~/etc/

[lilliput]

sorry i was not login and make mistake /* */
_____________________________________
Ok I found a solution to install *.deb;
___________
dpkg -x name.deb ~/.root/usr
___________
and for compile a src ..
./configure --prefix=~/.root/usr
make
make install
___________
it was enough simple .. !!
so now we have to look for the /etc ...

[lilliput]

question to sireasoning;

Why do you want to put all the application and config file in ~
(/ramdisk/home/knoppix).
why knoppix and not directtly in /ramdisk/home/.usr
in case more than we add user ..?
Have you some idea to ./etc

I think all our modifications must be load & run in the "preknoppix.sh" script ..

[sireasoning]

question to sireasoning;

Why do you want to put all the application and config file in ~
(/ramdisk/home/knoppix).
why knoppix and not directtly in /ramdisk/home/.usr
in case more than we add user ..?
Have you some idea to ./etc

I think all our modifications must be load & run in the "preknoppix.sh" script ..

Actually, that is a pretty good idea as long as persistant home covers the /home directory and not just /home/knoppix.

This may actually offer a way to have different setups for different computers:

for instance:
/home/bootscript (or some other more flattering name... maybe bs for short) could be the root change directory.
Then you would create subdirectories for each instance.... like /home/bootscript/laptop and /home/bootscript/generic
from there you could have the root tree with all /etc and /var files being copied over to the main root tree, all /bin; /sbin; /usr/sbin/; /usr/sbin; /usr/local/bin; /usr/local/sbin being added to the beginning of the PATH and whatever we could do to have the libraries, etc added to the PATH so that the new tree files have precedence. With the persistent home option, one could therefore choose which root tree one wants at bootup.

The main obstacles to this approach would be during installation and shutdown.
For instance, installation would need a choice as to which of the new root directories (or how many of them) would get the new installations, whenever the system is shut down, which changed files from /var and/etc go where. Having these options does add a layer of complication. However for the short run, if we can get past the libraries, and other mentioned issues (which I am sure someone out there knows how to do) then we can have a single profile that should be workable, with a framework for multiple profiles in place.

It can be simple at boot to do a profile=laptop or profile=generic at boot. This could also allow for a modification to the knoppix bootscript for running certain services or disabling others, adding in needed modules (or updates), etc. Maybe even storing the kernel source (or downloading when needed without having to store it). This really expands the functionality of knoppix!

[lilliput]

could we have soon a talk on the irc #knoppix channel ?
Could be more constructive and fast than here ..
Today I'm busy but saturday or sunday i would be free ..tell me when and i'll try to be at time;;

other people could come too of course !!

So hope to chat with you soon ..

[sireasoning]

Where do you live? Setting a time can be challenging from different time zones :-}

I live -6 from GMT (Central Time Zone USA)

[Schwarze]

Great idea to meet on irc! Maybe we can tweak KPH a little to meet the needs...

I'd really like to join, but i'm +1 GMT ;(
So, just to have a time base for further discussions: How about Sunday at 20:00 GMT?
I hope 2 pm is ok for you, sireasoning?!

Matthias

[sireasoning]

I am more of a night person. You are most likely to catch me after midnight my time... and I often stay up til 5-6am. That would probably be morning for you....

[lilliput]

time in GMT ..? ..

[sireasoning]

midnight here is probably 6am GMT (I am -6 hours). It is currently close to 3am my time and I am getting ready to pop in for a few and see if anyone is there....

[Dave_Bechtel]

--I haven't read the whole thread yet, so this may be a hasty reply; but here goes...

1. It would seem the best way to implement this, is to (eventually, after some testing) get it into the Knoppix "Main tree" - i.e. Klaus's ISO images. That way everyone benefits w/o extra work + DL's.

2. My easy solution for etc: Knoppix creates the initial /etc by copying from the CD, then user customizations are copied in -- to do this, /etc will probably have to be moved to /ramdisk or somewhere, and our memory requirements may go up (again. Used to be 16MB of RAM was sufficient... ;-) After /etc is stabilized, we resume startup, so apps from here on in will grab the custom stuff.

3. Modify the boot-en.img with a cheatcode to ask for a 2nd disk that contains the user's custom stuff, or to have the user type in a path to where it lives (/dev/sda, /dev/hdb1, /dev/hda1 @ /knoppix-phome.tar.gz or whatever. Jorge Garcia will probably love me for suggesting this. :lol: ) This will probably involve freeing up space on the 1.44 floppy image, which may be problematical. However, once the basic functionality is there, the end-user can then write their own code to the .img if need be, to permanently tell Knoppix where to look. (gunzip miniroot.gz to somewhere, mount it as loop, edit, re-gzip -9, cp back to .img).

--I'm going thru the rest of the thread, but just wanted to put these thoughts down 1st.

Update:

4. We should standardize on a particular filesystem, if a 2nd disk will be asked for. Floppies don't pose much of a problem, but...

5. USB pen-drives (AFAIK) only support FAT(32?), but Minix filesystem would also be worth considering for user-custom stuff, esp. as you can exec files + scripts from it; and it's more efficient. A Minix file/system (my recommendation is 20-30MB max size for easy Download, but should be less) could be on the Fat32 partition and mounted as loop, and then we could have additional *code* on the pendrive or whatever. BTW, this is also where you could store your "root directory override" stuff.

5a. (User-space issue: we'd need instructions for them on how to put the code on the drive, or just put a file up for DL and tell them how to copy the file to the 2nd-stage disk.)

5b. We'd have to umount the loop tho once done, no need to waste resources. (Unless the USB drive is where the root-override is.)

5c. The USB pendrive solution would prolly have to have a whole other cheatcode and code-section devoted to it, but also has the potential to be used with Zip drives and the like (they're mounted as SCSI. I dunno about LS120.) Modules (ppa, imm) would need to be added to boot-en.img if they don't exist there yet. (See "freeing up space on the floppy image".)

6. I just realized that Knoppix "/" is only like 2Meg. We could move the entire root directory to the Pendrive! Of course, we'd be in a world of hurt if it got disconnected, but at least the Zipdrive ppl would be Ok. ;-)

the main problem with that approach is when you change computers (one of benefits of Knoppix). That is why only certain files need to be changeable in ~/.etc (and supercede /etc) and then let knoppix auto create all others. How does one make /home/knoppix/.etc supercede /etc? Is there a path statement for config files?

I have replaced /usr/local with ~/bin although I like that idea. What about ~/local? That would only require a change of the path statement to include /home/knoppix/local/bin. That should be minor enough to be included, esp in conjunction with persistant home.