Feature request: write final image into custom file or device

[jimis]

I would like to download and prepare an image using rpi-imager, but write it into a custom file.

The goal is to do further work on the image, before I copy it into one or several SD cards.

P.S. The help text shows an argument <image file to write> but this seems to serve a different purpose.

rpi-imager [--debug] [--version] [--repo <repository URL>] [--qm <custom qm translation file>] [--disable-telemetry] [<image file to write>]
-OR- rpi-imager --cli [--disable-verify] [--sha256 <expected hash>] [--debug] [--quiet] <image file to write> <destination drive device>

[maxnet]

P.S. The help text shows an argument <image file to write> but this seems to serve a different purpose.

Yes, that is "source file" instead. However you do can simply specify a "destination file" as the "destination drive device" parameter. But in that case you do need to suppress the safety check that verifies if the specified destination is in the list of removable drives as well.

E.g.:

$ rpi-imager --cli --enable-writing-system-drives https://releases.libreelec.tv/LibreELEC-RPi4.arm-10.0.3.img.gz test.img
WARNING: writing to system drives is enabled.
Write successful.                         
$ ls -l test.img
-rw-rw-r-- 1 max max 575668224 Dec  4 17:37 test.img

[lurch]

...although I'm not sure why you need to use rpi-imager to do that?

$ wget -q -O- https://releases.libreelec.tv/LibreELEC-RPi4.arm-10.0.3.img.gz | gunzip > test.img
$ ls -l test.img
-rw-rw-r-- 1 andrew andrew 575668224 Dec  4 16:52 test.img

[jimis]

Thanks! Unfortunately that doesn't seem to work in GUI mode.

I want to use the GUI to do the basic setup (network setup, enable SSH, set username, set locale).

[maxnet]

Thanks! Unfortunately that doesn't seem to work in GUI mode.

Sorry, prefer not to allow writing arbitrary devices there.

I want to use the GUI to do the basic setup (network setup, enable SSH, set username, set locale).

If you write a customized SD card once, and steal the firstrun.sh from the FAT partition, Imager v1.7.4 do can apply the same firstrun.sh to later images.

rpi-imager --cli --first-run-script firstrun.sh [image file/url] [device to write to]

(option was added for automated testing recently. Imager v1.7.4 is not released yet, but you do can compile it from source, or grab a .deb here).

[jimis]

If the file firstrun.sh is all that is needed, would it be possible to only write that one somewhere?

[maxnet]

If the file firstrun.sh is all that is needed, would it be possible to only write that one somewhere?

If it is a RPI OS based OS you can manually toss on the FAT partition:

• firstrun.sh
• a modified cmdline.txt that has systemd.run=/boot/firstrun.sh systemd.run_success_action=reboot systemd.unit=kernel-command-line.target on the same line as existing options.

If it's an Ubuntu based OS you need the following files on the FAT partition instead:

• user-data
• network-config

[jimis]

If the file firstrun.sh is all that is needed, would it be possible to only write that one somewhere?

Is it possible for rpi-imager to write only this file somewhere, instead of writing the full image? This way I could customize this file and then manually add it to the installation image.

Thank you for the information, you have already provided very useful insight in what rpi-imager actually does.

[maxnet]

Is it possible for rpi-imager to write only this file somewhere, instead of writing the full image?

No. Although it does print it to console for debugging purposes if you start "rpi-imager" from terminal and "save" the custom settings.

(Do need to replace \n with a real new line, and other \ escape characters as well in that output)