New patching program released!

[nickh]

I have just written a new paching program.
Once a patch set is made, distribute the patch set.

The user should then
Copy the patch to hard drive
boot with existing version of Knoppix
mount hard drive r/w
unpack the tar file
run ./applypatch

This will create an .iso of the version you are patching from.

The program is available from
ftp://ftp.nickhill.co.uk/pub/knoppixpatch.tgz

I have also put a copy of a patch file on the FTP temporarily, from version 6/6/03 patching to version 26/7/03. I do not have hosting bandwidth so will be removed soon.

[Fabianx]

I have just written a new paching program.
Once a patch set is made, distribute the patch set.

The user should then
Copy the patch to hard drive
boot with existing version of Knoppix
mount hard drive r/w
unpack the tar file
run ./applypatch

This will create an .iso of the version you are patching from.

The program is available from
ftp://ftp.nickhill.co.uk/pub/knoppixpatch.tgz

I have also put a copy of a patch file on the FTP temporarily, from version 6/6/03 patching to version 26/7/03. I do not have hosting bandwidth so will be removed soon.

I have mirrored the patchset and program:

http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/2003-07-26/knoppixpatch/

Enjoy!

cu

Fabian

[Coume]

Hi :)
It might be a stupid question, but you said it will create an .iso
That means you can then burn the new version of knoppix on a CD, or will this patch also upgrade your hdd-install??

Thxs
Ludo

[nickh]

Hi :)
It might be a stupid question, but you said it will create an .iso
That means you can then burn the new version of knoppix on a CD, or will this patch also upgrade your hdd-install??

Thxs
Ludo

The patch system will not touch your hard drive install. The patch will give you a new ISO.

Knoppix is based on the Excellent Debian system. Once you have installed Knoppix to your hard drive, you can use the Debian Package management system to install and un-install packages as you wish.

You can keep your hard drive-installed Knoppix up to date by having a pointer in /etc/apt/sources.list to the Knoppix package repository, then run:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

You can also use Debian entries as Knoppix is based on selected Debian/unstable packages.

For more information about the comprehensive Debian package management system:
http://electron.mit.edu/~gsteele/debian/

[Coume]

thxs for the answer :)

The only problem with *ME*, is that my laptop that got linux on it does not haave any access to the Internet...
I can only download the package from work/uni and then install them home.. .Which is very very annoying I reckon...
But I cannot get an Internet plug into my small student room :(
And that's why, even if I like knoppix and debian, I'm thinking about installing slackware. The only thing scarying me is the hardware detection...

Ludo

[nickh]

thxs for the answer :)

The only problem with *ME*, is that my laptop that got linux on it does not haave any access to the Internet...
I can only download the package from work/uni and then install them home.. .Which is very very annoying I reckon...
But I cannot get an Internet plug into my small student room :(
And that's why, even if I like knoppix and debian, I'm thinking about installing slackware. The only thing scarying me is the hardware detection...

Ludo

Three options:
1) Create a (a set) of package CDs based on current Knoppix sources. Use this to update your system. You will need another GNU/Linux machine connected to the Internet to create this. The process is automated.

2) Save /home /etc and /var/spool /var/lib/mysql /var/mail (perhaps others) in a safe place- perhaps another partition. Install the new version of Knoppix. Once you have installed the latest knoppix, write a script into rcS.d, set to run early, remounting the directories over the newer Knoppix directories using mount --bind. All your settings will then be kept between re-installs.

3) If you decide to go slack, tar -zcf etc.tgz /etc; cp tar.zcf /mnt/floppy. You will then be able to refer to the hw configuration your Knoppix uses.

[Coume]

I was not aware that I wa able to keep my config when I was upgrading knoppix with a hdd-install :)
Before I always had to reinstall everything...

And thanks very much for the tips regading the hardware config! it will be useful if I decide to go under another distri...

Ludo

[gsocat]

Hi :)
It might be a stupid question, but you said it will create an .iso
That means you can then burn the new version of knoppix on a CD, or will this patch also upgrade your hdd-install??

Thxs
Ludo

The patch system will not touch your hard drive install. The patch will give you a new ISO.

Knoppix is based on the Excellent Debian system. Once you have installed Knoppix to your hard drive, you can use the Debian Package management system to install and un-install packages as you wish.

You can keep your hard drive-installed Knoppix up to date by having a pointer in /etc/apt/sources.list to the Knoppix package repository, then run:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

You can also use Debian entries as Knoppix is based on selected Debian/unstable packages.

For more information about the comprehensive Debian package management system:
http://electron.mit.edu/~gsteele/debian/

What are the entries for the Knoppix package repository that should be listed in sources.list?

Thanks...

[nickh]

What are the entries for the Knoppix package repository that should be listed in sources.list?

Thanks...

deb http://developer.linuxtag.net/knoppix/i386 ./
deb-src http://developer.linuxtag.net/knoppix/sources ./

[lch]

Hello,
This patch program a good idea.
But I wonder if you have considered using the excellent jigdo program available from Debian site 'http://www.debian.org/CD/jigdo-cd/' to update the CD images.
I use it from months to keep my official Debian CDs up-to-date.
Regards
--Laurent

[nickh]

Hello,
This patch program a good idea.
But I wonder if you have considered using the excellent jigdo program available from Debian site 'http://www.debian.org/CD/jigdo-cd/' to update the CD images.
I use it from months to keep my official Debian CDs up-to-date.
Regards
--Laurent

The Knoppix CD is very different from a CD of debian packages. The Knoppix CD is a live file system which does not contain deb files. Instead it is a compressed filesystem image containing a fully installed Debian system. If I attempted to create a patching program based on deb files, the output CD would not reflect configuration changes and programs not installed into Knoppix through the deb package manager. The inconsistencies would be a significant disadvantage. Even if I could make this approach work, the size of deb files needed to patch one version to the next will often exceed the size of the patch my progam creates as a small change in a package results in a new deb which would be comparatively large. For example, a common KDE update would be 100-150Mb alone. A KDE update through my patch system may only take 20Mb, assuming it has been compiled with the same compiler and same compiler flags.

Regards


Nick.