-core qgit debootstrap pavucontrol pavumeter konqueror tor torbrowser-launcher
Vim: vim-latexsuite vim-gnome vim-addon-manager
Notice that vim-gnome is requested even if you want to use plain Vim is the terminal because without vim-gnome, the options --remote-tab and --servername do not exist.
French use: ispell aspell-fr hunspell-fr wfrench ifrench aspell-it aspell-en myspell-en-gb myspell-it hyphen-fr hyphen-it mythes-fr mythes-it thunderbird-locale-fr firefox-locale-fr language-pack-gnome-fr language-pack-fr-base language-pack-kde-fr language-pack-fr kde-l10n-fr thunderbird-locale-fr libreoffice-help-fr
Compiz: compiz compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-plugins-extra marble plasma-wallpapers-addons
Multimedia: gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad libgstreamer-plugins-bad1.0-0 gstreamer1.0-libav gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad-videoparsers gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad-faad youtube-dl cdrdao libdvd-pkg
C++: libqt5qml-graphicaleffects libboost-all-dev libboost1.58-all-dev
Java: default-jre default-jdk jgit-cli libjgit-ant-java libjgit-java libjgit-java-doc maven pandoc
Terminology: terminology elementary-icon-theme libelementary-bin

Other configurations

While you are making your big apt install you can make some other configurations. Lines that begin with # are to be typed in the chroot.

In order to have the right time zone :


# dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Users

Create the user. Here I create my users taking care of their UID.


# adduser  --uid 1002 --home /interniste interniste 
# adduser  --uid 1001 --home /home/moky moky 
# adduser  moky sudo 
# adduser  moky lp
# adduser  interniste sudo

Some remarks

I do not use UID 1000. My wife has user 1000 because having an other number sometimes brings permissions problems using USB keys that are formated in ext4.
Adding my principal user to the group lp is mandatory to be able to install printers (I really wonder why)
It is interesting to have a "dummy" user which have super user privileges because it enables you to make a fsck.ext4 on your home partition (well, this is not mandatory, but it makes things clearer).

If you understood correctly, it was a bad idea to make a reboot before to arrive at this point.

Grub

In your current OS (not the chroot to the new one), install grub :


sudo grub-install --root-directory=/ubuntu /dev/sdQUOI
sudo cp /etc/default/grub /ubuntu/etc/default/grub

Update grub; the following has to be done in the chroot :

# update-grub

Once again in the current OS :


sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc

Encryption

If your home is encrypted and if the encryption's password is the same as your user'one, you can make the partition to be automatically mounted and decrypted (in the sense /dev/mapper/... to be created and that directory to be mounted as your home) at login. The file /ubuntu/etc/security/pam_mount.conf.xml has to contain the line

< volume user="moky" fstype="crypt" path="/dev/disk/by-uuid/HOME_UUID" mountpoint="/home/moky" options="fsck,relatime" />

Vim

I'm making this :


# apt install vim-gnome vim-latexsuite vim-addon-manager
# vim-addons -w install latex-suite matchit

DVD


# sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg

Reboot

Now you can reboot your computer and play with your new system. Everything should be fine on the first strike.