---
name: "mksiimage"
section: "1p"
platform: "linux"
package: "systeminstaller"
version: "1.04-3"
release: "Debian 4.0 (Etch)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mksiimage"
---

# mksiimage(1p)

mksiimage - command shell to manage SIS images

```
  mksiimage --List
  mksiimage --Add --name image1 --path /var/image/image1 --filename /var/image/minimal.pkg --location /var/RPMS --arch i686
  mksiimage --Get --name image2 --client node1
  mksiimage -D --name image1
```

The mksiimage command is used to add, get, delete, and list server images defined to SIS.\
 **Syntax** mksiimage \[ *operation* \] \[ *options* \]\
 **Operations** Recognized operations include: Build an image using supplied options (**--name** and **--filename** are required). Get an image from a running client (**--client** and **--name** are required). Delete an image.  Requires **--all** or **--name**. List all images (no options are expected). Makes a copy of an image\
 **Options** Recognized options include: Name of the image. Fully qualified pathname of the image. This is optional, the default will be obtained from the /etc/systemimager/systemimager.conf file. Normally, /var/lib/systemimager/images/\<image name\>/ Apply operation to all images, only valid with --Delete. Fully qualified filename of the package list. May be  specified multiple times to include several lists. See the notes section for details. Location of the packages. This should specify a directory that contains the install packages (eg .rpm files). Default is /tftpboot/rpms. The architecture of the image, defaults to the current machine's architecture. Don't actually build the image. Used to define an existing image to the SIS database. The client name or ip address to get the image from, only valid and  required with the --Get option. The ssh user name to use when connecting to the client. Only valid  with the --Get option, and is optional. The source image to make a copy of. Only valide with --Copy. Lots of trace and debug output. Print output in a colon-delimited format for parsing. Only valid with the --List option. If no *operation* is specified, **--List** is assumed and all other parameters ignored. When using the --Get option, the client that the image is being fetched from must have the systemimager-client rpm installed and the prepare\_client command must have been run on that machine. The package list specified with the **--filename** option is a text file containing  a list of all package names that should be installed into the image. One package  should be listed per line. All prerequisites of the listed packages must also  be included or the image build will fail. The packages may be specified with just the package name, in which case the latest available version will be chosen, or  with the version included. For example:

```
 basesystem
 binutils
 bash
 ...
```

```
 or
```

```
 basesystem-9.0-1mdk
 binutils-2.12.90.0.15-1mdk
 bash-2.05b-6mdk
 ...
```

There are several samples shipped with SystemInstaller in /usr/share/systeminstaller/distinfo. They are indexed by distribution and version. A valid package list can also be created by running "rpm -qa \>filename" on an already installed system, assuming that the requisites are properly installed on that system. Michael Chase-Salerno, mchasal@users.sf.net, Greg Geiselhart, geiselha@us.ibm.com [*perl*(1)](/perl/1.md), *mksimachine*(1), *mksidisk*(1),  [*mkautoinstallscript*(8)](/mkautoinstallscript/8.md).