REMnux Installer
The REMnux installer is a wrapper around Cast that provides a familiar interface for installing and upgrading the REMnux distro. Once installed, the tool is named remnux and resides in /usr/local/bin. You can examine its source code in the REMnux/distro repository on GitHub.
High-Level Workflow
At a high level, the REMnux installer takes the following actions:
Installs or upgrades Cast, verifying the download's integrity using a SHA256 checksum.
Cast retrieves the appropriate release of Salt state files from the REMnux/salt-states repository on GitHub. These state files describe how SaltStack should install and configure the tools.
Cast validates the retrieved state files using the REMnux Cosign signature.
Cast runs SaltStack, directing it to execute state files that correspond to the specified installation mode.
The REMnux installer is presently incompatible with non-transparent proxies.
Installation Modes
The installer supports three modes, specified with the --mode option:
dedicated (default): Sets up a full REMnux system with the REMnux look and feel. Use this for a dedicated REMnux system in a local lab.
addon: Installs REMnux tools without changing the system's look and feel. Use this to add REMnux to an existing system.
cloud: Like dedicated, but keeps the SSH daemon enabled for remote access. Use this for cloud-based deployments.
State File Retrieval and Validation
Cast retrieves Salt state files as a compressed archive from the "releases" area of the REMnux/salt-states repository. After extracting the contents, it places them under /var/cache/cast in a subdirectory named according to the release version.
To validate the integrity of the retrieved archive, Cast uses the REMnux Cosign signature. Each release of the state files is signed with the corresponding REMnux Cosign key, and Cast verifies the signature before applying the state files.
It's possible to retrieve and invoke REMnux state files using SaltStack directly, for example when experimenting with the installation without relying on the REMnux installer.
Installing and Updating REMnux
To install or update your REMnux system to the latest version, run:
You can also use sudo remnux upgrade, which is an alias for install.
To install a specific version of the state files, use the --version option:
If the name of your current user isn't remnux, specify it with the --user option:
To see version and diagnostic information about your REMnux installation:
To check the results of the last installation or update:
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