Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

axion419 · 2008-02-02 18:40:09

im almost done, im just having trouble with mpd of all things. The wiki isnt helping me either. How can i install mpd so that any user can run it? I keep being told i dont have permissions, i read the wiki, so im screwing something up. Its never been an issue to install before. The aur package of cplay is broke as well. all i need to get done is a text based mp3 player!

pyther · 2008-02-02 18:57:08

wouldn't you want to start mpd as a service o_o?

axion419 · 2008-02-02 19:17:28

yes, in the wiki, before you add the service to the daemons list, you need to create the database and i cant do that because when i try to run it it says to run it as root.

pyther · 2008-02-02 20:29:11

Well I just setup mpd and when I started it from the service, it automatically created my database.

Sigi · 2008-02-02 20:38:43

But you have to run it as a daemon anyway. The whole "configure mpd" part in the wiki is supposed to be ran as root.

genisis300 · 2008-02-02 20:53:25

Sigi, what i meant by my post was the idea of uploading p reconfigured ISO not the full iso just the cfs that make it up. So that users could share there live distros with each other.

maybe some way to extract all the changes someone has made to there larch setup and share that as a package that can then be used locally to make up the exact same live disc?

it would save having to share ISO images between arch users.

pyther · 2008-02-02 20:54:49

maybe setup sudo then?

axion419 · 2008-02-02 21:37:49

alright i got it running. i installed the larch repo, and installed everything it said

but when i launch mklarch -X it acts like it isnt a command. Im trying to create the livecd from an existing arch installation.

Sigi · 2008-02-03 00:11:28

genisis300 wrote:

Sigi, what i meant by my post was the idea of uploading p reconfigured ISO not the full iso just the cfs that make it up. So that users could share there live distros with each other.
maybe some way to extract all the changes someone has made to there larch setup and share that as a package that can then be used locally to make up the exact same live disc?
it would save having to share ISO images between arch users.

I also like this idea and larch is quite easy to use in this manor. Just make a gzipped tar from the folder in profiles and share it. If I get a decent LiveUSB running soon I'll upload it too and let you know. But this might take a while, I'm still playing around...

What have you done so far if I may ask?

gradgrind · 2008-02-03 06:34:16

axion419 wrote:

alright i got it running. i installed the larch repo, and installed everything it said
but when i launch mklarch -X it acts like it isnt a command. Im trying to create the livecd from an existing arch installation.

??? Any more detailed description of what the problem is?

genisis300 · 2008-02-03 12:05:56

Sigi,, i see now people could share there profiles for Larch

must admit it a pretty kool set of scripts a custom boot cd in 2-3 commands

axion419 · 2008-02-03 18:03:54

Making a live CD from an existing Arch installation

New in larch version 4 is the ability to make a live CD (or USB-stick) from an existing Arch installation. The '-x' option to mklarch, taking the mount point of the installation as argument, achieves this. The installation must already be mounted, including any sub-mounts (e.g. /home on another partition). The main mount must be with options 'exec,dev', because some of the building is done via a chroot to the installation.

There is also the '-X' option, which allows the creation of a live CD from the currently running Arch installation.

All aspects of the larch building process connected with the installation are in this case irrelevant, as it is assumed that the installation is already complete. The handling of 'profiles' is also different as these are largely concerned with the installation process. The parts of the profile which are still relevant here are still retained, but named profiles are not used. There is a default profile for this case (at 'share/larch/profile0') which can be overridden by placing a customized version in the current directory (from where mklarch is run).

In order to support the build process, certain packages must be installed in the system. These are:

    * from the Arch repositories: cdrkit, dvd+rw-tools, squashfs-tools, (and aufs if you want to use that instead of unionfs).
    * from the larch repository: klibc-larch, initcpio_larch

It is also recommended to install archin and larchin from the larch repository to enable use of the resulting live CD for system installation.

To avoid reuse of existing base.sqf and system.sqf files, pass the '-r' option to mklarch

I wiped my HD, set up a new arch install just how i want the livecd to be, put the stuff for new users in /etc/skel/ and then i added the larch repo and downloaded klibc-larch, initcpio_larch, and cdrkit, dvd+rw-tools, squashfs-tools from the main repo.i even did pacman -Sy larch. now when i type
mklarch -X i get this back

[root@Archbox guest]# mklarch -X

Usage:
  mklarch -a  [-f]   -p <profile>
  mklarch -a  [-f]   -d <configuration directory>
  mklarch -i  [-fgu] -p <profile>
  mklarch -i  [-fgu] -d <configuration directory>
  mklarch [-fobgue]  -p <profile>
  mklarch [-fobgue]  -d <configuration directory>
  mklarch -c  [-p <profile>] <destination directory>

          -p    Use the preset configuration, <profile>.
          -d    Use the configuration in the given directory.
          -c    Copy the configuration to the given directory,
                which should not yet exist. If no named profile
                is passed with -p the 'default' one will be copied.
                You don't need to be root to run with this option.
          -a    Stop after installing Arch system (don't build live system).
          -i    Only rebuild iso (or install to USB-stick),
                don't regenerate CD data

          -b    Skip the installation step, rebuild using existing 'ArchImage'.
          -u    Don't build iso, but install to USB-stick instead
          -g    Use GRUB bootloader (default is isolinux/syslinux)

          -f    No interaction. (not recommended)
                The script will just plough straight on and destroy
                your file-system without first asking.
          -o    Don't generate package repository db 'larch' for
                extra packages

mklarch is the master script for the larch live CD / live USB-stick
builder.

A profile is a directory containing all the necessary
configuration details for a larch build. The profile can be supplied
either as a directory path (-d option) or as a 'preset' name (-p option).

The available preset profiles are:
      default
      gradplay
      mini
      mini2
      mini_de
      oldmini

gradgrind · 2008-02-04 06:59:11

It looks like you got an old version of larch somehow. The current larch4 repo is here:

ftp://archie.dotsrc.org/projects/archie/larch/larch4

Sigi · 2008-02-04 07:32:00

genisis300 wrote:

Sigi,, i see now people could share there profiles for Larch
must admit it a pretty kool set of scripts a custom boot cd in 2-3 commands

Here we go: the profile of my latest LiveUSB.
Get it here! (Sorry for the crappy webspace...)

Features: basically dwm as WM and all the cool things larch features by itself. Give it a try...
Download and untar the file, place the folder "sigi" in /usr/share/larch/profiles, the folder "custompacks" and the file "config_larch" in /usr/share/larch. Have fun!

Last edited by Sigi (2008-02-04 07:32:20)

iphitus · 2008-02-04 08:06:16

For the adding user bit, "adduser" does what you need. Or you could make a basic curses dialog with... 'dialog'

axion419 · 2008-02-05 02:38:08

you mean i make user add automaticly add a user to certain groups as well?

axion419 · 2008-02-06 01:23:44

ug, my iso is over 700MB. I need to see what software to lose

Sigi · 2008-02-06 01:31:23

You could use filelight to find the big programms:

filelight path/to/larchroot

But I assume that you know the usual suspects: OO, KDE, latex, etc..

axion419 · 2008-02-06 17:04:11

yeah, which is odd, i have mostly terminal apps, and a couple gtk apps. It just doesnt add up, i have less programs installed by default then say sabayon or ubuntu yet i cant get the iso under 700.

Web Browser - Kazehakase (elinks)
Chat - irssi (pidgin, xchat)
ssh/ftp - Gftp -- would love to replace this, wish there was something curses based.
images - mirage - thinking of removing this and just setting up feh in openbox menu to show images in a certain directory.
movies - vlc (mplayer + mplayer-plugin for movie sin browser)
audio - mpd/ncmpc - mpd is second to kazehakase in memory useage.
volume - Alsa mixer in the OB menu
terminal - urxvt -- should i run this as a dameon?
P2P - rtorrent ( gtk gnutella)
File Manager - mc-utf8 (emelfm2)
Tools - Htop, Pyburn, xarchive
Editors - epdfview, leafpad -
ob menu - obmenu
gtk themes - gtk-chtheme
obconf - openbox themes
wallpaper - nitrogen --this is getting removed inplace of feh in openbox menu set to watch a directory.
xorg
yaourt

I mean, those are the only installed packages. I think im going to wipe the drive again, install a normal install, edit rc.conf add the yaourt and larch repo, reinstall all those programs, ssh my menus back in, copy everything back to /etc/skel/ remove all my pacman cache, remove all my /tmp/files i build up, and then rebuild the iso. I had to of did something to cause such a big livecd. I was reading the man page for user add and it seems like i can implicitly tell it what groups to add me to, or, i can set up a default useradd profile, that tells it which groups to be added to. Im wondering if i install sudo, how i can control it. I know, on my normal system i install sudo and tell it to let user justin have access. I need it so everyone in group wheel can access sudo, and then make sure when i add a user they are put into the audio,optical and wheel group. Shouldnt be to bad, the main problem is just the file size. Also, when you guys created your livecd. How did you handle users. Just set up a root account only? Or did you set up a user account. Im starting to think i should just install, set up a livecd enviroment where you are root, so you can install, add user, log in as user and /etc/skel/ will then bring over everything you need to use a normal user. So the livecd itself will be horrible, since you are running it as root, but it will serve its purpose.

Last edited by axion419 (2008-02-06 17:21:06)

gradgrind · 2008-02-06 18:17:49

Hi axion419,

I'm afraid I don't really have any bright ideas for your user problem - I'd tend to leave it at setting up /etc/skel and then see what comes along.

I think the prime candidate for your space-eater is probably the pacman cache, but if not you could try to trace the problem using 'du'.

axion419 · 2008-02-06 21:46:21

i was figuring it was the cache as well, we'll see after i get off work.. in 14 minutes

Phrodo_00 · 2008-02-08 01:34:41

Hey, I'm also interested in this, how ever tl;dr the thread, I will later, for now I'll refer to the original post:
I don't think the menu idea is good, it would be way too complicated to mantain and it wouldn't update when new apps are added, I think we should use something like xfce's app finder (I saw a pretty nice looking app of this kind and then I forgot its name) and have a menu kind of:

Web browser
File manager
Terminal
Applications
-
Config
->obconf
->obmenu
->Wallpaper (gsetroot or some other (better) wallpaper setter)
->update config
Logout

PD: Nitrogen looks like a nice XWindow background setter

PPD:btw I used we because I'm preparing arch on a small system too, so I were meaning I will do it like that, and I recomend you to do the same.

Last edited by Phrodo_00 (2008-02-08 01:52:00)

Sigi · 2008-02-08 04:58:34

Phrodo_00 wrote:

PD: Nitrogen looks like a nice XWindow background setter

Just a small note to this: feh is cool too. I think its smaller and less overhead if you just set the background, but I didn't try nitrogen. It looks quite cool and not as much overkill as I first thought...

edit:

axion419 wrote:

i was figuring it was the cache as well, we'll see after i get off work.. in 14 minutes

Well, I'm curious

Last edited by Sigi (2008-02-08 05:01:29)

axion419 · 2008-02-10 18:44:31

ok, i reinstalled, set it up. i did yaourt -Sy cdrkit dvd+rw-tools squashfs-tools klibc-larch initcpio_larch everything installs except, ==> Downloading klibc-larch PKGBUILD from AUR...
Error: klibc-larch not found in AUR.
I then do yaourt -Sy archin larchin. I type mklarch -X as regular user and root and get bash: mklarch: command not found

I imagine its the klibc beign absent that is messing it up?

gradgrind · 2008-02-10 19:13:24

axion419 wrote:

ok, i reinstalled, set it up. i did yaourt -Sy cdrkit dvd+rw-tools squashfs-tools klibc-larch initcpio_larch everything installs except, ==> Downloading klibc-larch PKGBUILD from AUR...
Error: klibc-larch not found in AUR.
I then do yaourt -Sy archin larchin. I type mklarch -X as regular user and root and get bash: mklarch: command not found

I imagine its the klibc beign absent that is messing it up?

The larch stuff is not in AUR. If you want to do it this way you need to have the larch repository in your pacman.conf (I don't know if there are any other problems with yaourt, because you apparently haven't installed larch either).

Arch Linux

#26 2008-02-02 18:40:09

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#27 2008-02-02 18:57:08

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#28 2008-02-02 19:17:28

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#29 2008-02-02 20:29:11

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#30 2008-02-02 20:38:43

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#31 2008-02-02 20:53:25

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#32 2008-02-02 20:54:49

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#33 2008-02-02 21:37:49

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#34 2008-02-03 00:11:28

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#35 2008-02-03 06:34:16

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#36 2008-02-03 12:05:56

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#37 2008-02-03 18:03:54

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#38 2008-02-04 06:59:11

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#39 2008-02-04 07:32:00

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#40 2008-02-04 08:06:16

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#41 2008-02-05 02:38:08

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#42 2008-02-06 01:23:44

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#43 2008-02-06 01:31:23

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#44 2008-02-06 17:04:11

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#45 2008-02-06 18:17:49

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#46 2008-02-06 21:46:21

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#47 2008-02-08 01:34:41

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#48 2008-02-08 04:58:34

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#49 2008-02-10 18:44:31

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

#50 2008-02-10 19:13:24

Re: Remastering Arch Linux into a Newbie Friendly Lightweight Desktop

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