larch - latest news

gradgrind · 2007-01-12 06:55:15

Sigi wrote:

I get an error while emulating my iso in qemu:
:: End of live system set-up
:: Initramfs Completed - control passing to kinit
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
Suggestions anyone?

Lucky you - mine doesn't get that far. I get:
'/proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info: No such file or directory'
so it can't find the boot device.

But in my case, if I burn it to CD it works. My guess is that qemu has problems with the new pata system. I'll try changing the cd detection bit to see if I can get as far as a kernel panic!

Sigi wrote:

edit3: I first thought I'd found the error - I had uncommented unionfs in addedpacks. I rebuilt my liveCD with stock kernel and all important packages as in the newest default profile provided by larch-3 -> without any progress, I still get the same error. I somehow get the feeling the change to initcpio causes this troubles. I tried to run the livecd with the "earlymodules=piix" paramter without any luck. Which hooks are built into the larch.img?

HOOKS="base udev pata scsi sata usb larch1 larch2 larch3"

gradgrind · 2007-01-12 07:53:33

By changing the pata hook back to ide I can get it to work in qemu again. I should probably put this reversion in the initcpio_larch package. Anyone object?

You can test it out. Once you have done a build (let's say './mklarch -gfp mini'), go into the /home/larchbuild/ArchImage/usr/share/larch/initcpio directory (assuming you are using the default build directory) and edit mkinitcpio.conf: change the 'pata' hook in the last line to 'ide'. Then run '/mklarch -bgfp mini' to rebuild using the existing basis.

Sigi · 2007-01-12 09:58:53

(I'm not at Arch Box right now so my statements may be inaccurate or wrong..)

I've built a new ArchImage yesterdays and as far as I remember correctly, there was "larch" in the mkinitcpio.conf and not larch1-3. (It indeed didn't work as I tried putting larch1, larch2 and larch3 in the HOOKS, with a message that mkinitcpio couldn't find the Hooks). How could this happen? Is there more than one mkinitcpio.conf in the fresh ArchImage or am I using a somehow outdated package?

gradgrind · 2007-01-12 20:28:10

Sigi wrote:

(I'm not at Arch Box right now so my statements may be inaccurate or wrong..)
I've built a new ArchImage yesterdays and as far as I remember correctly, there was "larch" in the mkinitcpio.conf and not larch1-3. (It indeed didn't work as I tried putting larch1, larch2 and larch3 in the HOOKS, with a message that mkinitcpio couldn't find the Hooks). How could this happen? Is there more than one mkinitcpio.conf in the fresh ArchImage or am I using a somehow outdated package?

If that is the case, you must be using pretty old packages, and it would be helpful if you could get the latest ones, so that we don't confuse each other!

Sigi · 2007-01-13 12:01:59

gradgrind wrote:

If that is the case, you must be using pretty old packages, and it would be helpful if you could get the latest ones, so that we don't confuse each other!

I'm using:
larch 3.0-1
initcpio_larch 3.0-1
pacin 2.1-1

This is in my freshly generated $larchdir/usr/share/larch/initcpio/mkinitcpio.conf:
HOOKS="base udev ide scsi sata usb larch"

I still get the same Kernel panic error. Should there be a newer version of pacin in the repo or is this the newest one?
:?:

gradgrind · 2007-01-13 21:00:37

Sigi wrote:

I'm using:
larch 3.0-1
initcpio_larch 3.0-1
pacin 2.1-1
This is in my freshly generated $larchdir/usr/share/larch/initcpio/mkinitcpio.conf:
HOOKS="base udev ide scsi sata usb larch"
I still get the same Kernel panic error. Should there be a newer version of pacin in the repo or is this the newest one?
:?:

Well this is an interesting one! Have you called Sherlock Holmes? My guess is that somehow an old version of initcpio_larch is getting used to build your 'ArchImage'. Are you using a pacman.conf which already contains the larch repo for building your larch image? If so, check that it is pointing to ftp://archie.dotsrc.org/projects/archie/larch/dev3A (you can see which version of the package got installed by looking in $larchdir/var/lib/pacman/local).

I think the easiest way to use larch at the moment is probably via the larch-setup.sh script (i.e. not putting it in your pacman.conf and not installing the packages with pacman, though of course this should work too).

Oh, and the pacin version is ok.

lilsirecho · 2007-01-14 00:27:44

Gradgrind;

Performed the procedures you outlimed and was able to boot into kde but without internet access. My ID is not what I entered in rc.conf . I have 2.7gb of tmpfs, 2.1GB free...609MB of .iso.

I modified your procedure slightly..at then end of mklarch..before entering the CD -squashfs program, I opened Archimage to change the entries to fit my rc.conf, resolv and /etc/x11/xorgconf.

These entries did not all reflect into the burn so my internet was not accessible.

Perhaps I didn't do it correctly....I am in recovery from a stroke last week...

gradgrind · 2007-01-14 06:32:26

lilsirecho wrote:

Gradgrind;
Performed the procedures you outlimed and was able to boot into kde but without internet access. My ID is not what I entered in rc.conf . I have 2.7gb of tmpfs, 2.1GB free...609MB of .iso.
I modified your procedure slightly..at then end of mklarch..before entering the CD -squashfs program, I opened Archimage to change the entries to fit my rc.conf, resolv and /etc/x11/xorgconf.
These entries did not all reflect into the burn so my internet was not accessible.
Perhaps I didn't do it correctly....I am in recovery from a stroke last week...

Firstly, best wishes for your health - and get the important things in life straight before you deal with the unimportant ones (like computers!).

As to your larch configuration, ArchImage is the wrong place for these changes. The changes should be in the profile directory that you are using. If you want to change rc.conf, put (just) your changed lines in 'rcconfx'. The other files need to be in overlay/etc (also in the profile you are using). If the overlay is still compressed (overlay.xpk), cd to the profile directory and run './overlay.xpk .' (don't miss the dot).

Another possibility (assuming you have burnt the CD multisession and your computer boots from multisession CD) is to make the changes in the running live system, then save the session at shutdown.

gradgrind · 2007-01-14 08:12:09

gradgrind wrote:

By changing the pata hook back to ide I can get it to work in qemu again. I should probably put this reversion in the initcpio_larch package. Anyone object?
You can test it out. Once you have done a build (let's say './mklarch -gfp mini'), go into the /home/larchbuild/ArchImage/usr/share/larch/initcpio directory (assuming you are using the default build directory) and edit mkinitcpio.conf: change the 'pata' hook in the last line to 'ide'. Then run '/mklarch -bgfp mini' to rebuild using the existing basis.

I decided to handle it by adding an extra package. If you want to use the ide hook instead of pata put 'initcpio_larch_ide' in your addedpacks instead of 'initcpio_larch'.

Sigi · 2007-01-14 12:05:46

gradgrind wrote:

gradgrind wrote:
By changing the pata hook back to ide I can get it to work in qemu again. I should probably put this reversion in the initcpio_larch package. Anyone object?
You can test it out. Once you have done a build (let's say './mklarch -gfp mini'), go into the /home/larchbuild/ArchImage/usr/share/larch/initcpio directory (assuming you are using the default build directory) and edit mkinitcpio.conf: change the 'pata' hook in the last line to 'ide'. Then run '/mklarch -bgfp mini' to rebuild using the existing basis.
I decided to handle it by adding an extra package. If you want to use the ide hook instead of pata put 'initcpio_larch_ide' in your addedpacks instead of 'initcpio_larch'.

Sorry for all the troubles - I had initcpio_larch-1.0 in my custompacks dir. I'm building a new ArchImage right now and hope it works now. Thanks a lot for your help, gradgrind - once again: I owe you one!

Sigi · 2007-01-14 14:38:11

Sigi wrote:

gradgrind wrote:
gradgrind wrote:
By changing the pata hook back to ide I can get it to work in qemu again. I should probably put this reversion in the initcpio_larch package. Anyone object?
You can test it out. Once you have done a build (let's say './mklarch -gfp mini'), go into the /home/larchbuild/ArchImage/usr/share/larch/initcpio directory (assuming you are using the default build directory) and edit mkinitcpio.conf: change the 'pata' hook in the last line to 'ide'. Then run '/mklarch -bgfp mini' to rebuild using the existing basis.
I decided to handle it by adding an extra package. If you want to use the ide hook instead of pata put 'initcpio_larch_ide' in your addedpacks instead of 'initcpio_larch'.
Sorry for all the troubles - I had initcpio_larch-1.0 in my custompacks dir. I'm building a new ArchImage right now and hope it works now. Thanks a lot for your help, gradgrind - once again: I owe you one!

I've built a new LiveCD now. Booting it in qemu didn't work (but I think you mentioned that this didn't work for you either) so I burnt the image on CD. I don't get kernel panics anymore and the HOOKS larch1-3 work. But I've another problem now (error log):

INIT: version 2.86 booting
/etc/rc.sysinit: line 7: /etc/rc.d/functions: No such file or directory
INIT: Entering runlevel: 3
INIT: cannot execute "/etc/rc.multi"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"
...

There is no rc.d directory in the etc.sgf overlay file. I assume there should be one...

Help much appreciated

gradgrind · 2007-01-15 06:02:06

Sigi wrote:

I've built a new LiveCD now. Booting it in qemu didn't work (but I think you mentioned that this didn't work for you either) so I burnt the image on CD.

As I mentioned before, replace initcpio_larch by initcpio_larch_ide in addedpacks if you want to run it in qemu.

Sigi wrote:

I don't get kernel panics anymore and the HOOKS larch1-3 work. But I've another problem now (error log):
INIT: version 2.86 booting
/etc/rc.sysinit: line 7: /etc/rc.d/functions: No such file or directory
INIT: Entering runlevel: 3
INIT: cannot execute "/etc/rc.multi"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"
INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"
...
There is no rc.d directory in the etc.sgf overlay file. I assume there should be one...
Help much appreciated

There doesn't need to be an rc.d directory in the etc.sqf overlay file. My guess is that you are using an old overlay directory in your profile without the updated inittab. I had to change inittab to deal with the new unionfs usage, so that the first script called is now rc.sysinit0. If that is the case, copy the /etc/inittab from one of the supplied profiles in larch to yours.

Ryujin · 2007-01-15 16:11:48

First off, I must say that your scripts are masterful, I am very gratefull to use them, I make live CDs for the students of my linux seminars.

I just wanted to check, I want to adjust the mkinitcpio.conf for gensplash and wanted to confirm how to go about it, do I simply place it in the overlay, or do I need to make a new cpio package? And if so, do you have a pkgbuild for it?

gradgrind · 2007-01-15 16:54:54

Ryujin wrote:

I just wanted to check, I want to adjust the mkinitcpio.conf for gensplash and wanted to confirm how to go about it, do I simply place it in the overlay, or do I need to make a new cpio package? And if so, do you have a pkgbuild for it?

One way to do this would be to use the session saving feature - make all the changes you want while running the live CD, including changing mkinitcpio.conf and generating the new initramfs, then at shutdown saving the session to the boot medium (needs a multi-session burned CD). Then you can copy this CD.

Placing the new mkinitcpio.conf in the overlay won't work because the initramfs is generated at build time within the system in the ArchImage directory, which is untouched by the overlay.

Another easy method is to change the file (/home/larchbuild/)ArchImage/usr/share/larch/initcpio/mkinitcpio.conf after the first build (or use the -a flag to just do the ArchImage installation) and then run mklarch again with the -b flag (other arguments/flags as before) to regenerate the iso from the existing ArchImage installation. This will use your changed mkinitcpio.conf.

It is also possible to replace initcpio_larch, which is possibly the 'cleanest' method, but probably not the easiest. To do this you should download the larch_dev-xxxxxx.tar.gz file from the larch repository, unpack it somewhere and look inside it. It's probably not an encouraging sight - this structure arose in an attempt to make my life as developer easier, and not necessarily in order to make it easy for someone else to understand the whys and wherefores. The PKGBUILDs in the abs directory probably won't be very helpful to you as most of the work - the building of the source files - is done dynamically by the 'archive' script. When I make changes, I only have to change version numbers and run 'archive', and all the changed larch packages get rebuilt automatically and my repository gets updated.
I really ought to document this ...
Anyway, if you want to go that way, let me know and I'll guide you through it.

Ryujin · 2007-01-15 17:39:04

I am trying the -a then -b meathod right now, but considering the fact that we at SUU are looking into making a frozen Arch based distro, and using much of your code for install purposes I will need to get to know your scripts a little better so I am going to start working with them, I hope I can be of assistance as I better see how you are doing things!

Also I may have some questions about archin, I want to add reiser4 support an develop a pyqt installer interface.

The_Nerd · 2007-01-16 13:48:51

Since its remotely larch related....

I know their unoffical, but I will be picking up my Xorg configure script again sometime soon to do more work on it. As of right now, it looks like I'll be improving the scripts I had before, in addition to trying to get some sort of autodetection so that it autodetects, and then asks if the settings are right and if they are not, lets you go to manual selection.

School just started again for me, but we all know the first few weeks of the new semester are a cakewalk so i should have time

I know Sigi has used them, but if anyone else has as would like to throw feedback at me, please do.

Once again, thanks to gradgrind for the larch scripts, i'm still using a bit older version than your latest, but they work like a charm! I'll be updating to the latest larch version to make sure my scripts work fine with it (no reason they shouldnt but why add another variable to the testing process)

And now, back to your regularly scheduled, larch programming!

-The_Nerd

Edit:

Heres the old overlay files in case anyone wants to try them out as I last worked on them. This is from an old version of larch, so i'd just unpack it and sort through what I've got there. I'll probably start an offical thread soon on it for development purposes.

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

gradgrind · 2007-01-16 16:33:39

Ryujin wrote:

Also I may have some questions about archin, I want to add reiser4 support an develop a pyqt installer interface.

I've been thinking a bit about archin, and come to the conclusion that I like the general approach it takes (small scripts and program control governed largely by directory trees) but it would probably be best to rewrite all of its skeleton and interface in a proper programming language (python for example). At the time I wrote it I was perhaps a little too eager to get to grips with bash.

For my purposes I am mostly interested in console-based installers, having found them generally most resilient, but I suppose many people like something more fancy. I find pyqt a little awkward at the moment because of the gradual transition to Qt4 - either use the old version and write soon obsoleted code, or use the new one adding extra (large) libraries just for the installer (though I am using pyqt4 in another project and it does seem to be fairly easy to use, on the whole).

Sigi · 2007-01-16 19:04:06

The_Nerd wrote:

I know Sigi has used them,

... and still does. IMO some kind of X autoconfiguration is really important for a Linux LiveCD. I'm looking forward to see your thread on this topic apear.

larch-3 is working great here finaly. I'm using an updated inittab and initcpio_larch_ide and the qemu emulation works again as gradgrind already pointed out.

lilsirecho · 2007-01-17 04:07:26

Gradgrind;

Performed the steps you outlined and have obtained internet access and downloaded via pacman ....openoffice-base which installed in Kde office category.

I spend my recuperative hours doing mental exercises rather than dwelling on physical problems. Feeling better each day.

Thanks for the new Larch!!!

Ray

_alexmyself · 2007-01-22 18:29:13

i have boot problem with larch both isolinux and grub,
i see ata1 which seems to be my hd
and error with ata2 which seems to be my cd/dvd
system try to initialize but fail with error, then retry, fail, retry,fail..
i've tried modify the mkinitcpio.conf in removing pata and one or two others which are not in my real mkinitcpio.conf but no change
this certainly comes from kernel conf somewhere, but i d'ont know where looking, i have no problem with my real install
i will test on other pc when possible

Sigi · 2007-01-22 19:54:24

_alexmyself: Have you also tried to include the ide hook instead of the pata (you only wrote that you tested w/o pata, please excuse if I'm too nitpicking ;-) ?

I'm currently enhencing the capabilities of my LiveCD in regard to the generation of VMware images - which basically requires a kind of "run-only-on-the-first-boot-setup Installation Option". Works quite well allready.

gradgrind · 2007-01-23 05:45:57

_alexmyself wrote:

i have boot problem with larch both isolinux and grub,
i see ata1 which seems to be my hd
and error with ata2 which seems to be my cd/dvd
system try to initialize but fail with error, then retry, fail, retry,fail..
i've tried modify the mkinitcpio.conf in removing pata and one or two others which are not in my real mkinitcpio.conf but no change
this certainly comes from kernel conf somewhere, but i d'ont know where looking, i have no problem with my real install
i will test on other pc when possible

As Sigi suggests, I would try the ide hook instead of pata before looking elsewhere - the new kernel disk subsystem seems to have a few teething problems ...

The easiest way to do this is probably to edit your 'addedpacks' file, putting initcpio_larch_ide instead of initcpio_larch (and then rerun mklarch from the beginning).

Sigi · 2007-01-23 21:39:23

Gradgrind, I have a question:
I've a LiveCD-iso which I install into a VMware environement using archin. I select the "Copy from running larch system" option in the installation part. I assumed that this would copy the running system to the installation partition including all changes I made to configuration files. However, in the file /etc/inittab the line

c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 vc/1 linux -n -l /root/start.sh

changes to

c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 vc/1 linux

Is this a change that archin is carrying out or have I messed up things once again by myself?
I tried to understand the stages of your archin script but haven't really found the "Copy running larch system" part, although I now where to look for it...

Cheers Sigi

gradgrind · 2007-01-24 05:12:27

Sigi wrote:

Gradgrind, I have a question:
I've a LiveCD-iso which I install into a VMware environement using archin. I select the "Copy from running larch system" option in the installation part. I assumed that this would copy the running system to the installation partition including all changes I made to configuration files. However, in the file /etc/inittab the line
c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 vc/1 linux -n -l /root/start.sh
changes to
c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 vc/1 linux
Is this a change that archin is carrying out or have I messed up things once again by myself?
I tried to understand the stages of your archin script but haven't really found the "Copy running larch system" part, although I now where to look for it...
Cheers Sigi

Look in (...)larchin-3.0/share/archin/stages/40install/chooseinstall/10livecopy/script

there you'll see this:

# Get these files in their 'original' versions
cp -af /.livesys/system/etc/{rc.sysinit,rc.shutdown,inittab} ${INSTALL}/etc

The larch versions of these files only make sense inside the larch system, so they are replaced at installation. The larch inittab changes not only the first vc line but also the rc.sysinit script - and you don't want that once it's installed.

Sigi · 2007-01-24 09:10:24

Tanks a lot gradgrind for the answer to my question. In this case I'll change the /etc/inittab after the installation with a little script to fit my needs.

One other issue I was thinking about for my VMware Image:
I'd like to have an automated (l)archin installation. Is there a more convenient way to achieve this than by picking the steps I want and writing a script to carry out them? (Some kind of default configuration archin goes through step by step without user interaction?) How about automated disk partitioning? What's the easiest way to achieve this?

Or would it be easier to take all the stuff in ArchImage and copy it to a freshly generated partition in the VMware Image?

Arch Linux

#26 2007-01-12 06:55:15

Re: larch - latest news

#27 2007-01-12 07:53:33

Re: larch - latest news

#28 2007-01-12 09:58:53

Re: larch - latest news

#29 2007-01-12 20:28:10

Re: larch - latest news

#30 2007-01-13 12:01:59

Re: larch - latest news

#31 2007-01-13 21:00:37

Re: larch - latest news

#32 2007-01-14 00:27:44

Re: larch - latest news

#33 2007-01-14 06:32:26

Re: larch - latest news

#34 2007-01-14 08:12:09

Re: larch - latest news

#35 2007-01-14 12:05:46

Re: larch - latest news

#36 2007-01-14 14:38:11

Re: larch - latest news

#37 2007-01-15 06:02:06

Re: larch - latest news

#38 2007-01-15 16:11:48

Re: larch - latest news

#39 2007-01-15 16:54:54

Re: larch - latest news

#40 2007-01-15 17:39:04

Re: larch - latest news

#41 2007-01-16 13:48:51

Re: larch - latest news

#42 2007-01-16 16:33:39

Re: larch - latest news

#43 2007-01-16 19:04:06

Re: larch - latest news

#44 2007-01-17 04:07:26

Re: larch - latest news

#45 2007-01-22 18:29:13

Re: larch - latest news

#46 2007-01-22 19:54:24

Re: larch - latest news

#47 2007-01-23 05:45:57

Re: larch - latest news

#48 2007-01-23 21:39:23

Re: larch - latest news

#49 2007-01-24 05:12:27

Re: larch - latest news

#50 2007-01-24 09:10:24

Re: larch - latest news

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