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Thread: Ramdisk and partial remastering in Knoppix 7

  1. #11
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    You can read more about the options I used in the man page of mkisofs ( 8 )
    -cache-inodes
    Cache inode and device numbers to find hard links to files. If mkisofs finds a hard link (a file with multiple names), then the file will only appear once on the CD. This helps to save space on the CD. The option -cache-inodes is default on UNIX like operating systems. Be careful when using this option on a filesystem without unique inode numbers as it may result in files containing the wrong content on CD.
    -hide-rr-moved
    Rename the directory RR_MOVED to .rr_moved in the Rock Ridge tree. It seems to be impossible to completely hide the RR_MOVED directory from the Rock Ridge tree. This option only makes the visible tree better to understand for people who don't know what this directory is for. If you need to have no RR_MOVED directory at all, you should use the -D option. Note that in case that the -D option has been specified, the resulting filesystem is not ISO9660 level-1 compliant and will not be readable on MS-DOS. See also NOTES section for more information on the RR_MOVED directory.
    -no-bak
    Do not include backup files files on the iso9660 filesystem. If the -no-bak option is specified, files that contain the characters '~' or '#' or end in '.bak' will not be included (these are typically backup files for editors under unix).
    -pad
    Pad the end of the whole image by 150 sectors (300 kB). If the option -B is used, then there is a padding at the end of the iso9660 partition and before the beginning of the boot partitions. The size of this padding is chosen to make the first boot partition start on a sector number that is a multiple of 16.

    The padding is needed as many operating systems (e.g. Linux) implement read ahead bugs in their filesystem I/O. These bugs result in read errors on one or more files that are located at the end of a track. They are usually present when the CD is written in Track at Once mode or when the disk is written as mixed mode CD where an audio track follows the data track.

    To avoid problems with I/O error on the last file on the filesystem, the -pad option has been made the default.
    -x path
    Exclude path from being written to CDROM. path must be the complete pathname that results from concatenating the pathname given as command line argument and the path relative to this directory. Multiple paths may be excluded. Example:
    Code:
     mkisofs -o cd -x /local/dir1 -x /local/dir2 /local
    NOTE: The -m and -x option description should both be updated, they are wrong. Both now work identical and use filename globbing. A file is excluded if either the last component matches or the whole path matches.
    At least -pad seems to be unnecessary with new versions of mkisofs.

  2. #12
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    Thanks, klaus2008. This helps a lot.

    I still am confused over man mkisofs and the die.net version of mkisofs(8). For example, the B option seems to be quite different. Is there really much hazard for the less experienced Knoppix user, such as myself, to disregard many-if not all of these options, and just do something 'simple' like the following ?
    Code:
     sudo mkisofs -R -U KNOPPIX-DATA | create_compressed_fs -B 131072 -m - - > /mnt-system/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX2
    On the excludes, will wild-card specs work? I've found these handy to lighten things up. Such as the excludes in tar:
    Code:
     --exclude=*/Cache/* --exclude=*/cache/*

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by klaus2008 View Post
    Hello utu!

    When I read Klaus Knopper's post on the mailing list I decided to try the remastering procedure from the live system myself.

    I use a kind of Poor man's install of Knoppix V 7.0.2 inside a VirtualBox 4.1.16. I copied the content of the DVD to the directory knx702 and use Grub as bootloader.

    I think that a typical session looks as follows.

    1. Boot with "noimage" cheat code.

    2. Open root terminal.

    3. Issue the following commands.
    Code:
    apt-get update
    apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
    apt-get clean
    Of course, there are many more useful packages that are not included in the public version of Knoppix 7.0.2 since they are not free like unrar for example.

    4. Create the archive file KNOPPIX1 from the ramdisk. The options used for makeisofs are the usual ones taken from the "Remastering howto". I use a temporary file on the virtual HDD since I do not have more than 1 GB of RAM available inside my virtual machine. I exclude some directories with files I consider not useful for the archive. Maybe there are more directories.
    Code:
    mkisofs -R -U -V "KNOPPIX1 filesystem" -P "KNOPPIX1" \
     -hide-rr-moved -cache-inodes -no-bak -pad \
     -x /ramdisk/var/lib/apt/lists -x /ramdisk/dev \
     -x /ramdisk/var/log -x /ramdisk/var/run /ramdisk | nice -5 \
     /usr/sbin/create_compressed_fs -b -B 65536 \
     -f /mnt-system/knx702/isotemp - /mnt-system/knx702/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX1
    5. Reboot and enjoy Flash videos in Iceweasel.

    Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
    Just to expand a bit on this:
    1. I wonder if VMware Workstation/Player could be an even better platform for this kind of work? And Qemu is rather versatile in my experience, running KNOPPIX directly.
    2. Re Utu's question about KNOPPIX2, I also wonder if rolling auxiliary images together might be a better alternative than juggling with several of them. But maybe there isn't any easy way to do this, short of complete remastering?
    3. Could setting up a script, which handles the alternatives of writing /ramdisk to an image file or to a cloop, be a rather universal solution to most problems encountered running from USB sticks?
    4. Is there any principal difference between cloop and squashfs in this context? I would think squashfs would be even simpler, avoiding the file system setup pipe. Or am I mistaken?
    Last edited by Capricorny; 06-20-2012 at 01:05 PM.

  4. #14
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    Recapitulation

    .
    This is not to take away from heretofore 'standard' re-mastering procedure(s) but to
    highlight a subtle refinement in using Knoppix that accomplishes much of what one hopes to
    achieve by re-mastering, or making backups of some kind. This alternative is elegant
    in minimizing the resources required in re-mastering, including time.
    I'm re-wording here to collapse into one post what previously spread over several posts.

    Assuming for example that KNOPPIX1 was the previous compressed image update,
    to stack another compressed image update with the previous, use the following magic incantation:

    cd /
    sudo mkisofs -R -U KNOPPIX-DATA | create_compressed_fs -B 131072 -m - - > /mnt-system/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX2

    Then reboot, using 'knoppix noimage' or to see if it all works like it did using the previous
    persistence file.

    If so, move knoppix-data.img from /mnt-system/KNOPPIX/ to /mnt-system/ temporarily and reboot,
    this time without the 'noimage' cheatcode. This should allow you to re-establish persistence.
    Then, re-verify that KNOPPIX2 is doing what if ought. When you are sure KNOPPIX2 and persistence
    are ok, remove the 'old' knoppix-data.img in /mnt-system/, not the 'new' one in /mnt-system/KNOPPIX/.

    You may use PCManFM to move things around, but don't count on PCManFM to remove things;
    use root and rm to remove files.
    init's mountunion() looks like you may have up to ten such upgrades, if you have enough space
    on your LiveUSB

    Recapitulation: We can have a full-DVD-size LiveUSB on an 8 Gb Class 10 SDHC device. This device
    may be serially updated with compressed image additions without requiring any additional workspace;
    without requiring any additional system, real or virtual, to manage this process; and without
    any significant time expenditure for these performing these updates.
    The convenience of temporary persistence may be maintained, while greatly reducing the magnitude
    of the hazard in occasional inadvertent ruination of this 'persistent' image, since these
    successive updates preserve well-tested material in more safely situated in more permanent
    compressed images.
    Last edited by utu; 06-20-2012 at 02:30 PM.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by utu View Post
    .
    Recapitulation: We can have a full-DVD-size LiveUSB on an 8 Gb Class 10 SDHC device. This device
    may be serially updated with compressed image additions without requiring any additional workspace;
    without requiring any additional system, real or virtual, to manage this process; and without
    any significant time expenditure for these performing these updates.
    The convenience of temporary persistence may be maintained, while greatly reducing the magnitude
    of the hazard in occasional inadvertent ruination of this 'persistent' image, since these
    successive updates preserve well-tested material in more safely situated in more permanent
    compressed images.
    For more heavy installs. I will strongly recommend using a 16 GB stick, for in this scheme nothing is ever purged, which means, for example, that you will get several instances of the apt data, essentially one on each KNOPPIX[N] image. In my own use case, I have by now purged about 2GB of programs/data, and added about 3 GB on 7.0.2. Of course, this is "real world" use of Knoppix, and most users might do less, but if I had used this method, I would have had about 6GB total in cloop images by now, and I advise people to be defensive with regard to the space overhead of different copy/compress/backup methods.

    It does not go on indefinitely, for the vast majority of uses, 16GB media will be enough. I have also experimented with >4GB persistent image, for example using several (uncompressed) image files, but I think an adaptation of the method presented here is better in most cases.
    I think this is also a nice illustration of what I have come to think is the basic rule of remastering: If you don't know exactly why you need it, and why the alternatives are indequate, don't do it.

    I'd like to mention one way this can bu used for (sort of) incremental backups: If you call the KNOPPIX[1|2|3...] images something else, for example knoppix-20120620.cloop, and store it at your backup location, while you continue to use the same knoppix-data.img at next boot, instead of forcing creation of a new image, you may cloop-mount this image and recreate the knoppix-data.img of that day from it. They may of course grow ever larger, but if you purge your persistent image, they may also shrink.

    Myself, I make tarballs (.tgz files) of the knoppix-data.img for backups, but this way, I don't have the chance to start afresh with the persistent image without remastering - like I can if I decide to use the cloop backup as KNOPPIX1 and start a new .img file. I should add that I don't use the persistent store for much data - they are stored on a volume mounted on /store in my setup, and this volume is stable across OS versions and backed up separately. Some of it dates back to Slackware days of 1995..
    Last edited by Capricorny; 06-20-2012 at 09:42 PM.

  6. #16
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    Minimizing and minimizing..

    Quote Originally Posted by utu View Post
    .
    This is not to take away from heretofore 'standard' re-mastering procedure(s) but to
    highlight a subtle refinement in using Knoppix that accomplishes much of what one hopes to
    achieve by re-mastering, or making backups of some kind. This alternative is elegant
    in minimizing the resources required in re-mastering, including time.
    A full remastering of a Poor Man's Install using squashfs needs about 12GB temporary space, for example on a Windows partition, and it can take 15-20 minutes. For precise timings of an actual process, see my squashfs report, #7 in http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/298...l=1#post127051 So while minimization is obviously correct, the savings achieved may be less than impressive. IMHO, the relevant reasons for using this kind of scheme is to improve workflow, backup safety etc. That a full remastering can be done with a minimum of work, doesn't mean one should do it. On the contrary, the easier it is, the more careful one should be about checking out alternatives.

  7. #17
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    How things are stacking-up

    .
    I've had great success in successively updating my Knoppix 7.0.2 DVD-size LiveUSB
    using the process of stacking successive compressed images mentioned by Klaus K in
    the link noted in my Post #1. This is a LiveUSB on an 8 Gb Class 10 SDHC made using
    a Knoppix 7.0.2 LiveCD. At present, I have 230 Mb unused of my 500 Mb persistence,
    and have 3.1 GB unused in /mnt-system.

    I consider success in this instance is in being able to efficiently save whatever
    small increments I develop in my LiveUSB, and to do so in such a fashion that
    the occasional inadvertent ruination of tweaks stored only temporarily is 'no big deal'.

    My KNOPPIX1, in 31 Mb, contains the bulk of my usual tweaks, except flash;
    my KNOPPIX2, in 85 Mb, contains flash, an ntfs revision and Hidden Gems.
    My current KNOPPIX-DATA has only a few new tweaks, so it hardly qualifies yet
    for moving to the safety of KNOPPIX3.
    These two new compressed images added about eight seconds to my boot-up time.

    If one starts out with a LiveUSB and persistence, one may disregard ramdisk as a
    necessary special case. The little program I use for this progression is as follows.
    I have only chosen to automate a few of the steps, leaving several simple procedures
    that require some judgment to the process as outlined in my Post #14.

    Code:
    #!/bin/bash
    # Declare Integer count
    #
    # ~/text/smite: remember to do 'chmod +x backup' & 'chown root:root smite'
    # Activate in /home/knoppix/text as sudo ./smite
    #
    IMGDIR=/mnt-system/KNOPPIX/; count=1
    cd $IMGDIR; for dir in KNOPPIX[0-9]; do let count++; done
    UPDIMG=$IMGDIR'KNOPPIX'$count
    
    # No more than 9 images allowed
    if [ "$count" -gt  9 ]; then echo 'Too many images; exiting.'; exit 0; fi
    
    cd /KNOPPIX-DATA/; sudo mkisofs -x '*[Cc]ache*' -x '*.wine*' -R -U etc home root usr var| \
    create_compressed_fs -B 131072 -m - - > $UPDIMG
    
    exit 0
    So far, it is my impression that for the purpose of progressing one's LiveUSB by
    stacking successive images one may disregard a lot of the mkisofs options that are
    required to define an iso for a bootable CD or for handling non-Linux files.
    The exclude option is one that IS essential, to allow editing of what's ultimately saved.

    I'd be pleased to hear of anyone else's experience with this stacking idea.

  8. #18
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    Just one technical remark about number of images handled. I haven't tried the cloops, but for ordinary loop the busybox version used seems to be limited in number. Has anybody tried how many will actually be mounted of KNOPPIX..KNOPPIX9? All, as we should hope for, or less?

    BTW, I wonder how a subversion repo would work for persistent store backup with the modest amount of data/files we have there after remastering. I think about trying it myself, but if anybody already has, it would be interesting to hear about the experiences. The rationale is that it is inefficient to back up the image file often when the actual changes made are only to a limited number of files.

  9. #19
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    Look at mountunion() in init

    Quote Originally Posted by utu View Post
    init's mountunion() looks like you may have up to ten such upgrades, if you have enough space on your LiveUSB
    From an earlier post.

  10. #20
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    Init's mountunion() has no influence on busybox's capabilitites, I would think.

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