Install in user mode?

[Skunk Worx]

Tom Horsley wrote:
> Is there any technique out there (I've seen vague references
> to "cluster manager") that will allow me to do the equivalent
> of installing fedora in user mode to a disk image file?
> 
> In other words, I want to be able to do the install without
> taking down the system, but instead simply install to a
> filesystem image on disk or an actual physical disk drive.
> 
> Then I could pop the drive in another box, or boot it as a VM,
> etc.
> 
> I'm not actually needing this for anything, I'm just curious
> if this sort of thing has been done, and if so, what I should
> be reading to find out more :-).
> 

livecd-creator (from the livecd-tools package) can create a bootable iso 
  from a kickstart file.

I use this tool and burn the resulting isos to media for testing.

Apparently some people on the fedora-livecd-list have booted the images 
in VMs.

If the ks file has the anaconda-runtime package in the package list, the 
iso boot menu will display an option to install the system to a hard drive.

livecd-creator requires root access to create the temporary image space 
though.

---
John