larch - latest news

Shagbag · 2007-04-16 21:00:19

I thought I'd show some resource usage stats with a 'bit of bling'!

raymano · 2007-04-16 23:22:32

Let's say I have accidentally removed my original /home/larchbuild/ArchImage directory but I still have a Larch USB that I had created from it.

On the usb I have base.sqf etc.sqf overlay.sqf and system.sqf, among other files. Now, I loop mount each of these to their respective directory with same name, as follows:

mount ../larchusbroot/base.sqf ./base -oloop -tsquashfs
mount ../larchusbroot/etc.sqf ./etc -oloop -tsquashfs
mount ../larchusbroot/overlay.sqf ./overlay -oloop -tsquashfs
mount ../larchusbroot/system.sqf ./system -oloop -tsquashfs
mkdir ./writehere

Notice I create the writehere dir to use as my rw leg of the union.

Could I recreate the ArchImage directory with the following?

mount none /home/larchbuild/ArchImage -tunionfs -odirs=writehere=rw:base=ro:etc=ro:overlay=ro:system=ro

Besides the writehere directory I am not sure of the order of the sqfs for the union. If the above mount is incorrect could you please tell me the correct order?

Thanks,
Raymano

Last edited by raymano (2007-04-16 23:23:19)

gradgrind · 2007-04-17 05:08:34

raymono:
It's a bit complicated, but if I remember correctly ... You don't need the unionfs mount, just copy (cp -a) the stuff from system.sqf and base.sqf to ArchImage. overlay.sqf and etc.sqf contain stuff that was never in ArchImage. You'll be missing the special directories (dev mnt media proc sys tmp, I think), but you can add them back too if you need them.

raymano · 2007-04-17 13:51:52

Thanks gradgrind.

This worked:

mount none /home/larchbuild/ArchImage -tunionfs -odirs=writehere=rw:overlay=ro:etc=ro:system=ro:base=ro

In addition I had to create /dev/console /dev/zero /dev/null /media /proc /sys and everything worked. I liked the union fs approach because it saved me the extra step of having to copy the sqfs back to the hard drive. This allows me to make a new USB key directly based on another one without having to copy the contents of the first to the hard drive.

gradgrind · 2007-04-17 17:56:22

raymano wrote:

Thanks gradgrind.
This worked:
mount none /home/larchbuild/ArchImage -tunionfs -odirs=writehere=rw:overlay=ro:etc=ro:system=ro:base=ro
In addition I had to create /dev/console /dev/zero /dev/null /media /proc /sys and everything worked. I liked the union fs approach because it saved me the extra step of having to copy the sqfs back to the hard drive. This allows me to make a new USB key directly based on another one without having to copy the contents of the first to the hard drive.

Yes it probably would work, but having etc and overlay in there will cause problems if you want to do an hd install with the system. The 'unmodified' ArchImage is just system and base.

raymano · 2007-04-17 18:03:20

gradgrind wrote:

Yes it probably would work, but having etc and overlay in there will cause problems if you want to do an hd install with the system. The 'unmodified' ArchImage is just system and base.

Understood. However, in this case, I really want the 'modified' ArchImage.

Thanks for the pointers.

lilsirecho · 2007-04-19 22:29:08

Just a note to confirm success with flash boot /Larch3.4 to c2r with reboot OK with save session.

A real fine script!!

NeOnsKuLL · 2007-04-20 13:31:27

gradgrind:
Hi, is there any posibility to add to pacin a method, and a variable to compliment it in, for example, config_larch, to install from a local arch mirror, from HDD?. For example, PACKAGESTXT_FILE_PATH="/repos/current/...". It's my case. By bow I'm editing /usr/bin/pacin in this way:

basepacks_ftp ()
{
    echo "//"
    echo "// ** Getting base package list from ftp.archlinux.org/.../setup/p$
    echo "//"
    rm -f packages.txt
    cp /root/repos/current/os/i686/setup/packages.txt .
#    wget ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/current/os/i686/setup/packages.txt
    BASEPKGS=$( grep '^base/' packages.txt | \
            sed 's|^base/||;s|-[^-]\+-[0-9]\+\.pkg.*||' )
    rm -f packages.txt
}

Please, add it. I can do it, but I'm sure you do it the best way

In other side, for some unknown reason, since someday, anytime I create the baseveto file in the root of my project, even an empty baseveto file, I receive an error from grep, just before the variables initializing, it trys to continue, but, obviously, it fails.

Thanks in advance

See you

Last edited by NeOnsKuLL (2007-04-20 13:39:44)

gradgrind · 2007-04-20 16:37:03

NeOnsKuLL wrote:

gradgrind:
Hi, is there any posibility to add to pacin a method, and a variable to compliment it in, for example, config_larch, to install from a local arch mirror, from HDD?. For example, PACKAGESTXT_FILE_PATH="/repos/current/..."
....
Please, add it. I can do it, but I'm sure you do it the best way

Yes, I really should do something about this. I think I'd like to get the path from pacman.conf (though that's not very easy). What do you think?

NeOnsKuLL wrote:

In other side, for some unknown reason, since someday, anytime I create the baseveto file in the root of my project, even an empty baseveto file, I receive an error from grep, just before the variables initializing, it trys to continue, but, obviously, it fails.

Sorry about that, I hadn't noticed it. The grep error is because of a missing backslash in mklarch. It should be:

# Call pacin installer to do the installation
if [ -f ${PROFILE}/baseveto ] && \
        [ -z "$( echo "${PACINOPTS}" | grep "\-x " )" ]; then
    PACINOPTS="${PACINOPTS} -x ${PROFILE}/baseveto"
fi

But that should not stop a baseveto file in your profile from working. I think the problem there might be that I seem not to have documented that properly. In a baseveto file, each package must be at the beginning of a line and must be terminated with a / (because I only use a very simple 'grep' to match the entries). E.g.

xfsprogs/
xfsdump/

I'll try to get new packages out as soon as possible.

gradgrind · 2007-04-20 20:04:37

I've uploaded new packages (larch-3.5, pacin-2.4). packages.txt is now fetched from the same server as 'current' (well, probably - actually the first server in pacman.conf with '/current' in its path), from the folder 'setup' (i.e. the standard location).

Please let me know of any problems with this approach.

NeOnsKuLL · 2007-04-23 15:42:33

I've uploaded new packages (larch-3.5, pacin-2.4). packages.txt is now fetched from the same server as 'current' (well, probably - actually the first server in pacman.conf with '/current' in its path), from the folder 'setup' (i.e. the standard location).

Thanks about that, many thanks. I'll try it right now, after update my larch repo (I work almost always in my home, where I have not any Internet connection).

About the baseveto error, I'll put the / after packages names, to see if it works.

See you

NeOnsKuLL

lilsirecho · 2007-04-24 05:48:03

I had asked some time back about running a DVD sized boot which is possible from a dual-layer device if the packages are not squashed.

If trying to generate a single fat16 partition on a flash drive which is greater than 1GB results in an automatic generation of additional partitions when using qtparted. This limits the Larch boot size to 1GB on a flash drive.

Using fat32 on a flash drive, enables the use of 4GB drives as single partitions but Larch will not boot on a fat32 flash device; however, the device is useable for any other purpose in the booted system.

Please correct me if I am wrong!!!!

gradgrind · 2007-04-24 07:40:53

lilsirecho wrote:

I had asked some time back about running a DVD sized boot which is possible from a dual-layer device if the packages are not squashed.
If trying to generate a single fat16 partition on a flash drive which is greater than 1GB results in an automatic generation of additional partitions when using qtparted. This limits the Larch boot size to 1GB on a flash drive.
Using fat32 on a flash drive, enables the use of 4GB drives as single partitions but Larch will not boot on a fat32 flash device; however, the device is useable for any other purpose in the booted system.
Please correct me if I am wrong!!!!

There are various ways to handle / get around syslinux/fat16 limitations. One possibility is to use GRUB and a (say) ext2 partition, but syslinux does seem to work on more systems.

If you partition your flash drive, you can have any sort of partitions you like - they don't have to be 'fatXX' (unless you want to read them easily on legacy OSs). You can have the first partition as fat16 for booting with syslinux and the rest can be an ext2 partition. Also, the first partition can be very small, it only needs the syslinux stuff, the kernel (vmlinuz) and the initcpio (larch.img). The squashed system files (XXXX.sqf) and anything else you like can be on another partition - system.sqf is sought by the initramfs script at boot time.

lilsirecho · 2007-04-24 15:53:20

Gradgrind; Thanks for your comments on the boot system.

I had hopes that flash could boot a DVD sized Larch in a single partition. Perhaps a multiple partition boot might be possible in the boot sequence with a mod to the Larch scripts. Then a very large number of packages could be included for user discretionary install...a local repo in flash.

I find that if I unmount the boot flash device in c2r, and remount it before reboot, it is not identified as it was during boot. It may affect the "save session" feature for that session.

I am running for the most part c2r 24/7 but do some testing of reboots, shutdowns and other flash device tests to determine the failure modes I may encounter.

It seems to run all flash devices ; memorex, pqi, secure digital and patriot. The largest I have is 4GB pqi which I partitioned as fat32 single partition. I use it for pix and video.

The secure digital performs well in both the Larch boot and in my camera, provides a source of digital pix along with the boot!

With a flash device inserted in a USB port, the boot flash device fails to complete the boot sequence halting at kinit and asking for an entry but the keyboard (USB)is inoperative.
Removing the flash device from the USB port restores normal boot with the boot flash device after reset. One of the fail modes uncovered in the course of tests I have performed. Also cannot have two boot flash devices inserted in USB ports when trying to boot...get "missing boot device"...

No complaints, just observations.

Thanks much for the scripts!!!!

raymano · 2007-05-08 13:55:03

Hi everyone,

As you have probably heard, the Beyond kernel patchset is discontinued:

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=32752

What are the plans for the kernel in larch?

gradgrind · 2007-05-08 17:51:11

Well, I suppose it's ok to continue using the old one until it vanishes from the repositories.

Otherwise just use the standard kernel - I'll change the addedpacks in the supplied profiles to this.

lilsirecho · 2007-05-17 16:58:03

What impact does the release of Duke .iso have on Larch builds?

gradgrind · 2007-05-18 07:31:06

lilsirecho wrote:

What impact does the release of Duke .iso have on Larch builds?

It shouldn't have any effect, should it?

gradgrind · 2007-05-18 12:31:07

Actually, I'm glad you asked, because it prompted me to have a quick check after the recent changes. And lo, it worketh not any more! The main problem was that someone had changed 'init' in mkinitcpio, but there's also the problem of the new package names.

Anyway I've uploaded updates, so everything should be fine again, for the moment. I've tested the default profile and also aufs with the new kernel. Both seem to work fine. I haven't yet adapted gen_repo to deal with the new package names (with architecture), so I'm just stripping the architecture out. I'll have to decide whether it makes sense to update gen_repo, or rather use repo-add instead. The advantage of the latter is that I don't have to maintain it, the disadvantage is that it doesn't output unsatisfied dependency info like gen_repo does.

markc · 2007-05-18 13:16:39

Just reporting that a larch build on a non-AL system (meaning everything is freshly pulled in) is not working with Virtualbox. I wget larch-setup.sh and do a "mklarch -p mini" and testing it on Virtualbox 1.3.8-6, on a testing AL system. I'm happy to help debug this if I can get some clues on how best to. A snapshot of where it dies is here...

(removed redundant offsite image URL)

Last edited by markc (2007-05-20 11:12:07)

gradgrind · 2007-05-18 13:39:31

Hi, markc. That's due to the recent mkinitcpio change. The latest larch packages should cure this.

markc · 2007-05-18 14:23:03

Thanks gradgrind, yes, it works now! I tried a new mklarch -p mini just before I posted above but I did not create a new directory and re-download larch-setup.sh, so I guess I was working with an older version of the scripts. This time I started from scratch and got larch-3.8-1 (not sure what the previous version was) but I assumed that the latest larch was being pulled in because, when syncronizing the package databases, it gets larch, current and extra, so I thought it would naturally be using the latest initcpio_larch, pacin, archin and larchin. Anyhow, it works now and I can get on with working with your wonderful scripts.

raymano · 2007-05-28 05:12:11

Hi,

I'm trying to get splashy (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Splashy) to work with larch created live cd but I'm having some problems. When i put splashy in the hooks line in mkinitcpio.conf before the larch hooks like this:

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

splash image shows up but the system freezes right before starting X. If I put splashy at the end like this:

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

there's no splash images at boot in this case but only some blank screens and after those the system starts up normally

Here's the splashy hook script:

# vim:set ft=sh:

run_hook()
{
    [ -x /sbin/splashy ] || return

    SPLASH=false
    SINGLE=false

    for param in $(cat /proc/cmdline); do
        case ${param} in
            splash*)
                SPLASH=true
                ;;
            single=*)
                SINGLE=true
                ;;
        esac
    done

    [ "${SINGLE}" = "false" ] || return
    [ "${SPLASH}" = "true" ] || return

    msg -n ":: Loading Splashy..."

    /sbin/splashy boot 2> /dev/null

    msg "done."
}

Any ideas about how to get the larch hooks to play with splashy?

Thanks,
Raymano

Last edited by raymano (2007-05-28 05:13:51)

boar · 2007-05-28 11:04:55

raymano wrote:

Hi,
I'm trying to get splashy (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Splashy) to work with larch created live cd but I'm having some problems. When i put splashy in the hooks line in mkinitcpio.conf before the larch hooks like this:

Hello
I made bootsplash works ... but with custom kernel, (not with splashy).
i made my custom kernel version 2.6.20, patched with

fbsplash-0.9.2-r5-2.6.20-rc6.patch
squashfs3.2-r2
unionfs-2.6.20.diff

then compile kernel, and make PKG from it ...
( part "With makepkg and pacman" from here http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ker … rom_Source )

and added it, like pkg into larch (change kernel26 in addedpacks to kernel26-myname)
and last thing is add into mkinitcpio.conf

HOOKS="fbsplash base udev autodetect ide scsi sata filesystems"
FBTHEMES="darch Kanotix"
FBRES="1024x768"

raymano · 2007-05-28 13:50:06

Hi boar,

Thanks for you response. I had been using fbsplash on larch with the beyond kernel until recently. I have been playing with splashy (with no need to patch kernel) since the beyond kernel has been discontinued and I really don't like the idea of creating a custom kernel each time a kernel is released, just for fbsplash.

I have splashy working on my regular desktop arch with the latest standard arch kernel (2.6.21) but as I mentioned above I'm having problems on my larch system.

Any pointers are appreciated.

Arch Linux

#126 2007-04-16 21:00:19

Re: larch - latest news

#127 2007-04-16 23:22:32

Re: larch - latest news

#128 2007-04-17 05:08:34

Re: larch - latest news

#129 2007-04-17 13:51:52

Re: larch - latest news

#130 2007-04-17 17:56:22

Re: larch - latest news

#131 2007-04-17 18:03:20

Re: larch - latest news

#132 2007-04-19 22:29:08

Re: larch - latest news

#133 2007-04-20 13:31:27

Re: larch - latest news

#134 2007-04-20 16:37:03

Re: larch - latest news

#135 2007-04-20 20:04:37

Re: larch - latest news

#136 2007-04-23 15:42:33

Re: larch - latest news

#137 2007-04-24 05:48:03

Re: larch - latest news

#138 2007-04-24 07:40:53

Re: larch - latest news

#139 2007-04-24 15:53:20

Re: larch - latest news

#140 2007-05-08 13:55:03

Re: larch - latest news

#141 2007-05-08 17:51:11

Re: larch - latest news

#142 2007-05-17 16:58:03

Re: larch - latest news

#143 2007-05-18 07:31:06

Re: larch - latest news

#144 2007-05-18 12:31:07

Re: larch - latest news

#145 2007-05-18 13:16:39

Re: larch - latest news

#146 2007-05-18 13:39:31

Re: larch - latest news

#147 2007-05-18 14:23:03

Re: larch - latest news

#148 2007-05-28 05:12:11

Re: larch - latest news

#149 2007-05-28 11:04:55

Re: larch - latest news

#150 2007-05-28 13:50:06

Re: larch - latest news

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