[solved] How to work with tmpfs?

domac · 2012-08-12 19:09:28

Hello.
I'm pretty new to ramfs and tmpfs things. So I wanted to ask if someone can give me tips on that? I just read the wiki about ramdisk and this article.

Now I wanted to create a tmpfs partition and wanted to store files for my dwm-statusbar there. Can someone explain what's the best way to do this?

The approach

lucke wrote:

Put this in /etc/fstab:

none    /tmp    tmpfs   nodev,nosuid,noexec,nodiratime,size=1024M    0   0

looked quite good, but I don't understand it fully. I only can guess what nodev,nosuid,noexec,nodiratime means but I don't know it for sure and I want to understand tmpfs for 100%.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers

PS: Also feel free to share your tmpfs and the way you've implemented them!

Last edited by domac (2012-08-13 09:42:25)

falconindy · 2012-08-12 19:21:08

domac wrote:

I don't understand it fully. I only can guess what nodev,nosuid,noexec,nodiratime means but I don't know it for sure and I want to understand tmpfs for 100%.

Generic mount options. see 'man 8 mount' for explanations.

domac · 2012-08-12 19:39:05

Thanks so far! I just started reading and can't wait to see more comments on this.

Edit: Also wanted to add the following wiki article about tmpfs, which I didn't found until yet.

Last edited by domac (2012-08-12 19:41:19)

Awebb · 2012-08-12 20:08:00

Congratulations, you have found the wiki article. That'll tell you everything.

domac · 2012-08-12 20:22:53

So when I want to create a tmpfs for my dwm statusbar I just put the following in my /etc/fstab:

# tmpfs for ~/.dwmstatus
tmpfs    /home/domac/.dwmstatus  tmpfs   nodev,nosuid,size=8M    0 0

? This should work, right?
And when I then write whatever to files in ~/.dwmstatus/ it is written on ram instead?
Sorry but I'm uncertain, if I do it right.

Last edited by domac (2012-08-12 20:46:52)

hsngrms · 2012-08-12 20:27:53

tmpfs		/tmp	tmpfs	nodev,nosuid,size=512M	0	0

Default conf + size=512M

Last edited by hsngrms (2012-08-12 20:38:56)

domac · 2012-08-12 20:55:42

Thanks for sharing hsngrms.
So I just put the line above in my /etc/fstab and every file I put in there is loaded into ram…? Can't believe it should be that easy… :s

Last edited by domac (2012-08-12 20:56:53)

hsngrms · 2012-08-13 01:47:50

Youre welcome : )

Yes it's easy. But be careful for these reasons:
1. Files on RAM disappear after reboot. So, you can't save your configuration files with tmpfs.
2. Don't add /run as tmpfs DIR. If u add, keyboard & mouse etc. don't work.

Last edited by hsngrms (2012-08-13 01:48:55)

domac · 2012-08-13 09:42:10

Ok, thank you all! I'll mark this thread as solved sinve, I've got all thee informations I need.

graph · 2012-08-13 19:42:24

Ok, since you invited me to your thread, and I still haven't figured out how to send a pm, here goes.

First I have the following script: statusbar_input

my .xinitrc looks like this:

/home/graph/script/dwm/statusbar_input &
while true
do
	xsetroot -name "$(echo -e "$(cat /tmp/.dwm/ssid) $(cat /tmp/.dwm/wlan)\x03 | \x01B:$(cat /tmp/.dwm/battery)\x03 | \x01V:\x04$(cat /tmp/.dwm/volume)\x03 | \x04$(date +"%H:%M") ")"
	sleep 60s
done &

Finally, my volume-keys run the following script when pressed: volume_wrapper

My /tmp is mounted as a ramdisk, using the following entry in /etc/fstab:

tmpfs /tmp      tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=1G                 0 0

Last edited by graph (2012-08-13 19:45:30)

domac · 2012-08-13 23:11:45

graph wrote:

Ok, since you invited me to your thread, and I still haven't figured out how to send a pm, here goes.
First I have the following script: statusbar_input
my .xinitrc looks like this:
/home/graph/script/dwm/statusbar_input &
while true
do
	xsetroot -name "$(echo -e "$(cat /tmp/.dwm/ssid) $(cat /tmp/.dwm/wlan)\x03 | \x01B:$(cat /tmp/.dwm/battery)\x03 | \x01V:\x04$(cat /tmp/.dwm/volume)\x03 | \x04$(date +"%H:%M") ")"
	sleep 60s
done &
Finally, my volume-keys run the following script when pressed: volume_wrapper
My /tmp is mounted as a ramdisk, using the following entry in /etc/fstab:
tmpfs /tmp      tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=1G                 0 0

Thanks for sharing! Totally love it.
Edit: But how does that make sense when your bar is updated every minute while there is stuff in the bar that get updated more frequently?

Last edited by domac (2012-08-14 13:31:35)

graph · 2012-08-14 18:24:41

domac wrote:

Edit: But how does that make sense when your bar is updated every minute while there is stuff in the bar that get updated more frequently?

I guess you are refering to the loop concerning the wlan-bar? I wanted it to update faster than the others so that I can see the update by simply pressing a volume-button.

Alrighty, but how come it's not a part of the volume_wrapper script then?
No idea, but it is now, so thanks for pointing it out;-)
New statusbar_input btw

Last edited by graph (2012-08-14 18:38:49)

domac · 2012-08-14 18:51:21

Hey graph!
Let me show you, how I used your configs.
I display pacman packages, cpu temp, cpu use, mem use, wlan stats+ip, bat stat, volume, date

Here is a list of paste's:
dwm-statusbar
dwm-wrapper
startdwm

I have problems with that ram story… when I boot up I have to refresh my bar (didn't manage to store them on shutdown on my hdd → see dwm-wrapper)… made an shortcut for it with cool animation/icon (watch Show off your DWM conf! Thread )
dwm-tmpfiles
config.h

Enjoy! Can't wait to present some screenshots.
Edit: Screen + files will be soon on git.
Edit2: I think I'll fix my stuff soon in the same direction you did.

Last edited by domac (2012-08-14 18:53:28)

domac · 2012-08-15 08:54:04

Would you tell me how do you (graph) recover the statusbar after reboot,etc.?
I copied a systemd service for this and wrote a script triggered by this service before and after shutdown to recover the last state of my statusbar.
How do you manage this?
Do you keep it empty and refresh then with your volume keys?

graph · 2012-08-15 17:39:13

Haha, I like you. You've stumbled upon the only thing that I don't have a working fix for.
I simply press a volume-key whenever I start my computer. I've thought about doing something about it, but I've sort of gotten used to pressing a button.

EDIT
I have a fix now. (Edit again: and so do you, it seems)
First you need to delete the touch-part from dwm-statusbar. (It was a leftover from when I played with FIFO-pipes, and isn't needed).

Then you could add something like the following at the bottom of dwm-statusbar.

# Write volume to file
amixer get Master | awk -F'[]%[]' '/%/ {if ($7 == "off") { print " M" } else { print $2 }}' > /tmp/.dwm/volume

while true 
do
	# Count number of files in dir, and draw bar if sufficient number is present.
	if [ $(ls /tmp/.dwm | wc -l) = "5" ]; then
		#EXAMPLE: "SSID [|||||] | B:34 | V:45 | 12:56"
		xsetroot -name "$(echo -e "$(cat /tmp/.dwm/ssid) $(cat /tmp/.dwm/wlan)\x03 | \x01B:$(cat /tmp/.dwm/battery)\x03 | \x01V:\x04$(cat /tmp/.dwm/volume)\x03 | \x04$(date +"%H:%M") ")"
		exit 0
	fi
	sleep 0.05s
done &

This will leave check if all files in /tmp/.dwm is created, and then draw the bar. You will need to adjust the number in the if-condition to the number of files in /tmp/.dwm you are expecting.

Last edited by graph (2012-08-15 18:38:39)

domac · 2012-08-15 18:24:24

graph wrote:

Haha, I like you. You've stumbled upon the only thing that I don't have a working fix for.
I simply press a volume-key whenever I start my computer. I've thought about doing something about it, but I've sort of gotten used to pressing a button.

I have a working fix for you. I'm using it too but with systemd service I wrote for a script that re/store your information/status from bar.
If you use initscript, just add "path/to/script store" to rc.shutdown and "path/to/script restore" to rc.local or .xinitrc. If you're using systemd like me, feel free to use my service script.

Scripts:
dwm-tmpfile
dwm-tmpfile.service

To make the scripts copy&paste friendly, remove the ?bash from url. I'd love to get credits for the dwm-tmpfile script.
Just remove the function print_volume() from the script, I guess you don't need it. And you can also remove line 39, it's a personal thing that I want my computer to start up silent, if you know what I mean.
Cheers!

graph · 2012-08-15 18:50:59

But your solution will print the wrong info, wouldn't it? Eg: I shutdown my computer on AC and boot the next day from battery. Using your solution would leave me with "AC" in the bar, right? (I could be wrong here)
Other than that, that's a pretty sweet and simple solution. My solution (post above yours) will litteraly just keep on checking for the number of files in /tmp/.dwm, which isn't that clean.

I'm still stuck on init-scripts - Waiting for a rainy day to do the full switch to systemd.

EDIT:
I think you might be able to use "mv" to merge the "cp -r" and "rm" to make your solution even simpler.

mv /home/domac/.tmpdwm/* /tmp/.dwm
chown -R domac /tmp/.dwm
chgrp -R users /tmp/.dwm
/usr/bin/amixer -q -c 0 sset 'Master',0 0% mute
print_volume > /tmp/.dwm/volume

Last edited by graph (2012-08-15 18:57:40)

domac · 2012-08-15 18:56:06

graph wrote:

But your solution will print the wrong info, wouldn't it? Eg: I shutdown my computer on AC and boot the next day from battery. Using your solution would leave me with "AC" in the bar, right?
Other than that, that's a pretty sweet and simple solution. My solution (post above yours) will litteraly just keep on checking for the number of files in /tmp/.dwm, which isn't that clean.
I'm still stuck on init-scripts - Waiting for a rainy day to do the full switch to systemd.

I like your solution! Maybe I'll try to mix them up tomorrow and see if I can find a good consensus.
Edit: I think my solution, will be kinda replaced by yours… your solution is so obvious but I really couldn't think of it at times.
Edit2: Thanks for that tip!
Edit3: I guess I'll do it like that: When my pc wakes up I check all the stuff for validity and only write updates. Well then maybe there's stuff I could skip to write because it will always be invalid… hmmn. Or I just run your script on restore. What do you think?

Last edited by domac (2012-08-15 19:07:56)

graph · 2012-08-15 19:09:47

I'm sort of embarrassed. While-loop-fixes like this is something I use way more than I'm proud of.

Since this thread have moved far of already - Are you using the systray-patch to get your systray in the statusbar?

And also, I've noticed another "bug" in my solution:
If netcfg for any reason fails to connect to my default AP, it will break the wlan-while-loop when it's first run, set the SSID to "off/any" and don't retry until next reboot.

Other than that, I've really been enjoying where this has been going. I've thought about lots of stuff that I wouldn't have otherwise.

Last edited by graph (2012-08-15 19:30:43)

domac · 2012-08-15 20:35:21

Well I've got that awesome scriptbase of yours and the wifi strength function.
I also like the direction this is going. I'm interested how far this can go!
I'll think about some new solutions and post them here. Maybe we should open up a thread especially for dwm statusbar optimization?

Yes, I'm using the systray patch, which you can also find in my git… somewhere in my dwm folder ^^
Postin my changes tomorrow, if I have some.

Edit: Earlier as expected, but I kinda got bored since the soccer game sucked for my team… so here it is:
startdwm
dwm-func
dwm-statbar
dwm-statbar-poll
dwm-key-wrapper
dwm-tmpfs
Maybe I have to merge them again at some spots, since there are some things not loaded in my statusbar. This problem appeared with the "split-up" of scripts.
Dunno if I will change more… if you have ideas, please feel free to modify!

Edit2: Merged dwm-tmpfs-setup into dwm-tmpfs. That was causing the error I guess.

Last edited by domac (2012-08-16 09:30:08)

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#1 2012-08-12 19:09:28

[solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#2 2012-08-12 19:21:08

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#3 2012-08-12 19:39:05

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#4 2012-08-12 20:08:00

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#5 2012-08-12 20:22:53

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#6 2012-08-12 20:27:53

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#7 2012-08-12 20:55:42

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#8 2012-08-13 01:47:50

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#9 2012-08-13 09:42:10

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#10 2012-08-13 19:42:24

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#11 2012-08-13 23:11:45

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#12 2012-08-14 18:24:41

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#13 2012-08-14 18:51:21

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#14 2012-08-15 08:54:04

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#15 2012-08-15 17:39:13

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#16 2012-08-15 18:24:24

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#17 2012-08-15 18:50:59

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#18 2012-08-15 18:56:06

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#19 2012-08-15 19:09:47

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

#20 2012-08-15 20:35:21

Re: [solved] How to work with tmpfs?

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