Rocky Linux ISO Builder

Automated tooling to customize, build, and test unattended Rocky Linux installation ISOs using Docker, mkksiso, and QEMU.

This project packages mkksiso into a predictable Docker container environment so you can inject Kickstart configurations, modify boot arguments, and output bootable ISOs consistently on both local development workstations and CI/CD runners.

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Features

• Reproducible Build Environment: Dockerized mkksiso toolchain prevents host OS dependency mismatches.
• Dynamic Network Provisioning: Uses native Anaconda link1,link2 binding to support arbitrary physical network interface names (eno1/eno2, eth0/eth1, em1/em2).
• Hardware & Virtualization Ready: Boot options pre-configured to support bare-metal servers (e.g., HPE ProLiant Gen10 iLO consoles) and QEMU/KVM virtual machines.
• Automated Checksums: Generates .sha256 hash verification files on every build.
• Virtual Testing: Built-in QEMU launcher script (test-iso.sh) to quickly validate ISO installation without touching physical hardware.

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Directory Structure

.
├── Makefile                # Primary task automation interface
├── docker-compose.yml      # Container orchestration for mkksiso
├── Dockerfile              # Build container definition
├── test-iso.sh             # POSIX shell script to boot and test ISO in QEMU
├── ks/
│   └── ks.cfg              # Unattended Kickstart configuration file
├── iso/                    # Storage directory for official base ISOs (git-ignored)
└── output/                 # Storage directory for generated custom ISOs (git-ignored)

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Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose
• QEMU (qemu-system-x86_64, qemu-img, ovmf) for local ISO testing
• Make

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Getting Started

1. Download Base ISO

Download the official Rocky Linux minimal ISO and place it inside the iso/ directory:

mkdir -p iso
# Example for Rocky Linux 10.2 minimal:
wget -P iso/ https://download.rockylinux.org/pub/rocky/10/isos/x86_64/Rocky-10.2-x86_64-minimal.iso

2. Configure Kickstart

Modify ks/ks.cfg to fit your target server environment (users, storage layouts, package choices, network configs).

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Usage

Display Available Commands

make help

Build Custom ISO & Checksum

Builds the custom ISO and creates output/rocky-custom.iso.sha256:

make build-iso

To override defaults via environment variables or CLI:

make build-iso ROCKY_VERSION=10.2 BASE_ISO=Rocky-10.2-x86_64-minimal.iso OUTPUT_ISO=my-custom.iso

Test ISO in QEMU

Boots the newly generated ISO in a virtualized QEMU session:

make test-iso

Override default QEMU RAM/CPUs:

make test-iso MEMORY=8192 CPUS=4

Clean Build Artifacts

Removes all generated .iso and .sha256 files from the output/ directory:

make clean

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Environment Overrides (.env)

You can create a .env file in the repository root to persistently override defaults without editing the Makefile:

ROCKY_VERSION=10.2
BASE_ISO=Rocky-10.2-x86_64-minimal.iso
OUTPUT_ISO=rocky-custom.iso
BOOT_ARGS=console=ttyS0,115200n8 console=tty0 inst.text nomodeset

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License

GNU General Public License v2.0