These instructions only works for Debian/Squeeze or later as debirf was neither included nor working...


1) Install DNSmasq

2) Configure DNSmasq in /etc/dnsmasq.conf
  2.1) enable line
         dhcp-range=192.168.5.100,192.168.5.200,12h
  2.2) add line  
         dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0,master,192.168.5.1
  2.3) remember to only bind to one interface
         interface=eth1
  2.4) DNSmasq contains a built-in TFTP server - uncomment
         enable-tftp
  2.5) set TFTP root
         tftp-root=/var/lib/tftpboot

3) reboot to ensure dnsmasq gets free access to network

4) Install pxelinux
  4.1) copy pxelinux.0 to TFTP home
         cp /usr/lib/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /var/lib/tftpboot/

5) PXElinux needs a config dir in /var/lib/tftpboot/ with PXE boot info
     mkdir /var/lib/tftboot/pxelinux.cfg/
     cat <<EOF >>/var/lib/tftboot/pxelinux.cfg/C0A805
DISPLAY boot.txt
DEFAULT linux
LABEL linux
  kernel vmlinuz
  append initrd=initrd.gz
EOF

Now we need to prepare a initrd that only runs in RAM - a small, nice script
for this is included in Debian: debirf

The example "minimal" from /usr/share/doc/debirf/example-profiles/minimal.tgz is a good starting point
Build it using "debirf make minimal"
Two new files are made that contains an initrd and a kernel for PXE booting - copy those to /var/lib/tftpboot and test booting.

Time to customize debirf:

1) Network is in "minimal" not enabled at boot
  1.1) change minimal/modules/network from a link to a file:
         rm network && cp .../network .
  1.2) Update the etc/network/interfaces embedded in network-script
-iface dhcp inet dhcp
+auto eth0
+iface eth0 inet dhcp
 EOF
 
 # reset /etc/resolv.conf
 > "${DEBIRF_ROOT}/etc/resolv.conf"
 
-# add network note to /etc/motd.tail
-cat <<EOF >> "${DEBIRF_ROOT}/etc/motd.tail"
-If you have a network interface (ie. "eth0"), you can bring it up with:
-ifup eth0=dhcp
-(you can list available network interfaces with 'ifconfig -a')
-==================================================
-EOF

2) Create a new file in minimal/modules called distcc:
<<>>
#!/bin/bash

debirf_exec aptitude --assume-yes install gcc distcc

cat <<EOF > "${DEBIRF_ROOT}/etc/default/distcc"
STARTDISTCC="true"
ALLOWEDNETS="127.0.0.1 192.168.5.0/24"
JOBS="3"
ZEROCONF="true"
EOF
<<>>