Further notes on the UNIONFS as observed here.

I find that with the Cebit 3.8 KNOPPIX that after booting it to desktop and using commandline ..su, followed by df -h, the listing of file systems includes UNIONFS. The listing reports the size of UNIONFS is 9.1GB total and 5.5GB is used.

Examination of the properties of UNIONFS reveals 1.4GB file size.

Examination of the size of KNOPPIX shows 1.6GB.

These reports were given from a CD booted version of Cebit 3.8 KNOPPIX.

It would seem that the data derived from ..df -h... is erroneous when determining UNIONFS file size or does not apply to that FS.

Furthermore, when the same procedure is applied to the new 3.8.1 KNOPPIX, the UNIONFS size is limited to 4.5GB.

It would seem that the either the procedure is limited to compressed file systems or that the UNIONFS is mis-reported in the ....df -h....command.

I assume(I hope correctly) that those programs installed through the UNIONFS apt-get install are installed in uncompressed format as opposed to the original programs which appear in compressed format. This would seem obvious since the re-mastering procedures require such downloaded programs to be mkisofs compressed in order to load them to a re-mastered CD.

Note to LadyPixel;

I have spent some weeks with a procedure outlined in the DVD forum which permits a "split" .iso to be generated.

This procedure separates the "boot" process in a "prefix.iso" from the KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX "suffix.iso" and ties the two together in a concatenation step to produce a final .iso for DVD+RW burn.

I have used the procedure to burn a 748MB burn to DVD+RW on the Cebit 3.8Version which added ~50MB of new programs to the burn. It performs well.

The limit of DVD capacity for compressed format data is 4.4GB. It takes perhaps 3000 apps to obtain that level of installed programs.

Use of DVD+RW allows for many experimental trials in working with the "split" .iso method.

I observe that the UNIONFS contains some indications that a similar "mapper" technique is utilized, altho, in my observation, does not utilize the apps in compressed format.

The procedure used in the "split.iso" technique requires the generation of KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX added applications in the same compressed-fs used in version 3.8 KNOPPIX using mkisofs procedures to generate the new /KNOPPIX compressed file. This file then replaces the original file in the 3.8 KNOPPIX version.

This produces a "suffix.iso" which is concatenated with the "prefix.iso" previously generated per the outlined procedure for the "split.iso".

The procedure did produce a re-master with greater than 700MB of data (more than a CD size) and burned to a DVD+RW.

I have yet to establish a DVD with 3GB or more of compressed apps.

If one saves the elements making up the "split" changes could be added at will with a new Burn to the DVD+RW.

The method described calls for a lot of HDD capacity for a full-sized DVD.

One comment: UNIONFS seems not to be well-described...its new....


Edit: I have successfully burned a DVD+RW with 3.8GB of data utilizing Video files installed in the "prefix.iso" rather than the "suffix".iso. This was a test of the "split" system to verify that it can exceed 2GB file size on a DVD burn.

This system enables the full data recording capability for DVD+RW media and, if compressed files are provided in the "suffix.iso" of the "split" system, 9GB of apps are possible(many thousands of applications!).