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Re: snapshot

Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:09 pm

saving this too, for further investigation:
Package: refractasnapshot-gui
Architecture: all
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends},
bash (>= 4.1),
rsync (>= 3.0.7),
squashfs-tools (>= 4.0),
genisoimage (>= 1.1.11),
gawk (>= 3.1.7) | mawk (>= 1.3.3),
live-boot (>= 2.0.15),
refractasnapshot-base (>=9.0.1)


saving this too, as a reminder:
fsmithred wrote:Maybe this? (from apt-file list live-boot-initramfs-tools or apt-file search "scripts/live")
Code:
live-boot-initramfs-tools: /usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/live

Re: snapshot

Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:46 am

I finally solved it by:
removing live-boot
(which removes refractasnapshot-gui too)
running "aptitude purge ~c"
(probably superfluous).
rebooting
(superfluous too?)
re-installing live-boot and refractasnapshot-gui
I tested it several times, and it did not fail yet. Still i would not bet on it.

In short: removing and re-installing live-boot

Re: snapshot

Wed Sep 28, 2011 8:04 pm

Having done

Code:
apt-get install --reinstall live-boot-initramfs-tools live-boot


(which updates initrd in the postinst script)

and changing the line in snapshot rsync-excludes to "live/"

and rebooted, now getting a new failure, dropping to busybox, trying (using a different system) to boot a new snapshot ISO in virtualbox :

Code:
cat: can't open '/sys/block/*/removable' : No such file or directory


It's almost a clean install, I haven't done much except update the fstab, I'm sure that's done right.

Any ideas why? Later I will try purging and reinstalling those packages; will have to first track down the snapshot and installer debs as they will probably get removed.

Re: snapshot

Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:32 am

No idea why you got that. Changing the excludes line to live/ should leave you with an empty /live folder, but I didn't test it that way. As /live or commented out, it seems to work right.

debs are here or at github:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... installer/
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... asnapshot/

Re: snapshot

Thu Sep 29, 2011 3:58 am

will have to first track down the snapshot and installer debs as they will probably get removed.

what fsmithred said, or via "git clone"
Code:
git clone http://github.com/fsmithred/refracta

Once that command will sink in, its easy to get the deb's or sh-files
(i often bork the path... so it sometimes is not that easy, but i got to go here, to the how-to section)

As far i can see: yes, at least snapshot gets removed if one removes live-boot.

Re: snapshot

Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:08 pm

Just uploaded newer debs (9.0.1-2) to github -
https://github.com/fsmithred/refracta

Edit:
Added live-config to dependencies for snapshot
Changed snapshot_exlcude.list to "- /live" and also added /root/.bash_history
Changed refractainstaller.desktop to start the gui script with 'su -c' instead of 'su-to-root -X -c'
Added grub-legacy as optional dependency (for installer)

Note: Looks like it won't replace your refractasnapshot.conf.

Re: snapshot

Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:27 pm

Re my recent post (4 back)

Using 6.0.6-beta

We already sorted the issue of /scripts/live missing in the ramdisk.

I tried all sorts of things. Purge and reinstall of live-boot-initramfs-tools, live-boot, snapshot. Reboots. Manual update-initramfs. Extract the original and updated initrd, compare and inspect for anything obviously wrong. Same error,

Code:
cat: can't open '/sys/block/*/removable' : No such file or directory


essentially means it's not finding the live media.

At this point it's total reinstall. back to original. With no major mods except rsync-excludes fix, snapshot ran OK and booted the ISO normally.

Next test: Saved a copy of initrd, purged and reinstalled of live-boot-initramfs-tools, live-boot, snapshot. Rebooted and run snapshot... the error returned!

Manually reinstated the saved initrd, made new snapshot... ISO booted normally!

Here's the interesting bit.

Code:
<apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade>


(only the main mirror was changed) brought in kernel 2.6.32-35squeeze2 from updates and of course a new ramdisk got made. After a reboot and another snapshot the errors are all gone!

Here are some other packages upgraded :

firmware-linux-free_2.6.32-35squeeze2_all.deb
libssl0.9.8_0.9.8o-4squeeze2_i386.deb
linux-base_2.6.32-35squeeze2_all.deb
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686_2.6.32-35squeeze2_i386.deb
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common_2.6.32-35squeeze2_i386.deb
linux-image-2.6.32-5-686_2.6.32-35squeeze2_i386.deb
linux-libc-dev_2.6.32-35squeeze2_i386.deb
openssl_0.9.8o-4squeeze2_i386.deb
tzdata_2011h-0squeeze1_all.deb
user-setup_1.38_all.deb

More tests later but it all takes time.

Re: snapshot

Sat Oct 01, 2011 1:30 pm

OK, here are some new tests, a bit more methodical this time.

TEST 1

New install of 606-beta1. Unmodified except (dpkg -i) latest installer and snapshot debs 9.0.2

Run snapshot

Reboot to other Squeeze install, test ISO in virtualbox

ISO boots ( it is using the original initrd)

#################

TEST 2

Reboot to Refracta

<update-initramfs -u>

Run snapshot

Reboot to other Squeeze install, test ISO in virtualbox

Errors. "Can't find /scripts/live........."

Expected, because /usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/live does not exiast in original Refracta system; it doesn't get built into new initrd

#################

TEST 3

Reboot to Refracta

Purge live-boot-initramfs-tools live-boot. Snapshot gets removed and initrd gets updated automatically.

Reboot to refracta. Install live-boot-initramfs-tools, live-boot, refractasnapshot, live-config, live-config-sysvinit. Initrd gets updated again. /usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/live gets reinstated

Reboot to Refracta and make new snapshot.

Reboot to other Squeeze install, test ISO in virtualbox

Errors. (cat: can't open '/sys/block/*/removable' : No such file or directory)

#################

TEST 3

Reboot to Refracta. Disable security and squeeze-updates in sources.list (to stop apt upgrades)

Code:
apt-get update
apt-get install --reinstall linux-image-686


(initrd gets updated automatically)

Reboot to Refracta and make new snapshot.

Make new snapshot

Reboot to other Squeeze install, test ISO in virtualbox

ISO boots !!!

#################

Note. in Test 3 all I've done is reinstall tha same kernel. Seems to me like something else, kernel-related, is missing in original Refracta. Remember nadir's unsolved issues?

If refracta was built using snapshot, the rsync-excludes might need further investigation. I'm no rsync expert but always thought, to exclude a directory, a trailing slash is required. Might there have been a file somewhere else called "live"?

Maybe all this belongs in the "bug" thread for 6.0.6-beta1

Re: snapshot

Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:21 pm

Errors. (cat: can't open '/sys/block/*/removable' : No such file or directory)
I have no idea what that one is about. Everything under /sys gets excluded in making the snapshot.

If you reinstalled the kernel in beta1, you got a newer kernel. The one in the beta1 iso was compiled in June, and there's an update that was built in September. I didn't have any bad snapshots until I upgraded to the September kernel.

beta1 was built from a minimal debian install.

I used beta1 to install on hardware, so I could test wireless and get wlan0 to be the default wireless interface. Before I was finished, the hard drive died, and I had to use one of the snapshots I'd made from the hardware install to install again in vbox and finish preparing beta2.

The trailing slash on the directory in any rsync command is the boundary between what gets copied and what does not. Everything to the right of the last slash gets copied. I might have to add some specific things to the excludes file to tell rsync not to exclude them. Haven't tried this yet, but something like the following might be needed.

- /live
+ /usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/live
+ /usr/lib/refractasnapshot/iso/live (this was missing in 6.0.5, and it might have been missing in 6.0.6 if I hadn't added code in the snapshot script to create it if it does not exist.)

Re: snapshot

Sun Oct 02, 2011 12:24 pm

Can't anyone else replicate this? It is for sure what happened here, again on a fresh installation done from an md5-checked CD, on a machine with no apparent hardware problems (oldish intel 3GHZ single-core, 768 ram but like everything else around here, built from scrap!)

I know /sys does not get copied by snapshot. However it should get populated during the live boot, it seems that was not happening properly and was initramfs-related.

As well as */scripts/live, /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/live (a component of live-boot-initramfs-tools) was missing also from refracta iso, probably due to the previous rsync-excludes. I don't know every aspect of live-boot to the finest detail but clearly that is also an essential live-boot script, I'll have to read up more on that one...

Still unexplained is why I still got errors after it was reinstated, when that package was reinstalled, till the kernel also was reinstalled (I hadn't realised there are recent new kernels in the main repos, thinking they would have been just in updates, that's why I disabled updates)

Although workarounds for these issues are now found, making both snapshot and refracta itself usable, it would be good to know why.
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