larch-2

The_Nerd · 2006-10-24 04:32:28

Alright, The scripts work, and do a pretty decent job at that!

I need to make it so the list of video card drivers auto-fills, so I don't have to hard code in every driver, but other than that, it works alright. Just for simplicity's sake, post the overlay and then ya'll can take a look at it.

Anyone willing to host a little 21.1kb file?

I would do it myself, but my webserver is currently down, and since it's at home, and its a kernel issue, I'll have to hope that I can get my sister to fix the problem, which isnt likely in the next few years

Edit:
Yay! I love college webspace!

http://www.studentpersonalpages.loyola. … lay.tar.gz

hotsauce · 2006-10-24 05:44:33

larch_initcpio: not found in sync db

//
// Package installation from addedpacks FAILED.
//

gradgrind · 2006-10-24 08:11:49

@ hotsauce:

How did you get this?

hotsauce · 2006-10-24 13:46:48

Edit: Another case of user incompetence it seems

Bad file when unpacked. "Broken link"

Now it works. Thanks for looking. I'll give feedback when everything's burned and all...

The_Nerd · 2006-10-25 23:07:42

A few quick things...

Question for gradgrind:

I have a very large overlay that I apply to one of my cd's. We're talking about 300 some mb. Everything overlay's fine, but the profile is copied to the iso as well, which then puts my cd size over the 700mb limit.

I've been looking through the configs and I can't seem to find where the profile is copied to the iso. If you would kindly point to that place, or to where I can configure that option (preferably on a profile basis as I'd like the profiled copied to cd for all but this one) it would be appreciated.

Question for everyone else:

Anyone try out my overlay yet? I've been trying to test my scripts, and they seem to work alright. I know I need to add more video drivers to the list (I myself use the vmware one since I test on vmware and qemu a lot) but anyone else have any complaints/comments? I haven't done much to improve it yet, as it does the job I need it to do for now.

Thanks all. - Will

jnengland77 · 2006-10-25 23:59:09

Yeah it appears to work fine for me also, I've tested it in vmware(added driver), on my computer, and on my other computer.

What about autoconfiguring sound? That would be pretty good to have also. I haven't really looked into it yet but it might also be handy.

The_Nerd · 2006-10-26 00:50:13

I found the part that copies the profile to cd. It might be something to put a statement asking the user if they would like to copy the profile to cd/dvd? That way if someone desperately needs the space, or they have a big overlay, its easier to go about rather than commenting lines in the build script every time.

I'll see if i can do this myself and put the modified script here for anyone who would like it.

@jnengland77:

I wasn't aware that sound didn't work on bootup? I haven't tried, but I would assume alsa would pick it up fine and then just unmuting and adjusting the volume with alsamixer would be all someone has to do. It is possible I imagine to set a default volume and load that at bootup, but thats just a few files added to the overlay, nothing too special there.

gradgrind · 2006-10-26 06:09:09

@ The_Nerd:

I could consider adding a command-line option for not copying the profile and/or overlay. I must admit that it hadn't occurred to me that someone would want such a large overlay. Could you explain why it is so big? Maybe there is a better alternative?

As to sound, it should indeed work 'automatically' apart from possibly unmuting and adjusting volume. I haven't tested it much but my machines generally have no problem with sound, perhaps others are more difficult?

The_Nerd · 2006-10-26 14:24:41

I do a fair amount of PC repair and such, and something that comes up often is people either forgetting their password into windows, or people giving my a computer without clearing their password.

I use ophcrack to get the passwords so I can use the computer, I then help the user disable lanman hashes and come up with a better password

But the rainbow tables for ophcrack are 300mb! I didn't think it would be practical to change the pkgbuild, so I just put them in as an overlay.

I know chntpw blanks passwords, but its easier for the user if they dont have to change the password back if they dont want to. I also know that ophcrack has their own livecd, which I've tried and i know it works well. The problem is that here at college, a bunch of kids have newer computers, many of which will only be properly detected by a 2.6.18 kernel. So thus is the reason I first started building a live cd with larch, and since then, well, i've become enthralled with the idea and I'm actually making 4 different purposed cd's for personal, and repair use.

If there's a better way to go about adding these tables to the cd, please let me know.

Gradgrind, thanks again for the excellent scripts!

gradgrind · 2006-10-26 15:57:25

The_Nerd wrote:

But the rainbow tables for ophcrack are 300mb! I didn't think it would be practical to change the pkgbuild, so I just put them in as an overlay.

a) Well, I suppose changing the PKGBUILD would be a possibility ...

b) Another possibility would be to put these tables in the 'packages' directory, then, if they need to be located somewhere particular, put a symlink in the overlay. In the running live system, the packages directory is available at '/.livesys/livecd/packages'.
Of course, if the tables have to be available in an unpacked (not compresssed) state, it becomes a bit more complicated. They would need to be 'squashed', and mounted appropriately. This would of course be possible, but your solution of putting them in the overlay is probably a bit more straightforward.

c) Another possibility would be to put the tables in the main ('system') squashfs by splitting up the larch build process:
1) Generate Arch base system, using -a option to mklarch
2) Move tables to appropriate place in '/path/to/larchbuild/ArchImage'
3) Generate iso, using -b option to mklarch

I don't know which approach would be the 'best'. (a) and (c) would work without changing anything in larch, but your suggestion of not saving the overlay to CD would also be quite easy.

The_Nerd · 2006-10-26 19:01:48

I like your suguestions gradgrind, though I think in the long run it is most likely best to just have it in the overlay itself. I'll see if I can just add a little statement into the build file so that it asks the user if they want the profile or not.

My shell scripting ability is limited, as I've only begun to dive into such things since I started working on these live cd's, but I'll hoepfully be able to figure something out and perhaps submit the changes back to you in case you want to include them in the offical larch. If not, I'll just do this to my own version and i'll be all set!

I was able to fit everything on the cd as of last night, though ophcrack still didn't want to work for whatever reason, but i'm almost positive it has nothing to do with the livecd, just how i'm configuring everything.

Thanks again gradgrind

-Will

jnengland77 · 2006-10-26 21:59:58

Ah sorry I failed to realize Vmware server does not have a sound card, thus alsa fails to work. Nevermind it has a very simple solution.

~jnengland77

twiistedkaos · 2006-10-26 22:44:48

Hmm, I can't seem to get this to work, I always end up with this:

//
// ************** Installing base package set **************
//
// Installing following packages:
autoconf automake bash bin86 binutils bison bzip2 coreutils cpio cracklib cryptsetup db dcron device-mapper dhcpcd dialog diffutils e2fsprogs ed file filesystem findutils flex gawk gcc gdbm gen-init-cpio gettext glibc grep groff grub gzip initscripts iputils jfsutils kbd kernel-headers klibc klibc-extras klibc-udev less libgcrypt libgpg-error libpcap libtool libusb licenses lilo logrotate lvm2 lzo2 m4 mailx make man man-pages mdadm mkinitcpio mktemp module-init-tools nano ncurses net-tools openssl pacman pam patch pciutils pcmciautils pcre perl popt ppp procinfo procps psmisc raidtools readline reiserfsprogs rp-pppoe sed shadow slocate sysfsutils syslog-ng sysvinit tar tcp_wrappers udev unifdef usbutils util-linux vim wget which wireless_tools xfsprogs zlib
error: could not open sync database: mousetrap
       have you used --refresh yet?

//
// Package installation from /tmp/pacin_basepacks FAILED.
//

Help much appreciated

The_Nerd · 2006-10-26 23:31:12

I got that a few times, I just removed the mousetrap repo from my pacman.conf file and it worked fine. I remember hearing something about shadowhand moving his packages to unstable, so perhaps he moved everything to unstable and larch is getting mad?

twiistedkaos · 2006-10-27 01:55:51

The_Nerd wrote:

I got that a few times, I just removed the mousetrap repo from my pacman.conf file and it worked fine. I remember hearing something about shadowhand moving his packages to unstable, so perhaps he moved everything to unstable and larch is getting mad?

Thanks, that fixed it

lilsirecho · 2006-10-27 03:53:26

Gradgrind;

Pleased that you have Larch 2.0 up. Will be building a DVD d/l again...

In your doc "Overview of the Larch build system" one typo I find...

The larch live CD/USB system is based on a pristine, fresh Archlinux installation, lovingly packaged in a squashfs file-system. The fresh Archlinux installation is prepared by using the installation script pacin (in the 'larch_installer/bin' directory). It is called automatically by mklarch with the correct options. Unlike a normal installation, a separate partition is not required, it can be placed anywhere convenient (the path is set in config_larch in the selected profile directory - see Profiles). Note that lots of space is necessary, nearly 4GB for a 700GB CD.

As you will note, the CD detail is a bit gross

Gladdaseeya!!!!

Great stuff!

gradgrind · 2006-10-27 04:59:34

Ahh, just planning for the future ...

Hi lilsirecho, thanks! Keep the reports coming.

sivad · 2006-10-31 14:04:02

Hello,

I have a problem, after issuing

./mklarch -p mini

I get the following error

autoconf automake bash bin86 binutils bison bzip2 coreutils cpio cracklib cryptsetup db dcron device-mapper dhcpcd dialog diffutils e2fsprogs ed file filesystem findutils flex gawk gcc gdbm gen-init-cpio gettext glibc grep groff grub gzip initscripts iputils jfsutils kbd kernel-headers klibc klibc-extras klibc-udev less libgcrypt libgpg-error libpcap libtool libusb licenses lilo logrotate lvm2 lzo2 m4 mailx make man man-pages mdadm mkinitcpio mktemp module-init-tools nano ncurses net-tools openssl pacman pam patch pciutils pcmciautils pcre perl popt ppp procinfo procps psmisc raidtools readline reiserfsprogs rp-pppoe sed shadow slocate sysfsutils syslog-ng sysvinit tar tcp_wrappers udev unifdef usbutils util-linux vim wget which wireless_tools xfsprogs zlib
raidtools: not found in sync db

//
// Package installation from /tmp/pacin_basepacks FAILED.
//

Also, how small could you make a system with only SSH, eg, all packages removed barring simple shell and unix tools?

My girlfrield has a laptop which she wants to watch tele on, her main computer has a DVB card in it, and I want to boot into a light weight linux distrubution and run dvbstream, streaming tv to her laptop.

This seems perfect, but im new to live cds, and all this stuff in general.

Thanks

gradgrind · 2006-10-31 18:39:08

sivad wrote:

Hello,
I have a problem, after issuing
./mklarch -p mini
I get the following error
....
raidtools: not found in sync db
//
// Package installation from /tmp/pacin_basepacks FAILED.
//

Sorry about that. The default method for getting the list of base packages uses CVS, which is at present a bit out-of-sync with the 'current' repository. I'll change that in the next release, but for now you will need to edit the 'config_pacin' file for your chosen profile (mini). Change it so that it looks like this:

  ...
# choose method for acquiring list of base packages
#getbasepacks=basepacks_cvs
getbasepacks=basepacks_ftp
#getbasepacks=basepacks_abs
  ...

Also, how small could you make a system with only SSH, eg, all packages removed barring simple shell and unix tools?

Well my smallest live CDs are about 150MB (compressed - that's about 500MB on an installed system!). Getting smaller would require careful pruning. Arch is not really designed for making very small systems. If that's important you might have more luck with slackware.
[/code]

sivad · 2006-11-02 09:57:11

cool, got it booting from the usb stick, and its pretty cool

i have a few questions.

is it possable to make the root of the usb stick nice and tidy. i think my girlfriend wont like weird files in it. for instance, have all the files in the root in a directory like livecd or something.

i also tried to save my session, and rebooted, and it failed to boot with 'no operating system error'. all i did was a set a root password, and sync pacman.

besides all that, im really impressed, 150 megs isnt that big, and all i have to do now is copy dvbstream into, and make a rc script for it. sweet!

gradgrind · 2006-11-02 13:36:49

sivad wrote:

is it possable to make the root of the usb stick nice and tidy. i think my girlfriend wont like weird files in it. for instance, have all the files in the root in a directory like livecd or something.

Maybe, but I believe not easily (or at all..) with syslinux. Unfortunately I only have one machine which will boot at all from USB stick and that only works with syslinux, so I can't run any tests with GRUB or extlinux. You would need to change at least the larch initcpio hook and, of course, the code that puts the stuff on the USB-stick in the first place, and the session saving script. There may be other bits too, so it's not really a little job I'm afraid.

Normally one doesn't look too closely at what's on a live-CD/USB-stick ...
If you want to store data on it as well, I would suggest a second partition, which you can also format with a 'proper' filesystem.

sivad wrote:

i also tried to save my session, and rebooted, and it failed to boot with 'no operating system error'. all i did was a set a root password, and sync pacman.

I'll have to try it out again and get back to you if I find anything.

gradgrind · 2006-11-02 17:20:17

sivad wrote:

i also tried to save my session, and rebooted, and it failed to boot with 'no operating system error'. all i did was a set a root password, and sync pacman.

gradgrind wrote:

I'll have to try it out again and get back to you if I find anything.

OK, I tried it again and didn't have any problems here. Maybe you could try to reproduce the problem and, if it is repeatable, say exactly what you did that led up to it?

I used newer larch scripts but I don't think I've changed anything connected with USB-stick booting.

gradgrind · 2006-11-02 17:28:14

New Release!

It's got divided up into five packages, to split up the various functions that it covers, but it should be at least as easy to use as before. For use without installation to the host machine I've written a setup script, which is the only thing you have to download manually (see the download page).

Alternatively, larch can be installed as a regular Arch package if you add the repository to your pacman.conf (see the download page).

Inside there are various structural changes (installation to /usr/... instead of /opt/larch/...), fixes, and documentation updates.

Share and Enjoy!

fluomole · 2006-11-05 03:28:34

gradgrind:

The release of v2 is an excting news for me. So I downloaded and tested it using the "mini" profile according to your detailed documents. Everything went well except an error when generating image ' larch.img'. It showed me "Generating image 'larch.img' ... File /usr/share/larch/initcpio/kinit.shared could not located." and then "SUCCESS", so I got the last iso file. And I tested the iso in vmware virtual machine. It hanged at "Mount:No such device :: Mounting overlay image" and cannot go ahead. I copied kinit which located at /home/larchbuild/ArchImage/usr/share/larch/initcpio/ into kinit.shared then repeated the "mklarch" process . And the error hadnot appeared, so I got another iso file. I tested it again and it hanged at another place "Kernel panic not syncing :Attempted to kill init." I also tried the "default" profile and I had no luck.

Is there anyone who has the same problem?

I don't know what's wrong with it and if you guys have a solution, please let me konw. Thanks.

gradgrind · 2006-11-05 06:08:50

fluomole wrote:

So I downloaded and tested it using the "mini" profile according to your detailed documents. Everything went well except an error when generating image ' larch.img'. It showed me "Generating image 'larch.img' ... File /usr/share/larch/initcpio/kinit.shared could not located."

That's no problem - it occurs because I replace kinit, but not kinit.shared, which isn't needed anyway. I'll tidy this up sometime.

fluomole wrote:

And I tested the iso in vmware virtual machine. It hanged at "Mount:No such device :: Mounting overlay image" and cannot go ahead.

I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about vmware. Maybe someone else has an idea? You could try qemu (which I use for testing) or, of course, a CD, and tell me if you get similar problems.

fluomole wrote:

I copied kinit which located at /home/larchbuild/ArchImage/usr/share/larch/initcpio/ into kinit.shared

Don't bother with this, that's not the problem.

Oh, and please make sure you're using the latest versions ...

Arch Linux

#26 2006-10-24 04:32:28

Re: larch-2

#27 2006-10-24 05:44:33

Re: larch-2

#28 2006-10-24 08:11:49

Re: larch-2

#29 2006-10-24 13:46:48

Re: larch-2

#30 2006-10-25 23:07:42

Re: larch-2

#31 2006-10-25 23:59:09

Re: larch-2

#32 2006-10-26 00:50:13

Re: larch-2

#33 2006-10-26 06:09:09

Re: larch-2

#34 2006-10-26 14:24:41

Re: larch-2

#35 2006-10-26 15:57:25

Re: larch-2

#36 2006-10-26 19:01:48

Re: larch-2

#37 2006-10-26 21:59:58

Re: larch-2

#38 2006-10-26 22:44:48

Re: larch-2

#39 2006-10-26 23:31:12

Re: larch-2

#40 2006-10-27 01:55:51

Re: larch-2

#41 2006-10-27 03:53:26

Re: larch-2

#42 2006-10-27 04:59:34

Re: larch-2

#43 2006-10-31 14:04:02

Re: larch-2

#44 2006-10-31 18:39:08

Re: larch-2

#45 2006-11-02 09:57:11

Re: larch-2

#46 2006-11-02 13:36:49

Re: larch-2

#47 2006-11-02 17:20:17

Re: larch-2

#48 2006-11-02 17:28:14

Re: larch-2

#49 2006-11-05 03:28:34

Re: larch-2

#50 2006-11-05 06:08:50

Re: larch-2

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