[oe] VMware disk image type

[Mickael Chazaux]

Hi,

2011/2/23 Tom Rini <tom_rini at mentor.com>:
> On 02/23/2011 05:48 AM, Mickael Chazaux wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I see there is a vmware.conf in conf/machine, but it does not generate
>> vmdk (vmware virtual disk files) files. Here are the steps I take to
>> do that:
>>
>> - create an empty file the size wanted (with dd),
>> - format it to ext3 (mkfs.ext3 myfile)
>> - mount it loopback (mount -o loop myfile /mnt)
>> - untar the OE-generated rootfs in /mnt
>> - create a /boot/extlinux.conf [1],
>> - install extlinux in /boot (extlinux -i /mnt/boot)
>> - umount,
>> - convert to vmdk (using qemu-img -O vmdk myfile myfile.vmdk)
>> - boot it in vmware.
>>
>> Is it possible to add a "vmdk" image to openembedded to do this
>> automatically?
>
> Yes, patches would be welcome.  This would reside in conf/bitbake.conf.  See
> the ubi/ubifs image examples for how to generate slightly complex images
> like this.  And I would recommend adding vmdk.ext[234] as the image names
> (and supply at least one of them, someone else might step up and do the
> regex for the others if you don't).  Thanks!
>

The problem is the loopback mount, which requires root privileges, and
is required by extlinux for its installation. Is there another method?

Regards,

Mickael Chazaux