HOWTO: Remaster the easy way using menu based scripts

Got it,
its not a perfect solution and I dont know why it works/didnt works.

Ill be glad if anyone will find a better way to make it work and without the errors it gives.

stage 1:
to make your menu and X-windows the way you want I do as follow:

vi /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession

comment out lines 125 - 154

and save the file.
(comment out is putting # at the start of each line).

stage 2:

vi /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig

at line 1181 after the fi in new line i add:
mkdir /home/knoppix
cp -R /etc/skel/.??* /home/knoppix
chown -R knoppix:knoppix /home/knoppix


make steps 2 & 3 and burn the iso.

thanks again for the author for making this HOWTO,
it saved me alot of time and I hope the steps here will help others (even if its not perfect solution.)

thanks.

I found the solution just tried it now and it worked in my case without any errors. Just before making the Compressed Filesystem step in this How To I reboted the machine and boot into the normal environment made modifications in menu using menu editor and then from root shell I synchronised the runnig system, with the system on hard drive.

Code:

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sudo rsync -a /home/knoppix/ /mnt/hda2/remaster/etc/skel/

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then boot again from run level 2

and run the script.

worked just fine.

Many people are complaining about the menus (including me). I don't know what method you are using to test your remaster (most poeple might have tried "knoppix 2" and then at the command prompt "startx", I guess). Doing so is indeed a problem as the menus are restored to default. The solution I found was to boot into "knoppix", fire a nested X server from one terminal, chrooted into my remaster in other terminal, mounted proc, exported DISPLAY and run strartx. Changed the menus and exited. Similarly "su - knoppix" if you want to customize menus for user "knoppix". Then logout, in the chroot environment "rm -rf /etc/skel" and then "mv /home/<user> /etc/skel" and "chown -R root:root /etc/skel". It works.

I've even changed the compressed file system name as well the default user, but I don't had to change anyting in "/etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession" except for replaying resync command with cp where the profiles of "mozilla" were created.

If you are changing the default user to something else, you'll have to take care of "xsession" file too that exports a global "USER" variable.

I'm looking forward for response.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by raj1478

The solution I found was to boot into "knoppix", fire a nested X server from one terminal, chrooted into my remaster in other terminal, mounted proc, exported DISPLAY and run strartx. Changed the menus and exited. Similarly "su - knoppix" if you want to customize menus for user "knoppix". Then logout, in the chroot environment "rm -rf /etc/skel" and then "mv /home/<user> /etc/skel" and "chown -R root:root /etc/skel". It works.

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Hello the way i wrote before dunno why worked only once. :( Dunnot really understand, but just wanted to ask can you go a bit more in detail about your way.

Thanks

Nikolay

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nikolay

Hello the way i wrote before dunno why worked only once. :( Dunnot really understand, but just wanted to ask can you go a bit more in detail about your way.

Thanks

Nikolay

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Just follow the steps: -
a. Fire two root shells.
b. In first shell type "Xnest -ac -geometry 800x600 :1
c. In the second root shell: -

1. chroot into the source.
2. mount proc.
3. mkdir /home/knoppix
4. cp -Rp /etc/skel /home/knoppix
5. chown -R knoppix.knoppix /home/knoppix
6. su - knoppix
7. export DISPLAY=Knoppix:1.0
8. startkde
9. Make necessary changes in the menus etc.
10. logout.
11. exit user knoppix
12. As root type "rm -rf /etc/skel"
13. mv /home/knoppix /etc/skel
14. chown -R root:root /etc/skel
15. umount proc
16. exit chroot
17. compress and burn.

(All this has been narrated in detail in this HOWTO)

Make sure the changes in menus etc. are reflected in /usr/share/applnk directory.

Tell me the result.....

Hello Finally tried it but didn't succed I was following remastering process described in this How To I was chrooted in remaster (removing/installing some programs) when I press Alt+F2 to open another shell where I typed Xnest -ac -geometry 800x600 :1 which didn't work then alright i decide to still continue mount proc but I used "mount -t /proc" then when I start export DISPLAY I think it gave some error as well don't remmber exactly so kde couldnt start as it couldn't find a DISPLAY=Knoppix:1.0.
What did i do wrong? What could go wrong?

Thanks

Nikolay

Hi,
I think you had booted into knoppix in run level 2. All the process I had narratted was to be carried within X windows. You had to open root terminal from the knoppix menu twice to accomplish the task.

The command Xnest is used to start another Xserver from within the X window system. I had given the error while exporting the display before X server at :1 was not availble.

Try the comands after booting into X window (run level 5) system then post the results...

Hello Didn't work again. Everythig went fine but at the end changes didn't stick, I suspect that the problem can be in
1) me booting to wrong run level ( i just booted to normal system, pressed enter on boot )
2) I edited line 128 in 45xsession after i made changes
3) used menu editor ( maybe need to use something else
Can any of this be the case? And i got a different color theme in remestered cd, even though i didn't change it.

Thanks

Nikolay

dont make it complicated.
its very simple.

vi /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession

comment out lines 125 - 154

and save the file.
(comment out is putting # at the start of each line).

stage 2:

vi /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig

at line 1181 after the fi in new line i add:
mkdir /home/knoppix
cp -R /etc/skel/.??* /home/knoppix
cp -R /etc/skel/* /home/knoppix

chown -R knoppix:knoppix /home/knoppix


make steps 2 & 3 and burn the iso.


this will solve all your problems.

Hello Thanks for this solution, I tryed today but I got a bit confused, in a step two when I have to add a new line after the fi in line 1181, I dunnot have such thing in congif, maybe its cause I usind different version of knoppix 3.6?

Thanks

Nikolay

Hi,

I'm facing a strange problem. After booting into the GUI (KDE) the remastered version of KNOPPIX 3.3 sometimes sorts icons automatically but sometimes not. I couldn't figure out the solution because there is no change in script "/etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession" in the area where it creates the autostart entry for sorting icons.

Can anyone help?????

Thanks. This is great job.

I was able to start kde in the remastered zone. I made many changes to the desktop. I installed a new theme and new icons style (Nuvola). While using the scripts (./knoppix-remaster /mnt/hda2/remaster ) and start X as user knoppix, I am able to see these changes, but when I compress the remastered distro, It did not pick them up. I went back to the scribts environment and I was able to see them. Is there a file that controls this that I have to modify manually?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by knopx4me

Thanks. This is great job.

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You're welcome.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by knopx4me

I am able to see these changes, but when I compress the remastered distro, It did not pick them up. I went back to the scribts environment and I was able to see them. Is there a file that controls this that I have to modify manually?

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Please check the HOWTO. Did you edit the /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession file so it would rsync ALL the files from /etc/skel to /home/knoppix? Did you move /home/knoppix to /etc/skel before creating the compressed filesystem?

If you have done those, then I have noticed that some people have had very similar problems to what you just experienced. My usage of knoppix is a straight boot off the CD with typically no cheatcodes. I do not use a persistant /home or boot via tohd or fromhd. Since knoppix can be booted & used in multilple scenarios (straight boot, persistant home, etc), the /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession file appropriately has multiple rsync entries to copy the appropriate /etc/skel files to /home/knoppix. The HOWTO describes how to edit ONE of the rsync entries and this entry is applicable to ONLY the straight boot (no persistant home). If people are running into problems with the /home/knoppix no being populated with the correct files, then it is most likely the /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession file that needs to be adjusted.

I hope this helps.
James

Quote:

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dont make it complicated.
its very simple.
vi /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession
comment out lines 125 - 154
and save the file.
(comment out is putting # at the start of each line).
stage 2:
vi /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig
at line 1181 after the fi in new line i add:
mkdir /home/knoppix
cp -R /etc/skel/.??* /home/knoppix
cp -R /etc/skel/* /home/knoppix
chown -R knoppix:knoppix /home/knoppix
make steps 2 & 3 and burn the iso.
this will solve all your problems.

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Used this solution and worked fine, the only question I have after the remastering system was in german language How can i change it? And Earlier before there was some errors mentioned about this way? what kind of errors?

Thanks

Nikolay

UnderScore

You are right. I managed to get my GamesKnoppix remastered with all options I needed by editing /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession file except knemo issue. I found the right knemorc file in /KNOPPIX/etc/skel/.kde/share/config but it is not copied to /home/knoppix/.kde/share/config. I added a line to copy it to /home/knoppix/.kde/share/config

126: if [ -z "$DONTCHANGE" ]; then
127: # No persistent homedir, copy everything
128: rsync -Ha --ignore-existing /etc/skel/ $HOME/ 2>/dev/null
129: rsync -Ha --ignore-existing /etc/skel/.kde/share/config/knemorc $HOME/knoppix/.kde/share/config/ 2>/dev/null
130: [ "$USER" = "knoppix" ] && rsync -Ha --ignore-existing /usr/share/knoppix/profile/{.kde*,Desktop} $HOME/ 2>/dev/null

I added line 129 above, but did not work. Is this the right solution? Any other solution. I would like to get rid of knemo setup every time I start the CD. Thanks.

Thanks again for sharing this Howto.

I did it and it worked for me the first time. I remastered 3.4, while I wait for 3.8 to come in the snail mail.

I just did a multisession cdrom, burned iso as first session. Then burned next session with knoppix.sh and configs.tbz. I am working on a script to restore settings. (I used CDRW's to practice with...)

J

I tried to use the scripts on the recently released 3.8.1, but get input/output errors when the scripts are extracting Knoppix to the remaster directory. It occurs at approx 17% progress. Am I doing something wrong or is the new verison different enough to cause problems?

- Paul

When I get Input/Output errors... its because the CD's physically scratched/damaged. I'd reburn the ISO and see what happens.

Even if the CD boots correctly? I will try another disk, but that seems like an odd error when the disk works.....

- Paul

As for the errors ay 17%, I remastered 3.8.1 today and had no I/O errors.
Proud is right. I/O errors usually indicate either a bad CDR, burnt too fast, or a too sensitive CDROM drive. Reburning the CDR at a slower speed usually fixes the problem.

I will update this HOWTO this week to accomodate 3.8.1.

I hope this helps.
James

Gotta love this forum! Thanks for the quick response by Proud and UnderScore on the bad burn. EDIT: A new CD burned at a slower speed did the trick!!! :)

- Paul

James

Can you help me here? I got KNOPPIX 3.8 remasterd very well when running from CD. When I install it on HD, KDE will not start. It accepts the password but will not start except by going to the command line and starting X from there. I did as mentioned here:
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17970
but did not work. Is there a way to solve it during the remaster stage? I did remaster Knoppix 3.7 with no problems whatsoever.

As far as I/O errors at 17%, I remember that happend to me. I solved it by running your scripts at init 2 and did not get any error.

I had no problem using the scripts with 3.7, but I am having a terrible time with 3.8.1.

I have tried several times, using xfs and ext3 filesystems, to cp the cd to the hard drive; but everytime that it gets to ~70% it will give a quick error message and return to the menu. When I chroot it only lists a few *.deb's. I am now just using the standard remaster tutorial.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by UnderScore

As for the errors ay 17%, I remastered 3.8.1 today and had no I/O errors.
Proud is right. I/O errors usually indicate either a bad CDR, burnt too fast, or a too sensitive CDROM drive. Reburning the CDR at a slower speed usually fixes the problem.

I will update this HOWTO this week to accomodate 3.8.1.

I hope this helps.
James

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I am planning to remaster 3.8 using the HowTo, but the HowTo says it's been tested on 3.7

Where is the updated HowTo?
The latest changelog in the original is Dec 2004.

If you are remasting Knoppix for a language other than: en ja be da dk zh, you need to add it at line # 123

123 MYLOCALE="$MYLOCALE C en ja be da dk zh"

in the file named:Knoppix-3.4.mkcompressed to work for your language.

Updated Monday May 2, 2005 for Knoppix 3.8.1
More updates & additions soon!

Considering the time it takes to remaster (depending how much you change), is there a way to keep up to date with Knoppix (scripts, kernel, etc) so that I don't have to remaster when a new Knoppix version comes out?

1) I'm not sure whether I need to stay up to date with Knoppix, but it would be nice.

2) I suppose my question assumes that I'm only making basic changes (e.g., adding/removing packages) and not recompiling the kernel.
This brings up another question. If it is possible to keep up to date with Knoppix, what can I not change?

I have been using the guide from UnderScore with great success.

Exiting Kmix before logging out, replacing the background.png file, etc has all worked beautifully.

I have a few questions though.

- How do I prevent the background from showing (or just no being stretched to fill the screen) while the KDE splash screen is displayed. After everything is loaded the background goes back to just being centered, but man is it ugly when that thing is stretched to fill the screen while the splash is displayed.

- How do I prevent the web browser from opening up on loading?


Sam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samlutley

I have been using the guide from UnderScore with great success.

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:) Glad to hear it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samlutley

- How do I prevent the background from showing (or just no being stretched to fill the screen) while the KDE splash screen is displayed. After everything is loaded the background goes back to just being centered, but man is it ugly when that thing is stretched to fill the screen while the splash is displayed.

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If I recall correctly, it is controlled by 45xsession or some config file. I use the command line to discover where things are called:

Code:

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cd /etc
grep -iRn 'background' * | grep -vi 'binary'

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Code:

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cd /etc/skel
grep -iRn 'jpg' *  | grep -vi 'binary'

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I think Knoppix uses up to 2 backgrounds while loading. Check to see if there is a /usr/local/ (*jpg, *png, *gif)or /usr/local/lib/(*jpg, *png, *gif) in the 45xsession.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samlutley

- How do I prevent the web browser from opening up on loading?

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The /home/knoppix/Desktop/KNOPPIX.desktop file is a desktop launcher/script that opens up Konqueror and displays the /cdrom/index.html. Again if I recall correctly, it is called from 45session. You can either remove the KNOPPIX.desktop file or edit the script where it gets called and comment that out.

I hope this helps.
James

Hi!

I have been using this script all these while and love it. However, i have a request here. Can the scripts be customised to cater for kanotix-2005-03 too?
The new iso uses squashfs. Or with an additional option?

Thanks for creating such a nice script. It really helps!

Does this HOWTO work with KNOPPIX 3.9?

Thanks in advance...

No. Knoppix 3.9 has a buggy UnionFS and this makes remastering Knoppix 3.9 fail. If you intend to remaster, then you must use Knoppix 3.8.1 or 3.8.2.

Thanks UnderScore. I'll use 3.8.2 then.

Hi all, I just remastered very succesfully with this script, but, I want to change the original cheatcodes, logo and everything is under /cdrom/boot/isolinux/

How can I do it before the compression?

Cheers,

Pedro

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pdmp

Hi all, I just remastered very succesfully with this script, but, I want to change the original cheatcodes, logo and everything is under /cdrom/boot/isolinux/

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Pedro, see
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19661
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19455
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19623

Quote:

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Originally Posted by UnderScore

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pdmp

Hi all, I just remastered very succesfully with this script, but, I want to change the original cheatcodes, logo and everything is under /cdrom/boot/isolinux/

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Pedro, see
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19661
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19455
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19623

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Thank You UnderScore. I wasn't clear, sorry. I followed your Howto (It is Very good), but I also used the remastering scripts You proposed, and I still like to take advantage of them. I have been doing remastering succesfully the old way, changing every thing I needed, but I don't know nor figure out how to do what I ask for with the remastering script. Have You or any one any idea?

Pedro

Hi,

Moran suggested a hack with line 1181 in knoppix-autoconfig.

Unfortunately, this does not apply to the version I have - 3.8.2

Am I using the wrong version? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

jaymart

This was already earlier asked in this thread, but unfortunatly not answered;
why are symbolic links removed by the script from /etc/rc0.d /etc/rc1.d....?
Actually I want to build a remastered CD that starts up with FTP, apache and SSH.
Furthermore I built a script that preconfigures a bridge from all existing NICs.
I did this by placing the script into /etc/init.d and putting symbolic links into the folders /etc/rc2.d and so on.
Immediatly when starting the script I could see that it removes the symbolic links from the /etc/rcX.d folders.
is there a special reason for that, or is there another method how I can get a knoppix LiveCD where FTP, apache, SSH is started by default?
where do I have to place my script in order to get it executed by default when booting the remastered CD?

thanks a lot for this very detailled HowTo and excellent script.
If I get my above mentioned issues working I am totally satisfied and happy with it!

nice greetings from austria,
christian

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kornetto

why are symbolic links removed by the script from /etc/rc0.d /etc/rc1.d....?

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In the menu, the option to "Clean up remaster." will remove symbolic links from /etc/rc0.d /etc/rc1.d ...
You can either skip the option "Clean up remaster.". Or you can edit the knoppix-remaster script and comment out those lines that delete the symbolic links. Or you can check this thread http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19826 where a workaround is discussed.
I wish you success. :)
James

@underscore: you are right. simply skipping this part does the job and i still have my symlinks on the LiveCD :D
after trying that i succeeded with my first remastered Knoppix thanks your detailled HowTo.

Thanx for that!
kind regards from (in the meanwhile sunny) austria!
/Christian

PS & Offtopic: Now, I just have to find a way of simply skipping out everything unneeded from my remaster.
I plan to have a runlevel 2 only system housing apache, ftp, ssh and bridge. nothing else needed.
any hint what is the fastest method to find out which packages I can drop? actually all kde, x11 stuff etc...