How to create a multi partition SD disk image without root privileges?

Question

Is it possible to create a complete SD image in linux without having root privileges (that is, no loopback mount)? I\'m looking for a way to automate embedded system image creat

Answer 1

Yes, this is possible with guestfish:

$ cat << END > extlinux.conf
> default linux
> timeout 0
>
> label linux
> kernel /vmlinuz
> append initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/vda1 rw console=ttyS0
END
$ guestfish -N debian-unstable.img=disk:2G -- \
    part-disk /dev/sda mbr : \
    part-set-bootable /dev/sda 1 true : \
    mkfs ext2 /dev/sda1 : mount /dev/sda1 / : \
    tar-in debian-unstable.tar / : \
    extlinux / : \
    copy-in extlinux.conf /

The result will be debian-unstable.img with one ext2 partition on it, containing all files from the tarball debian-unstable.tar and the whole thing is made bootable with extlinux. You can verify the disk image using qemu.