Remastering - The easy way

**mwgrenier** · 08-20-2004, 04:51 AM

In remaster_create(), it seems to assume that we are running KNOPPIX from the CD on the machine that we are using for remastering.

Note the line:

Code:

cp -a /KNOPPIX/* $REMASTER_CHOICE/

It would be good if we could specify the location or device that hold the original master image, e.g. /dev/cdrom.

I'm currently running from a hard disk installed Knoppix (Thanks Fabian for that script as well)

Let me know if I'm missing something.

**locutus** · 08-20-2004, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by mwgrenier

In remaster_create(), it seems to assume that we are running KNOPPIX from the CD on the machine that we are using for remastering.

Note the line:

Code:

cp -a /KNOPPIX/* $REMASTER_CHOICE/

It would be good if we could specify the location or device that hold the original master image, e.g. /dev/cdrom.

I'm currently running from a hard disk installed Knoppix (Thanks Fabian for that script as well)

Let me know if I'm missing something.

It's listed in this thread that you currently must remaster from the CD but you can also run with the "fromhd=" cheatcode to allow for quicker operation and free up the CDROM drive to write the new images.

BTW, since you have the script, you can change it to meet your needs. ie, just change that line of code to point to your own "KNOPPIX" data image.

**heldersepu** · 08-21-2004, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Fabianx

Hi guys,
greetings from UKUUG, which did end yesterday.
I have been quite busy and you can see the result here:
http://www.ukuug.org/events/linux2004/knoppix.shtml
Fabian

Hello Hello

First of all THANK YOU Fabian for the remastering script.
I'm getting an error when I run the script,
after it copies all the files to the partition (hdb1)
I select the option #1 to chroot, the script ends and I receive this...

mount: fs type sysfs not supported by kernel

the first time it happened I thought it might be the Ext3 format
I reformat the partition to Ext2, but nothing, it breaks in the same point
I've tried it several times, always same error
no idea what's going on,

My PC is P4 1.70 Ghz, 786 MB of RAM
2 hard drives
Master --> 2 NTFS partitions (hda1, hda2)
Slave --> 1 Ext3(6Gb) 1 Swap(1Gb)

In the process I took some snapshots if U want I can send it to U
feel free to Email me at heldersepu@yahoo.com

Thank U in advance
Helder

**locutus** · 08-21-2004, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by heldersepu

Originally Posted by Fabianx

Hi guys,
greetings from UKUUG, which did end yesterday.
I have been quite busy and you can see the result here:
http://www.ukuug.org/events/linux2004/knoppix.shtml
Fabian

Hello Hello

First of all THANK YOU Fabian for the remastering script.
I'm getting an error when I run the script,
after it copies all the files to the partition (hdb1)
I select the option #1 to chroot, the script ends and I receive this...

mount: fs type sysfs not supported by kernel

the first time it happened I thought it might be the Ext3 format
I reformat the partition to Ext2, but nothing, it breaks in the same point
I've tried it several times, always same error
no idea what's going on,

My PC is P4 1.70 Ghz, 786 MB of RAM
2 hard drives
Master --> 2 NTFS partitions (hda1, hda2)
Slave --> 1 Ext3(6Gb) 1 Swap(1Gb)

In the process I took some snapshots if U want I can send it to U
feel free to Email me at heldersepu@yahoo.com

Thank U in advance
Helder

I get the same "mount" error but it looks like it still works. Looking at the script, it must be complaining when it mounts /sys since it's the sysfs error getting reported. I'm running apt-get update now so I can't check to see if /sys is or isn't mounted.

**locutus** · 08-21-2004, 09:54 PM

I'm still wondering what the reason is for a different size iso image when this script is run to create a duplicate/no-change system.

If this question has been answered before, just say so and I'll go back to looking for it. Thanks.

**locutus** · 08-22-2004, 06:33 PM

I'm not sure if anybody is following this but I mentioned earlier that one could use the "tohd=" and "fromhd=" cheatcodes to enable booting from the CD for remastering with this script but also to then free up the CD drive for burning a master. One thing I left out was that you'll need to copy the rest of the CD's root contents( and boot directory ) to the root partition of where you're using "fromhd=" for. This is because the script goes out and gets the rest of the CD for the boot images and the rest of the remastered CD stuff.

As a side note:
My remastered image ends up being 714MB while the initial Knoppix v3.4 CD image is 689MB with the default compression. I'll see what the change in the config file( option 5? ) does when optimized compression is enabled.

It looks like this script is going to be a great place to start for many remasterers.
Good work and thanks to the author.

**redss** · 08-23-2004, 05:33 PM

locutus: I for one am following this thread, as I am in the midst of trying it myself.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe for "fromhd=" the only additional thing that needs to be copied from the CD is the boot directory. Especially if you change konquerors startup page by modifying /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession.

Since chrooting allows you to apt-get and dpkg etc, I wonder what the advantages are of booting into the image with "fromhd="? It would be useful to verify that the new installation works, but I'd be paranoid of leaving extra temporary files behind.

I'm also curious if the final image size needs to be <700 Mb because ultimately I will transfer the image to a 1 Gb compact flash card with ide adaptor (I'll be following the instructions on this excellent page:
http://staff.washington.edu/gray/KnoppixCFguide.html )

**redss** · 08-24-2004, 04:33 AM

locutus: I'm having a problem booting using the "fromhd=" cheatcode.

my knoppix remaster is in /mnt/hda2/remaster, so what exactly would my fromhd string be? And where exactly would I copy the boot directory from the CD, would it be into /mnt/hda2/boot?

**locutus** · 08-24-2004, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by redss

locutus: I'm having a problem booting using the "fromhd=" cheatcode.

my knoppix remaster is in /mnt/hda2/remaster, so what exactly would my fromhd string be? And where exactly would I copy the boot directory from the CD, would it be into /mnt/hda2/boot?

The fromhd= needs to point to a partition having the /KNOPPIX directory at the root level and it's the whole /KNOPPIX directory from the CD IIRC though it might just need the KNOPPIX compressed image file. I'm not sure you can point it deep into your filesystem to find your remastered xxxx/KNOPPIX directory or not.

You are probably right on needing only the /boot directory since the other stuff is fluff. But then again, I'm initially interested in matching the abilities of the Knoppix creators so I know I'm remastering correctly and I plan on building CD images so I need things to fit.

As I stated earlier, the reason for using fromhd= is so the CDROM "DRIVE" is available for burning to CD. If you are not doing this then obviously you don't need this capability. Isn't it "sweet" how the CF format maps to IDE so easily? Makes for a nice solid state only system.

**redss** · 08-24-2004, 07:36 PM

Here is the source of confusion with tohd:

The 4th line in Fabians directions say "sudo ./knoppix-remaster /mnt/hda7/remaster"

But if you want to boot into it with "tohd=" cheatcode, I believe you'd need to remaster into the root directory of the partition (/mnt/hda7) rather than a subdirectory called "remaster".

My guess is that if you create the remaster in the root directory of a partition then you'd need to create the iso in a DIFFERENT partition, so having a separate partition just for the iso would be advised.

BTW I haven't tried the knoppix on compact flash yet, but per the article above, at least one person got it working. If anyone else has tried this please let me know how it went!