ltsp(8)

ltsp - entry point to Linux Terminal Server Project applets

Section 8 ltsp bookworm source

Description

LTSP

NAME

ltsp - entry point to Linux Terminal Server Project applets

SYNOPSIS

ltsp [-b base-dir] [-h] [-m home-dir] [-o overwrite] [-t tftp-dir] [-V] [applet] [applet-options]

DESCRIPTION

Run the specified LTSP applet with applet-options. To get help with applets and their options, run ‘man ltsp applet‘ or ‘ltsp --help applet‘.

APPLETS

The following applets are currently defined:

	•		dnsmasq: configure dnsmasq for LTSP
	•		image: generate a squashfs image from an image source
	•		info: gather support information about the LTSP installation
	•		initrd: create the ltsp.img initrd add-on
	•		ipxe: install iPXE binaries and configuration in TFTP
	•		kernel: copy the kernel and initrd from an image to TFTP
	•		nfs: configure NFS exports for LTSP

LTSP clients also have some additional applets, like initrd-bottom, init and login, but they’re not runnable by the user.

OPTIONS

LTSP directories can be configured by passing one or more of the following parameters, but it’s recommended that an /etc/ltsp/ltsp.conf configuration file is created instead, so that you don’t have to pass them in each ltsp command.
-b, --base-dir=/srv/ltsp

This is where the chroots, squashfs images and virtual machine symlinks are; so when you run ltsp kernel img_name, it will search either for a squashfs image named /srv/ltsp/images/img_name.img, or for a chroot named /srv/ltsp/img_name, if it’s a directory that contains /proc. Additionally, ltsp image img_name will also search for a symlink to a VM disk named /srv/ltsp/img_name.img. $BASE_DIR is exported read-only by NFSv3, so do not put sensitive data there.

-h, --help

Display a help message.

-m, --home-dir=/home

The default method of making /home available to LTSP clients is SSHFS. In some cases security isn’t an issue, and sysadmins prefer the insecure NFSv3 speed over SSHFS. $HOME_DIR is used by ltsp nfs to export the correct directory, if it’s different to /home, and by LTSP clients to mount it.

-o, --overwrite[=0|1]

Overwrite existing files. Defaults to 1 as administrators are not supposed to manually edit LTSP autogenerated files, but maintain local content into separate files (e.g. /etc/exports.d/local.exports). If you manually maintain ltsp.ipxe, it might be a good idea to set OVERWRITE=0 in ltsp.conf.

-t, --tftp-dir=/srv/tftp

LTSP places the kernels, initrds and iPXE files in /srv/tftp/ltsp, to be retrieved by the clients via the TFTP protocol. The TFTP server of dnsmasq and tftpd-hpa are configured to use /srv/tftp as the TFTP root.

-V, --version

Display the version information.

FILES

/etc/ltsp/ltsp.conf

All the long options can also be specified as variables in the ltsp.conf configuration file in UPPER_CASE, using underscores instead of hyphens.

ENVIRONMENT

All the long options can also be specified as environment variables in UPPER_CASE, for example:

BASE_DIR=/opt/ltsp ltsp kernel ...

EXAMPLES

The following are the typical commands to install and maintain LTSP in chrootless mode:

# To install:
ltsp image /
ltsp dnsmasq
ltsp nfs
ltsp ipxe

# To update the exported image, after changes in the server software:
ltsp image /

The following are the typical commands to provide an additional x86_32 image, assuming one uses VirtualBox. If you specifically name it x86_32, then the ltsp.ipxe code automatically prefers it for 32bit clients:

ln -rs $HOME/VirtualBox\ VMs/x86_32/x86_32-flat.vmdk /srv/ltsp/x86_32.img
ltsp image x86_32
ltsp ipxe