creating a linux domU

[Iain Hibbert <plunky%ogmig.net@localhost>]

Hi

So my next step is, trying to create a linux domU (I have NetBSD dom0 and 
domU just fine). This is apparently not so easy and I haven't found the 
right answer in any wiki tutorials or guide. This is where I'm at

1. I download a debian installation iso (I also tried arch and centos)

2. copy out vmlinuz and initrd.gz from install.amd/xen from the iso

3. create a raw image file (5Gb zeros)

4. create /usr/pkg/etc/xen/deb.cfg 

name = "deb"
memory = 1024
vcpus = 1
vif = [ "bridge=bridge0" ]
extra = "xencons=tty1"
kernel = "/images/deb/vmlinuz"
ramdisk = "/images/deb/initrd.gz"
disk = [
	"file:/images/deb.img,xvda,w"
,	"file:/var/pub/Linux/debian-10.4.0-amd64-netinst.iso,xvdd,cdrom,r"
]

ok, so now "xl create deb.cfg" boots it up and I can install to the disk 
/dev/xvda seemingly normally (the iso doesn't load as a cdrom so tell it 
the installation is on a hard disk /dev/xvdd). Then the installer reboots 
and I'm stuck.

I have halted and removed the iso from the disk spec, but it still boots 
into the installer. I guess thats in initrd.gz. I can open a shell from 
the installer and poke around in there but no way to get out that I can 
see. The only disk partition I can mount is an EFI partition which doesn't 
offer much.

I have removed the ramdisk spec but the kernel panics because it can't 
find a rootfs. I guess that must be normal?

I can't find any other kernel or ramdisk; surely there would be something 
installed on the disk image I think, but can I get into that from NetBSD 
as it is ext4?  Have tried fuse-ext2 and e2fsprogs with no luck.

I thought I might be able to install or boot as HVM by adding type = "hvm" 
but I just don't understand the error messages. First, I get

  HVM direct kernel boot is not supported by qemu-xen-traditional

so I comment out the kernel line and then I get

  direct boot parameters specified but kernel missing

If I instead try to add bootloader = "pygrub" then I get a different 
error, which is

  Unable to find partition containing kernel

(though I note that the guide/wiki says pygrub is known to be problematic)

Apparently pvgrub is now merged into normal grub but is not enabled in 
pkgsrc, is there a known way to build that?

I've read that recent linux doesn't seem to work on NetBSD but I've tried 
Centos 6.10 and not really any different. I didn't find a download link 
for an older debian.

Any tips here?

iain