Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by dizhn 83 days ago
Reminded me of how to install Alpine linux (which isn't available) on Oracle cloud over an ubuntu install. It uses dd and has the advantage of having a console.

I had found it in a github gist when I used it but here's a similar blog post.

https://alextsang.net/articles/20191006-063049/index.html
2 comments
mbana 83 days ago
Wait hold on, can you not simply just access the underlying volume/block device using an API? The VMs in OCI have a boot volume that is attached, so I reckon it's possible to "mount" this somehow and overwrite it with whatever data you want.
link
dizhn 83 days ago
I am not sure. Maybe it's a thing about not being able to download the iso (no network on the console?) or not having space for it or something. I wouldn't know about the API thing. I am not a cloud user.

Made me think though.

link
astralbijection 83 days ago
From what it sounds like, because you have a console and therefore aren't dependent on SSHD not getting overwritten, you can just dd the live running system here?
link
dizhn 83 days ago
Like I said in the other comment I am not really familiar with the various clouds. I self host. The console is a weird web based thing that isn't the same environment as your VMs (or their hypervisor). It's a barebones shell where you can mount your volumes and such, not actually boot or enter the vm. (Edit: This was incorrect) And if I remember correctly I probably did have to do some mounting there to create device files and such. I didn't really have much use for the console after that either. I will try to find the actual gist I followed.

Here's the gist I had used. It's really simple. https://gist.github.com/unixfox/05d661094e646947c4b303f19f9b...

Why would not have not done the dd bit on the console? I have no idea. Again possibly can't download the iso there?

link