livecd March 2010

livecd@lists.fedoraproject.org

20 participants
19 discussions

auto-biarch (x86_64 + i686) LiveDVD patch + ISO
by Jan Kratochvil 01 Jan '11

01 Jan '11

Hi, finally created a LiveDVD ISO automatically booting x86_64 OS on x86_64 (and i686 otherwise). Regular users will not notice there exists any new arch while they will benefit from the full performance of their PC: http://people.redhat.com/jkratoch/x86bilive-2009062000.tar.gz (71KB) It uses live_dir=LiveOS-x86_64 vs. live_dir=LiveOS-i686 to boot the image. The syslinux patch provides "default-{x86_64,i386}" keywords in isolinux.cfg. livecd-iso-to-disk is not patched/compatible with such image. livecd-creator should create such ISO on a single run, not by merging the output of two livecd-creator runs by a 3rd party app. Regards, Jan Reasons: * I still did not understand why I have to carry with me two media - both x86_64 and i386 - when all the data perfectly fit on a single media. * Why I have to try to boot x86_64 first to find out if the specific machine is x86_64? Even common programmers do not know it, "Windows XP works here". * The OS must "just work", it must be fun and easy. Requiring a special technical decision before even starting the OS download is a showstopper. * Checked that a regular user will on http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora still download terrible performance degradation of 32-bit OS although her hadware is in 70%-95%(?) of cases x86_64. x86_64 is here for 6 years now. * Arguing x86 may be faster than x86_64... I did not find any such case, x86_64 is a more modern arch (more registers, PIC for free, better ABI). We already hit the 2GB address space limitations. x86_64 is the future. * All the friends of mine have 8Mbit+ ADSL and TB disks downloading many DVD disks so some several more hundreds of MB are not something to notice. mkisofs -f -J -r -hide-rr-moved -hide-joliet-trans-tbl -V Fedora-11-x86bi-Live -o ../x86bilive.iso -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-info-table -boot-load-size 4 . mount -r -o loop Fedora-11-x86_64-Live.iso x86_64/ mount -r -o loop Fedora-11-i686-Live.iso i686/ x86bilive: total 4 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2009-06-18 21:10 GPL -> ../x86_64/GPL lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 2009-06-18 21:11 LiveOS-i686 -> ../i686/LiveOS/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 2009-06-18 21:10 LiveOS-x86_64 -> ../x86_64/LiveOS/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 2009-06-18 21:10 README -> ../x86_64/README drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2009-06-20 21:44 isolinux/ x86bilive/isolinux: total 184 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2009-06-18 21:13 boot.cat -> ../../x86_64/isolinux/boot.cat lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2009-06-18 21:17 ii686 -> ../../i686/isolinux/initrd0.img -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14336 2009-06-20 21:45 isolinux.bin -r--r--r-- 1 root root 1411 2009-06-20 21:44 isolinux.cfg lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 2009-06-18 21:13 ix8664 -> ../../x86_64/isolinux/initrd0.img lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 2009-06-18 21:17 ki686 -> ../../i686/isolinux/vmlinuz0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2009-06-18 21:13 kx8664 -> ../../x86_64/isolinux/vmlinuz0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 2009-06-18 21:13 memtest -> ../../x86_64/isolinux/memtest lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 2009-06-18 21:13 splash.jpg -> ../../x86_64/isolinux/splash.jpg -r--r--r-- 1 root root 159888 2009-06-20 20:48 vesamenu.c32 isolinux.cfg: default vesamenu.c32 timeout 100 menu background splash.jpg menu title Welcome to Fedora-11-x86bi-Live! menu color border 0 #ffffffff #00000000 menu color sel 7 #ffffffff #ff000000 menu color title 0 #ffffffff #00000000 menu color tabmsg 0 #ffffffff #00000000 menu color unsel 0 #ffffffff #00000000 menu color hotsel 0 #ff000000 #ffffffff menu color hotkey 7 #ffffffff #ff000000 menu color timeout_msg 0 #ffffffff #00000000 menu color timeout 0 #ffffffff #00000000 menu color cmdline 0 #ffffffff #00000000 menu hidden menu hiddenrow 5 label linux0 menu label x86_64 Boot kernel kx8664 append initrd=ix8664 root=CDLABEL=Fedora-11-x86bi-Live rootfstype=auto live_dir=LiveOS-x86_64 ro liveimg quiet rhgb menu default-x86_64 label check0 menu label x86_64 Verify and Boot kernel kx8664 append initrd=ix8664 root=CDLABEL=Fedora-11-x86bi-Live rootfstype=auto live_dir=LiveOS-x86_64 ro liveimg quiet rhgb check label linux1 menu label i686 Boot kernel ki686 append initrd=ii686 root=CDLABEL=Fedora-11-x86bi-Live rootfstype=auto live_dir=LiveOS-i686 ro liveimg quiet rhgb menu default-i386 label check1 menu label i686 Verify and Boot kernel ki686 append initrd=ii686 root=CDLABEL=Fedora-11-x86bi-Live rootfstype=auto live_dir=LiveOS-i686 ro liveimg quiet rhgb check label memtest menu label Memory Test kernel memtest label local menu label Boot from local drive localboot 0xffff --- /dev/null 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000 +++ defaults.patch 20 Jun 2009 20:10:46 -0000 @@ -0,0 +1,175 @@ +--- syslinux-3.75-orig/com32/menu/Makefile 2009-04-16 06:42:14.000000000 +0200 ++++ syslinux-3.75-defaults/com32/menu/Makefile 2009-06-20 19:21:32.000000000 +0200 +@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ MODULES = menu.c32 vesamenu.c32 + TESTFILES = + + COMMONOBJS = menumain.o readconfig.o passwd.o drain.o printmsg.o colors.o \ +- background.o refstr.o execute.o ++ background.o refstr.o execute.o verify_cpu.o + + all: $(MODULES) $(TESTFILES) + +--- syslinux-3.75-orig/com32/menu/menu.h 2009-04-16 06:42:14.000000000 +0200 ++++ syslinux-3.75-defaults/com32/menu/menu.h 2009-06-20 19:21:32.000000000 +0200 +@@ -224,4 +224,9 @@ void execute(const char *cmdline, enum k + /* drain.c */ + void drain_keyboard(void); + ++/* verify_cpu.S */ ++#if defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__) ++int verify_cpu(void); ++#endif ++ + #endif /* MENU_H */ +--- syslinux-3.75-orig/com32/menu/readconfig.c 2009-04-16 06:42:14.000000000 +0200 ++++ syslinux-3.75-defaults/com32/menu/readconfig.c 2009-06-20 20:23:24.000000000 +0200 +@@ -656,11 +656,22 @@ static void parse_config_file(FILE *f) + m->parent_entry->displayname = refstr_get(m->title); + } + } +- } else if ( looking_at(p, "default") ) { +- if (ld.label) { +- ld.menudefault = 1; +- } else if (m->parent_entry) { +- m->parent->defentry = m->parent_entry->entry; ++ } else if ( looking_at(p, "default") ++#if defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__) ++ || looking_at(p, "default-i386") ++ || looking_at(p, "default-x86_64") ++#endif ++ ) { ++#if defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__) ++ if (! ( ( looking_at(p, "default-i386") && verify_cpu () == 0 ) || ++ ( looking_at(p, "default-x86_64") && verify_cpu () != 0 ) ) ) ++#endif ++ { ++ if (ld.label) { ++ ld.menudefault = 1; ++ } else if (m->parent_entry) { ++ m->parent->defentry = m->parent_entry->entry; ++ } + } + } else if ( looking_at(p, "hide") ) { + ld.menuhide = 1; +--- syslinux-3.75-orig/com32/menu/verify_cpu.S 1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100 ++++ syslinux-3.75-defaults/com32/menu/verify_cpu.S 2009-06-20 20:30:27.000000000 +0200 +@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@ ++/* https://lists.linux-foundation.org/pipermail/fastboot/2006-November/011885.… */ ++#if defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__) ++ .globl verify_cpu ++verify_cpu: ++ push %ebx ++ push %esi ++ push %edi ++ push %ebp ++ call Xverify_cpu ++ pop %ebp ++ pop %edi ++ pop %esi ++ pop %ebx ++ ret ++ ++/* ++ * ++ * verify_cpu.S ++ * ++ * 14 Nov 2006 Vivek Goyal: Created the file ++ * ++ * This is a common code for verification whether CPU supports ++ * long mode and SSE or not. It is not called directly instead this ++ * file is included at various places and compiled in that context. ++ * Following are the current usage. ++ * ++ * This file is included by both 16bit and 32bit code. ++ * ++ * arch/x86_64/boot/setup.S : Boot cpu verification (16bit) ++ * arch/x86_64/boot/compressed/head.S: Boot cpu verification (32bit) ++ * arch/x86_64/kernel/trampoline.S: secondary processor verfication (16bit) ++ * arch/x86_64/kernel/acpi/wakeup.S:Verfication at resume (16bit) ++ * ++ * verify_cpu, returns the status of cpu check in register %eax. ++ * 0: Success 1: Failure ++ * ++ * The caller needs to check for the error code and take the action ++ * appropriately. Either display a message or halt. ++ */ ++ ++Xverify_cpu: ++ ++ pushfl # Save caller passed flags ++ pushl $0 # Kill any dangerous flags ++ popfl ++ ++ /* minimum CPUID flags for x86-64 */ ++ /* see http://www.x86-64.org/lists/discuss/msg02971.html */ ++#define SSE_MASK ((1<<25)|(1<<26)) ++#define REQUIRED_MASK1 ((1<<0)|(1<<3)|(1<<4)|(1<<5)|(1<<6)|(1<<8)|\ ++ (1<<13)|(1<<15)|(1<<24)) ++#define REQUIRED_MASK2 (1<<29) ++ pushfl # standard way to check for cpuid ++ popl %eax ++ movl %eax,%ebx ++ xorl $0x200000,%eax ++ pushl %eax ++ popfl ++ pushfl ++ popl %eax ++ cmpl %eax,%ebx ++ jz verify_cpu_no_longmode # cpu has no cpuid ++ ++ movl $0x0,%eax # See if cpuid 1 is implemented ++ cpuid ++ cmpl $0x1,%eax ++ jb verify_cpu_no_longmode # no cpuid 1 ++ ++ xor %di,%di ++ cmpl $0x68747541,%ebx # AuthenticAMD ++ jnz verify_cpu_noamd ++ cmpl $0x69746e65,%edx ++ jnz verify_cpu_noamd ++ cmpl $0x444d4163,%ecx ++ jnz verify_cpu_noamd ++ mov $1,%di # cpu is from AMD ++ ++verify_cpu_noamd: ++ movl $0x1,%eax # Does the cpu have what it takes ++ cpuid ++ andl $REQUIRED_MASK1,%edx ++ xorl $REQUIRED_MASK1,%edx ++ jnz verify_cpu_no_longmode ++ ++ movl $0x80000000,%eax # See if extended cpuid is implemented ++ cpuid ++ cmpl $0x80000001,%eax ++ jb verify_cpu_no_longmode # no extended cpuid ++ ++ movl $0x80000001,%eax # Does the cpu have what it takes ++ cpuid ++ andl $REQUIRED_MASK2,%edx ++ xorl $REQUIRED_MASK2,%edx ++ jnz verify_cpu_no_longmode ++ ++verify_cpu_sse_test: ++ movl $1,%eax ++ cpuid ++ andl $SSE_MASK,%edx ++ cmpl $SSE_MASK,%edx ++ je verify_cpu_sse_ok ++ test %di,%di ++ jz verify_cpu_no_longmode # only try to force SSE on AMD ++ movl $0xc0010015,%ecx # HWCR ++ rdmsr ++ btr $15,%eax # enable SSE ++ wrmsr ++ xor %di,%di # don't loop ++ jmp verify_cpu_sse_test # try again ++ ++verify_cpu_no_longmode: ++ popfl # Restore caller passed flags ++ movl $1,%eax ++ ret ++verify_cpu_sse_ok: ++ popfl # Restore caller passed flags ++ xorl %eax, %eax ++ ret ++#endif --- syslinux.spec 16 Apr 2009 18:11:30 -0000 1.59 +++ syslinux.spec 20 Jun 2009 20:10:46 -0000 @@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ License: GPLv2+ Group: Applications/System URL: http://syslinux.zytor.com/ Source0: ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/%{name}-%{tarball_versio… +Patch9: defaults.patch ExclusiveArch: %{ix86} x86_64 Buildroot: %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-root-%(%{__id_u} -n) BuildRequires: nasm >= 0.98.38-1, perl, netpbm-progs @@ -33,12 +34,18 @@ MEMDISK, which loads legacy operating sy %prep %setup -q -n syslinux-%{tarball_version} +%patch9 -p1 %build CFLAGS="-Werror -Wno-unused -finline-limit=2000" export CFLAGS # If you make clean here, we lose the provided syslinux.exe #make clean +rm -f com32/menu/vesamenu.c32 +make -C com32/lib libcom32.a +make -C com32/gpllib libcom32gpl.a +make -C com32/menu vesamenu.c32 +test -f com32/menu/vesamenu.c32 make installer make -C sample tidy

4 12

[PATCH] add edit-livecd script for editing livecd based images
by Joey Boggs 01 Jun '10

01 Jun '10

Resubmitting the edit-livecd script with the latest updates. edit-livecd is used for opening up livecd images to add and/or edit files with out having to rebuild the iso image. This script is useful for people who don't have the development and yum infrastructure/repos set up to build livecd's from scratch. This is especially useful for custom livecd images, like the ovirt-node project[1]. We agree that changes to packaging and binaries should always be done by modifying kickstart and rebuilding the image via livecd-creator. But if all you want to do is add/edit a config file, public key for SSH, or change the root password this can be done with the edit-livecd script. This is the second generation of the edit-livecd tool that replaces our original bash script with a python version and aims to reuse as much as the livecd-creator libraries as possible. The main reason for the new creator class is to avoid the need for a kisckstart file in order to edit an existing livecd image. [1] http://ovirt.org --- Makefile | 2 + tools/edit-livecd | 350 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 352 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) create mode 100755 tools/edit-livecd diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile index 991b27b..62e7fd8 100644 --- a/Makefile +++ b/Makefile @@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ install: man $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -D tools/image-creator $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/image-creator $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -D tools/livecd-iso-to-disk.sh $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/livecd-iso-to-disk $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -D tools/livecd-iso-to-pxeboot.sh $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/livecd-iso-to-pxeboot + $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -D tools/edit-livecd $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/edit-livecd $(INSTALL_DATA) -D AUTHORS $(DESTDIR)/usr/share/doc/livecd-tools-$(VERSION)/AUTHORS $(INSTALL_DATA) -D COPYING $(DESTDIR)/usr/share/doc/livecd-tools-$(VERSION)/COPYING $(INSTALL_DATA) -D README $(DESTDIR)/usr/share/doc/livecd-tools-$(VERSION)/README @@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ uninstall: rm -f $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/livecd-creator rm -rf $(DESTDIR)/usr/lib/livecd-creator rm -rf $(DESTDIR)/usr/share/doc/livecd-tools-$(VERSION) + rm -f $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/edit-livecd dist : all git archive --format=tar --prefix=livecd-tools-$(VERSION)/ HEAD | bzip2 -9v > livecd-tools-$(VERSION).tar.bz2 diff --git a/tools/edit-livecd b/tools/edit-livecd new file mode 100755 index 0000000..920522c --- /dev/null +++ b/tools/edit-livecd @@ -0,0 +1,350 @@ +#!/usr/bin/python -tt +# +# edit livecd: Edit a livecd to insert files +# +# Copyright 2009, Red Hat Inc. +# Written by Perry Myers <pmyers(a)redhat.com> & David Huff <dhuff(a)redhat.com> +# +# +# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify +# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by +# the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License. +# +# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, +# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of +# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the +# GNU Library General Public License for more details. +# +# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License +# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software +# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. + +import os +import sys +import tempfile +import shutil +import subprocess +import optparse +import logging + +from imgcreate.debug import * +from imgcreate.fs import * +from imgcreate.live import * + +class ExistingSparseLoopbackDisk(SparseLoopbackDisk): + """don't want to expand the disk""" + def __init__(self, lofile, size): + SparseLoopbackDisk.__init__(self, lofile, size) + + def create(self): + #self.expand(create = True) + LoopbackDisk.create(self) + +class LiveImageEditor(LiveImageCreator): + """class for editing LiveCD images. + + We need an instance of LiveImageCreator however we do not have a kickstart + file nor do we need to create a new image. We just want to reuse some of + LiveImageCreators methods on an existing livecd image. + + """ + + def __init__(self, name): + """Initialize a LiveImageEditor instance. + + creates a dummy instance of LiveImageCreator + We do not initialize any sub classes b/c we have no ks file. + + """ + self.name = name + + self.tmpdir = "/var/tmp" + """The directory in which all temporary files will be created.""" + + self.skip_compression = False + """Controls whether to use squashfs to compress the image.""" + + self.skip_minimize = False + """Controls whether an image minimizing snapshot should be created.""" + + self._isofstype = "iso9660" + self.__isodir = None + + self._ImageCreator__builddir = None + """working directory""" + + self._ImageCreator_instroot = None + """where the extfs.img is mounted for modification""" + + self._ImageCreator_outdir = None + """where final iso gets written""" + + self._ImageCreator__bindmounts = [] + + self._LoopImageCreator__imagedir = None + """dir for the extfs.img""" + + self._LoopImageCreator__blocksize = 4096 + self._LoopImageCreator__fslabel = None + self._LoopImageCreator__instloop = None + self._LoopImageCreator__fstype = None + self._LoopImageCreator__image_size = None + + self._LiveImageCreatorBase__isodir = None + """directory where the iso is staged""" + + # properties + def __get_image(self): + if self._LoopImageCreator__imagedir is None: + self.__ensure_builddir() + self._LoopImageCreator__imagedir = tempfile.mkdtemp(dir = os.path.abspath(self.tmpdir), prefix = self.name + "-") + return self._LoopImageCreator__imagedir + "/ext3fs.img" + _image = property(__get_image) + """The location of the image file""" + + + def _get_fstype(self): + dev_null = os.open("/dev/null", os.O_WRONLY) + try: + out = subprocess.Popen(["/sbin/blkid", self._image], + stdout = subprocess.PIPE, + stderr = dev_null).communicate()[0] + for word in out.split(): + if word.startswith("TYPE"): + self._LoopImageCreator__fstype = word.split("=")[1].strip("\"") + + except IOError, e: + raise CreatorError("Failed to determine fsimage TYPE: %s" % e ) + + + def _get_fslable(self): + dev_null = os.open("/dev/null", os.O_WRONLY) + try: + out = subprocess.Popen(["/sbin/e2label", self._image], + stdout = subprocess.PIPE, + stderr = dev_null).communicate()[0] + + self._LoopImageCreator__fslable = out.strip() + + except IOError, e: + raise CreatorError("Failed to determine fsimage TYPE: %s" % e ) + + + def __ensure_builddir(self): + if not self._ImageCreator__builddir is None: + return + + try: + self._ImageCreator__builddir = tempfile.mkdtemp(dir = os.path.abspath(self.tmpdir), + prefix = "edit-livecd-") + except OSError, (err, msg): + raise CreatorError("Failed create build directory in %s: %s" % + (self.tmpdir, msg)) + + + def _run_script(self, script): + + (fd, path) = tempfile.mkstemp(prefix = "script-", + dir = self._instroot + "/tmp") + + logging.debug("copying script to install root: %s" % path) + shutil.copy(os.path.abspath(script), path) + os.close(fd) + os.chmod(path, 0700) + + script = "/tmp/" + os.path.basename(path) + + + try: + subprocess.call([script], preexec_fn = self._chroot) + except OSError, e: + raise CreatorError("Failed to execute script %s, %s " % (script, e)) + finally: + os.unlink(path) + + + def mount(self, base_on, cachedir = None): + """mount existing file system. + + we have to override mount b/c we are not creating an new install root + nor do we need to setup the file system, ie makedirs(/etc/, /boot, ...), + nor do we want to overwrite fstab, or create selinuxfs + + We also need to get some info about the image before we + can mount it. + + """ + + if not base_on: + raise CreatorError("No base livecd image specified") + + self.__ensure_builddir() + + self._ImageCreator_instroot = self._ImageCreator__builddir + "/install_root" + self._LoopImageCreator__imagedir = self._ImageCreator__builddir + "/ex" + self._ImageCreator_outdir = self._ImageCreator__builddir + "/out" + + makedirs(self._ImageCreator_instroot) + makedirs(self._LoopImageCreator__imagedir) + makedirs(self._ImageCreator_outdir) + + LiveImageCreator._base_on(self, base_on) + + self._LoopImageCreator__image_size = os.stat(self._image)[stat.ST_SIZE] + self._get_fstype() + self._get_fslable() + self.fslabel = self._LoopImageCreator__fslable + + self._LoopImageCreator__instloop = ExtDiskMount(ExistingSparseLoopbackDisk(self._image, + self._LoopImageCreator__image_size), + self._ImageCreator_instroot, + self._fstype, + self._LoopImageCreator__blocksize, + self.fslabel) + try: + self._LoopImageCreator__instloop.mount() + except MountError, e: + raise CreatorError("Failed to loopback mount '%s' : %s" % + (self._image, e)) + + cachesrc = cachedir or (self._ImageCreator__builddir + "/yum-cache") + makedirs(cachesrc) + + for (f, dest) in [("/sys", None), ("/proc", None), + ("/dev/pts", None), ("/dev/shm", None), + (cachesrc, "/var/cache/yum")]: + self._ImageCreator__bindmounts.append(BindChrootMount(f, self._instroot, dest)) + + self._do_bindmounts() + + os.symlink("../proc/mounts", self._instroot + "/etc/mtab") + + self.__copy_cd_root(base_on) + + + def __copy_cd_root(self, base_on): + """helper function to root content of the base liveCD to ISOdir""" + + isoloop = DiskMount(LoopbackDisk(base_on, 0), self._mkdtemp()) + self._LiveImageCreatorBase__isodir = self._ImageCreator__builddir + "/iso" + + try: + isoloop.mount() + # legacy LiveOS filesystem layout support, remove for F9 or F10 + if os.path.exists(isoloop.mountdir + "/squashfs.img"): + squashimg = isoloop.mountdir + "/squashfs.img" + else: + squashimg = isoloop.mountdir + "/LiveOS/squashfs.img" + + #copy over everything but squashimg + shutil.copytree(isoloop.mountdir, + self._LiveImageCreatorBase__isodir, + ignore=shutil.ignore_patterns("squashfs.img", "osmin.img")) + except MountError, e: + raise CreatorError("Failed to loopback mount '%s' : %s" % + (base_on, e)) + + finally: + isoloop.cleanup() + + +def parse_options(args): + parser = optparse.OptionParser(usage = "%prog [-s=<script.sh>] <LIVECD.iso>") + + parser.add_option("-n", "--name", type="string", dest="name", + help="name of new livecd (don't include .iso will be added)") + + parser.add_option("-o", "--output", type="string", dest="output", + help="specify the output dir") + + parser.add_option("-s", "--script", type="string", dest="script", + help="specify script to run chrooted in the livecd fsimage") + + parser.add_option("-t", "--tmpdir", type="string", + dest="tmpdir", default="/var/tmp", + help="Temporary directory to use (default: /var/tmp)") + + parser.add_option("", "--skip-compression", action="store_true", dest="skip_compression") + + parser.add_option("", "--skip-minimize", action="store_true", dest="skip_minimize") + + setup_logging(parser) + + (options, args) = parser.parse_args() + + if len(args) != 1: + parser.print_usage() + sys.exit(1) + + return (args[0], options) + +def rebuild_iso_symlinks(isodir): + # remove duplicate files and rebuild symlinks to reduce iso size + efi_vmlinuz = "%s/EFI/boot/vmlinuz0" % isodir + isolinux_vmlinuz = "%s/isolinux/vmlinuz0" % isodir + efi_initrd = "%s/EFI/boot/initrd0.img" % isodir + isolinux_initrd = "%s/isolinux/initrd0.img" % isodir + + os.remove(efi_vmlinuz) + os.remove(efi_initrd) + os.symlink(isolinux_vmlinuz,efi_vmlinuz) + os.symlink(isolinux_initrd,efi_initrd) + + +def main(): + (livecd, options) = parse_options(sys.argv[1:]) + + if os.geteuid () != 0: + print >> sys.stderr, "You must run edit-livecd as root" + return 1 + + if options.name: + name = options.name + else: + name = os.path.basename(livecd) + ".edited" + + if options.output: + output = options.output + else: + output = os.path.dirname(livecd) + + + editor = LiveImageEditor(name) + editor.tmpdir = os.path.abspath(options.tmpdir) + editor.skip_compression = options.skip_compression + editor.skip_minimize = options.skip_minimize + + try: + editor.mount(livecd, cachedir = None) + if options.script: + print "Running edit script '%s'" % options.script + editor._run_script(options.script) + else: + print "Launching shell. Exit to continue." + print "----------------------------------" + editor.launch_shell() + rebuild_iso_symlinks(editor._LiveImageCreatorBase__isodir) + editor.unmount() + editor.package(output) + except CreatorError, e: + logging.error(u"Error editing Live CD : %s" % e) + return 1 + finally: + editor.cleanup() + + return 0 + + +if __name__ == "__main__": + sys.exit(main()) + + +arch = rpmUtils.arch.getBaseArch() +if arch in ("i386", "x86_64"): + LiveImageCreator = x86LiveImageCreator +elif arch in ("ppc",): + LiveImageCreator = ppcLiveImageCreator +elif arch in ("ppc64",): + LiveImageCreator = ppc64LiveImageCreator +else: + raise CreatorError("Architecture not supported!") -- 1.6.6.1

3 3

[PATCH v2] Implement %post --erroronfail
by Daniel Drake 20 May '10

20 May '10

This flag is documented and parsed, but not acted upon. --- imgcreate/creator.py | 11 +++++++++-- 1 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/imgcreate/creator.py b/imgcreate/creator.py index 909f616..4deb49e 100644 --- a/imgcreate/creator.py +++ b/imgcreate/creator.py @@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import sys import tempfile import shutil import logging +import subprocess import selinux import yum @@ -702,11 +703,17 @@ class ImageCreator(object): script = "/tmp/" + os.path.basename(path) try: - subprocess.call([s.interp, script], - preexec_fn = preexec, env = env) + subprocess.check_call([s.interp, script], + preexec_fn = preexec, env = env) except OSError, (err, msg): raise CreatorError("Failed to execute %%post script " "with '%s' : %s" % (s.interp, msg)) + except subprocess.CalledProcessError, err: + if s.errorOnFail: + raise CreatorError("%%post script failed with code %d " + % err.returncode) + logging.warning("ignoring %%post failure (code %d)" + % err.returncode) finally: os.unlink(path) -- 1.6.2.5

8 13

Re: [Fedora-livecd-list] [SoaS] Call for Testing: Duplicating SoaS via CMD
by Frederick Grose 29 Mar '10

29 Mar '10

On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 12:55 PM, Sebastian Dziallas <sebastian(a)when.com> wrote: > > Hi all, > > it would be great if somebody could give this standard procedure a try > and confirm whether it works or not, so that we can react appropriately > upon a ticket. You'll need two USB keys for this. > > (1) use Fedora's LiveUSB Creator to prepare the first key with SoaS > > (2) boot the first key and apply some changes as in: > > (a) change the language > (b) download a number of activities > > (3) plug in the second USB key and determine its mount point > > (4) run as root on the first key: yum install livecd-tools (might or > might not be already present, depending on which SoaS version you use) > > (5) execute the following command from the terminal on the first key: > > livecd-iso-to-disk --overlay-size-mb 300 /dev/sr0 /dev/sdc1 > > (in which case /dev/sdc1 would be the mount point of the second key) > > Does this [ ] WORK or [ ] FAIL? Please let us know! > > Thanks, > --Sebastian > _______________________________________________ > SoaS mailing list > SoaS(a)lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/soas I've tested a different approach with some success for customizing and replicating a LiveUSB image: 1. Downloaded http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/nightly-composes/soas/soas-i386-201003… 2. In Fedora13 (32-bit), ran this script: modified_livecd-iso-to-disk --overlay-size-mb 400 --delete-home --extra-kernel-args selinux=0 /path_to_soas-i386-20100327.19.iso /dev/sdb1 3. Booted the LiveUSB device1 and made a few changes. 4. Mounted a second USB device2 on an extended USB port on my monitor, confirmed its partition name as /dev/sdc1, then unmounted it. 5. Mounted my Fedora13 partition (/dev/sda1) onto the device1 LiveUSB image, and ran this script in the Sugar Terminal: /mnt/F13/home/account/.../ modified_livecd-iso-to-disk --noverify --delete-home --extra-kernel-args selinux=0 --copy-overlay /dev/live /dev/sdc1 6. Shutdown and swapped USB devices in order to boot device2 from the motherboard USB port. 7. Confirmed that I had a replicated image with the copied overlay file. 8. More testing needed. The modified script is attached. Here is the diff from the current tools_livecd-iso-to-disk: --- tools_livecd-iso-to-disk.sh +++ modified_livecd-iso-to-disk @@ -308,6 +308,9 @@ overlaysizemb=$2 shift ;; + --copy-overlay) + copyoverlay=1 + ;; --home-size-mb) checkint $2 homesizemb=$2 @@ -481,6 +484,13 @@ tbd=0 fi livesize=$(du -s -B 1M $check | awk {'print $1;'}) +if [ ! -n "$copyoverlay" ]; then + OVERLAYFILE="overlay-$( /sbin/blkid -s LABEL -o value $ISO )-$( /sbin/blkid -s UUID -o value $ISO )" + if [ -f $check/$OVERLAYFILE ]; then + copyoverlaysize=$(du -s -B 1M $check/$OVERLAYFILE | awk {'print $1;'}) + livesize=$(($livesize - $copyoverlaysize)) + fi +fi if [ -n "$skipcompress" ]; then if [ -e $CDMNT/LiveOS/squashfs.img ]; then if mount -o loop $CDMNT/LiveOS/squashfs.img $CDMNT; then @@ -572,8 +582,16 @@ if [ -f $CDMNT/LiveOS/osmin.img ]; then cp $CDMNT/LiveOS/osmin.img $USBMNT/$LIVEOS/osmin.img || exitclean fi + if [ -n "$copyoverlay" ]; then + OVERLAYFILE="overlay-$( /sbin/blkid -s LABEL -o value $ISO )-$( /sbin/blkid -s UUID -o value $ISO )" + cp $CDMNT/LiveOS/$OVERLAYFILE $USBMNT/$LIVEOS/$OVERLAYFILE || exitclean + fi fi +# copy this installer script to enable the new installation to replicate the image +SCRIPT=$(readlink -f $0) +cp -f $SCRIPT $USBMNT/$LIVEOS/livecd-iso-to-disk + # DVD installer copy if [ "$isotype" = "installer" ] && [ -z "$skipcopy" ]; then echo "Copying DVD image to USB stick" @@ -582,7 +600,18 @@ cp $ISO $USBMNT/ fi -cp $CDMNT/isolinux/* $USBMNT/$SYSLINUXPATH +# adjust syslinux sources for replication of installed images between filesystem types +if [ -d $CDMNT/isolinux/ ]; then + cp $CDMNT/isolinux/* $USBMNT/$SYSLINUXPATH +elif [ -d $CDMNT/syslinux/ ]; then + cp $CDMNT/syslinux/* $USBMNT/$SYSLINUXPATH + if [ -f $CDMNT/syslinux/extlinux.conf ]; then + mv $USBMNT/$SYSLINUXPATH/extlinux.conf $USBMNT/$SYSLINUXPATH/isolinux.cfg + elif [ -f $CDMNT/syslinux/syslinux.cfg ]; then + mv $USBMNT/$SYSLINUXPATH/syslinux.cfg $USBMNT/$SYSLINUXPATH/isolinux.cfg + fi +fi + BOOTCONFIG=$USBMNT/$SYSLINUXPATH/isolinux.cfg # Set this to nothing so sed doesn't care BOOTCONFIG_EFI= @@ -594,6 +623,9 @@ rm -f $USBMNT/EFI/boot/grub.conf fi +# restore boot config file to base state before updating +sed -i -e "s/root=[^ ]*/root=CDLABEL=name/" -e "s/liveimg .* quiet/liveimg quiet/" $BOOTCONFIG $BOOTCONFIG_EFI + echo "Updating boot config file" # adjust label and fstype sed -i -e "s/CDLABEL=[^ ]*/$USBLABEL/" -e "s/rootfstype=[^ ]*/rootfstype=$USBFS/" -e "s/LABEL=[^ ]*/$USBLABEL/" $BOOTCONFIG $BOOTCONFIG_EFI @@ -617,6 +649,11 @@ fi sed -i -e "s/liveimg/liveimg overlay=${USBLABEL}/" $BOOTCONFIG $BOOTCONFIG_EFI sed -i -e "s/\ ro\ /\ rw\ /" $BOOTCONFIG $BOOTCONFIG_EFI +elif [ -n "$copyoverlay" ]; then + OVERFILE="overlay-$( /sbin/blkid -s LABEL -o value $USBDEV )-$( /sbin/blkid -s UUID -o value $USBDEV )" + mv $USBMNT/$LIVEOS/$OVERLAYFILE $USBMNT/$LIVEOS/$OVERFILE + sed -i -e "s/liveimg/liveimg overlay=${USBLABEL}/" $BOOTCONFIG $BOOTCONFIG_EFI + sed -i -e "s/\ ro\ /\ rw\ /" $BOOTCONFIG $BOOTCONFIG_EFI fi if [ "$swapsizemb" -gt 0 ]; then *********************End of diff*************************** Notes: The script changes deal with the different location and names (syslinux.cfg/extlinux.conf/isolinux.cfg) used by the syslinux convention that would confuse an installation from one LiveUSB filesystem type to another, for example, vfat to ext23. (I'm not familiar with the sources for the configuration files, so there may be some better way to address this.) This script allows one to use the optional installation parameters of livecd-iso-to-disk to customize the new installation structure. I have examined or tested all the possible code paths, so close examination and testing is needed before it could be accepted upstream. Note, there is a --skipcompress option that might be of interest to those who would rather have a full ext23 embedded on the LiveUSB. The relavent code is here: if [ -n "$skipcompress" -a -f $CDMNT/LiveOS/squashfs.img ]; then mount -o loop $CDMNT/LiveOS/squashfs.img $CDMNT || exitclean cp $CDMNT/LiveOS/ext3fs.img $USBMNT/$LIVEOS/ext3fs.img || (umount $CDMNT ; exitclean) umount $CDMNT elif [ -f $CDMNT/LiveOS/squashfs.img ]; then cp $CDMNT/LiveOS/squashfs.img $USBMNT/$LIVEOS/squashfs.img || exitclean elif [ -f $CDMNT/LiveOS/ext3fs.img ]; then cp $CDMNT/LiveOS/ext3fs.img $USBMNT/$LIVEOS/ext3fs.img || exitclean fi More work is needed to protect the /home/liveuser/.sugar/default/owner.key files from the copy. Hope this helps advance the easy customization and replication of LiveUSB images. --Fred

1 0

mounting a persistent overlay
by James Heather 29 Mar '10

29 Mar '10

Can anyone tell me how to mount the squashfs / persistent overlay on a live USB stick, without booting it up? Context: I gave someone a live USB stick with something in /etc/rc.d/rc.local to log some diagnostics when he booted it up on a machine in China. Now I want to get the logs off the USB stick, but I am just realising in my amateurish way that when I boot it up I will overwrite the logs... Such is the problem with operating under time pressure... James

3 3

tools/liveimage-mount
by Colin Walters 24 Mar '10

24 Mar '10

tools/liveimage-mount | 47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------- 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-) New commits: commit befb1751f9a5f97897d11ac756b6acf841bcf928 Author: Colin Walters <walters(a)verbum.org> Date: Wed Mar 24 14:50:03 2010 -0400 Rename --proc to --mount-hacks, strip whitespace diff --git a/tools/liveimage-mount b/tools/liveimage-mount index 272c702..76602a7 100755 --- a/tools/liveimage-mount +++ b/tools/liveimage-mount @@ -1,8 +1,8 @@ #!/usr/bin/python -tt # # livecd-mount: Mount a live CD at the specified point, and log -# into a shell. -# +# into a shell. +# # Copyright 2010, Red Hat Inc. # # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify @@ -30,42 +30,47 @@ def usage(ecode): def main(): try: - opts,args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], 'h', ['help', 'chroot', 'proc']) + opts,args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], 'h', ['help', 'chroot', 'mount-hacks']) except getopt.GetoptError, e: usage(1) - + + rw = False chroot = False - proc = False + mount_hacks = False for o,a in opts: if o in ('-h', '--help'): usage(0) elif o in ('--chroot', ): chroot = True - elif o in ('--proc', ): - proc = True - + elif o in ('--mount-hacks', ): + mount_hacks = True + if len(args) < 2: usage(1) - + isopath = args[0] destmnt = args[1] - + command = args[2:] verbose = not command - + isomnt = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='livemnt-iso') squashmnt = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='livemnt-squash') - + + mountflags = ['loop', 'ro'] + mountflags_str = ','.join(mountflags) + try: - subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-o', 'loop,ro', isopath, isomnt], stderr=sys.stderr) + subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-o', mountflags_str, isopath, isomnt], stderr=sys.stderr) squash_img_path = os.path.join(isomnt, 'LiveOS', 'squashfs.img') - subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-o', 'loop,ro', squash_img_path, squashmnt], stderr=sys.stderr) + subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-o', mountflags_str, squash_img_path, squashmnt], stderr=sys.stderr) ext3_img_path = os.path.join(squashmnt, 'LiveOS', 'ext3fs.img') - subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-o', 'loop,ro', ext3_img_path, destmnt], stderr=sys.stderr) - - if proc: + subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-o', mountflags_str, ext3_img_path, destmnt], stderr=sys.stderr) + + if mount_hacks: subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-t', 'proc', 'proc', os.path.join(destmnt, 'proc')], stderr=sys.stderr) - + subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-t', 'tmpfs', 'tmpfs', os.path.join(destmnt, 'var', 'run')], stderr=sys.stderr) + if len(command) > 0: args = ['chroot', destmnt] args.extend(command) @@ -79,7 +84,9 @@ def main(): finally: if verbose: print "Cleaning up..." - subprocess.call(['umount', os.path.join(destmnt, 'proc')]) + if mount_hacks: + subprocess.call(['umount', os.path.join(destmnt, 'var', 'run')]) + subprocess.call(['umount', os.path.join(destmnt, 'proc')]) subprocess.call(['umount', destmnt]) subprocess.call(['umount', squashmnt]) os.rmdir(squashmnt) @@ -87,7 +94,7 @@ def main(): os.rmdir(isomnt) if verbose: print "Cleanup complete" - + sys.exit(ecode) if __name__ == '__main__':

1 0

how to modify a livecd
by bill pemberton 24 Mar '10

24 Mar '10

i would like to modify a live cd to have a root and user account and to mount a home directory for the user. i have taken a fedora 12 iso, broken it apart, made my changes and need to create the bootable iso image. that is where i'm running into a problem. i have tried using the grub stage2_eltorito file but that didn't work (maybe the command i copied was incorrect). i have thought about snagging the first sector (i think that is right) of a good iso and merging that with what i have but i have a feeling that won't work. from what i can tell i need a boot image file to use but i have not been able to locate one of the correct size (per the mkisofs man page) in the files i have for the iso. the docs i have been reading today so far haven't indicated where i can find this file and web searches haven't been very fruitful. since i'm not changing the packages but just the contents of the passwd, shadow, and fstab i would think this would be an easy thing to accomplish. i have looked into using a persistent image but after waiting nearly an hour for the image to be written (using livecd-creator) i felt that that must not be working correctly either. i can get an sd card to boot via writing the iso using dd and so far that is the only way to get an sd card or usb drive to boot. so i must be missing something with this livecd-creator (and i think the livecd-iso-to-disk script as well). the main idea is to have a bootable livecd on an sdcard, use a usb drive for the home dir for a user and this way have a dual boot machine and be able to test different distros from time to time. would someone mind pointing me in the right direction to accomplish this goal? -- wapembe

4 3

Makefile tools/liveimage-mount
by Colin Walters 23 Mar '10

23 Mar '10

Makefile | 1 tools/liveimage-mount | 94 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 95 insertions(+) New commits: commit 55f624dc1e7509c568f517f1d032c52a500fc527 Author: Colin Walters <walters(a)verbum.org> Date: Tue Mar 23 17:33:52 2010 -0400 Add tools/liveimage-mount diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile index 991b27b..341d0ca 100644 --- a/Makefile +++ b/Makefile @@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ man: install: man $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -D tools/livecd-creator $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/livecd-creator + $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -D tools/liveimage-mount $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/liveimage-mount $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -D tools/image-creator $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/image-creator $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -D tools/livecd-iso-to-disk.sh $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/livecd-iso-to-disk $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -D tools/livecd-iso-to-pxeboot.sh $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin/livecd-iso-to-pxeboot diff --git a/tools/liveimage-mount b/tools/liveimage-mount new file mode 100755 index 0000000..272c702 --- /dev/null +++ b/tools/liveimage-mount @@ -0,0 +1,94 @@ +#!/usr/bin/python -tt +# +# livecd-mount: Mount a live CD at the specified point, and log +# into a shell. +# +# Copyright 2010, Red Hat Inc. +# +# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify +# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by +# the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License. +# +# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, +# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of +# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the +# GNU Library General Public License for more details. +# +# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License +# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software +# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. + +import os +import sys +import getopt +import tempfile +import subprocess + +def usage(ecode): + print "Usage: %s ISO.iso MOUNTPOINT [COMMAND] [ARGS]" + sys.exit(ecode) + +def main(): + try: + opts,args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], 'h', ['help', 'chroot', 'proc']) + except getopt.GetoptError, e: + usage(1) + + chroot = False + proc = False + for o,a in opts: + if o in ('-h', '--help'): + usage(0) + elif o in ('--chroot', ): + chroot = True + elif o in ('--proc', ): + proc = True + + if len(args) < 2: + usage(1) + + isopath = args[0] + destmnt = args[1] + + command = args[2:] + verbose = not command + + isomnt = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='livemnt-iso') + squashmnt = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='livemnt-squash') + + try: + subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-o', 'loop,ro', isopath, isomnt], stderr=sys.stderr) + squash_img_path = os.path.join(isomnt, 'LiveOS', 'squashfs.img') + subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-o', 'loop,ro', squash_img_path, squashmnt], stderr=sys.stderr) + ext3_img_path = os.path.join(squashmnt, 'LiveOS', 'ext3fs.img') + subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-o', 'loop,ro', ext3_img_path, destmnt], stderr=sys.stderr) + + if proc: + subprocess.check_call(['mount', '-t', 'proc', 'proc', os.path.join(destmnt, 'proc')], stderr=sys.stderr) + + if len(command) > 0: + args = ['chroot', destmnt] + args.extend(command) + ecode = subprocess.call(args, stdin=sys.stdin, stdout=sys.stdout, stderr=sys.stderr) + elif chroot: + print "Starting subshell in chroot, press Ctrl-D to exit..." + ecode = subprocess.call(['chroot', destmnt], stdin=sys.stdin, stdout=sys.stdout, stderr=sys.stderr) + else: + print "Starting subshell, press Ctrl-D to exit..." + ecode = subprocess.call([os.environ['SHELL']], cwd=destmnt, stdin=sys.stdin, stdout=sys.stdout, stderr=sys.stderr) + finally: + if verbose: + print "Cleaning up..." + subprocess.call(['umount', os.path.join(destmnt, 'proc')]) + subprocess.call(['umount', destmnt]) + subprocess.call(['umount', squashmnt]) + os.rmdir(squashmnt) + subprocess.call(['umount', isomnt]) + os.rmdir(isomnt) + if verbose: + print "Cleanup complete" + + sys.exit(ecode) + +if __name__ == '__main__': + main()

1 0

Fedora 11 live cd hangs on logout...
by James Heather 15 Mar '10

15 Mar '10

Can anyone else confirm that building the standard F11 live cd, against the current F11-updates repo, results in something that hangs when you try to log out of GNOME? Attached are the F11 live cd kickstart files. The only changes I've made are to enable the updates repo (and an inconsequential slight increase to the partition size). I've done the following: 1. Create the 64-bit live cd 2. livecd-iso-to-disk -> usb stick 3. Boot up 4. Log in 5. Log out 6. Sob for mummy Would be interested to know if others have the same issue. I presume this is a gdm bug, but it is very hard to track down since it's a system hang. (It's not actually a complete system hang, it's just that keyboard and mouse are unresponsive; but one can log in over the network.) This is killing me. I've spent several days trying to bugfix my custom stuff, only to discover that it's not my bug at all, and it's in the standard F11 build. James

3 5

FAT32 vs ext2 on USB stick
by James Heather 12 Mar '10

12 Mar '10

Does anyone have any strong views about whether one should use FAT32 or ext[23] for the base filesystem for a bootable USB stick? I was using FAT32, but it occurs to me that creating the USB sticks is much quicker if it's ext2 because it supports sparse files and so the overlay and persistent home don't need to be completely overwritten with zeros. Creation time is now 5m rather than 15m. Are there downsides (other than it not being readable in Windows, which I don't care about)? Looks like I'm not allowed ext4, because the livecd-iso-to-disk script complains! (That's presumably a bug, since ext4 ought to work fine.) Are there reasons to go for ext3 rather than ext2? I'm not quite sure what the journalling achieves--the number and size of the files on the partition isn't going to change, but obviously the data inside the overlay and persistent home will change. James

2 1

Place(s) to discuss mirroring?
by Marc Herbert 12 Mar '10

12 Mar '10

Hi, Like I guess a number of people here, I maintain some internal mirrors of Fedora (and others) What would be the best mailing-list(s)/forum(s) to discuss topics like: mirror consistency while updating, hard linking RPMs to save space, etc.? Thanks in advance. Marc

2 1

Preventing access to /mnt/live (inter alia)
by James Heather 12 Mar '10

12 Mar '10

Hi all, What I'm trying to do is to create a bunch of Fedora USB sticks for use in practical examinations at uni. The existing Windows setup in the labs is pretty woeful, and the only way I can be in control of the environment is to boot up off something else. I have it working pretty nicely, but I have a few issues I'm not sure how to resolve. (1) I want to stop non-root users from being able to mount other drives, e.g., other USB sticks. How do I do that? (It's not enough to kill off the auto-mounting if people will still be able to mount from the command line.) (2) On a more relevant point for this list, I've noticed that all users have access to the base FAT32 filesystem of the bootable USB stick, on /mnt/live. How do I get this mounted so that only root can read /mnt/live? I don't want someone to be able to write code to unpick the squashfs image, etc. These are programming exams, so they have a compiler available, and a few of them can probably use it... (3) The write cache is good, and makes the whole system feel very responsive, but if a machine crashes or there's a power cut, I'm in danger of them losing lots of work. Is there a way of decreasing the maximum "dirty" time for writes to the USB stick? I have found lots of info on doing this for vm paging, but not for the filesystem itself. All I've found is how to turn off the cache altogether (mount with 'sync'), but that's not an option because everything will run much too slowly. I'd far rather set an option to ensure that everything gets written at most a minute after entering the cache. It would be really handy to solve these without resorting to selinux. I have had some trouble with selinux and the USB sticks, and I would prefer to leave it disabled. But if selinux is by far the easiest solution, I can probably work with it. (I don't know if it's relevant, but currently I have to build this as Fedora 11, because my first go is a 3D graphics exam, and they need the proprietary ATI driver.) Thanks for the help! James

5 9

How to run livecd-creator scripts in a local directory
by Jon Jaroker 11 Mar '10

11 Mar '10

Hello, Is it possible to run the livecd-creator scripts from a local directory, without installing these scripts to a host server's /usr/bin and /usr/lib directories? The yum install of livecd-tools will install these scripts to the host /usr/bin/ and /usr/lib directories. I am running a continuous build and automated testing of LiveCD and it is undesirable to install these scripts to the host. It is important that the scripts reside in the code repository and are run from the build server's local workspace. These scripts must not modify the build server's configuration by installing themselves into /usr/bin and /usr/lib. I placed the imgcreator directory into the same directory as the livecd-creator script, but was unsuccessful in getting the scripts to run. I confirmed that the python path starts with the local directory. Before I begin experimenting with a python wrapper script, I was wondering if anyone had any advice. Would anyone know why the livecd-creator script could not import the imgcreate module, even though it was in the local path? How can I isolate the livecd scripts into a local directory to be sure that each build is independent? Thank you, Jon

1 0

Fedora 13 kickstart files?
by Valent Turkovic 10 Mar '10

10 Mar '10

Hi, Fedora 13 Alpha is out, is there a kicstart file available for Fedora 13 alpha so that I start preparing for Fedora 13 remix? Cheers! -- pratite me na twitteru - www.twitter.com/valentt blog: http://kernelreloaded.blog385.com linux, anime, spirituality, windsurf, wireless, ronjenje, pametne kuće, zwave registered as user #367004 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org. ICQ: 2125241, Skype: valent.turkovic, MSN: valent.turkovic(a)hotmail.com

2 1

Espeak as default text to speech engine on LiveCD
by Michael Whapples 09 Mar '10

09 Mar '10

Hello, Would it be possible for espeak to be made the default text to speech engine on the LiveCD? Reasons for why making the change: * At the moment the LiveCD comes with festival but this is slow in comparison to espeak. This means that for users of tools such as orca, the information presented is delayed and so makes the system appear unresponsive. This is particularly emphasised at points where orca may be slow to respond anyway (eg. if the system is under some load or focus is in a large and/or complicated GUI structure). * Espeak comes with support for many languages where as festival is limited (I believe the LiveCD only has one language for festival). * I believe espeak is more compact than festival. This is particularly true when considering the number of languages supported by espeak. * Espeak seems to be more controllable than festival. I don't really notice any change in festival when I adjust the speech rate in orca, I do get a change with espeak. This is important as if the speech output is too fast for a user then they cannot understand it and so cannot use the system, if it is too slow this is frustrating as it makes the use of the system unnecessarily slow. What is required for espeak to be used by orca? The two packages needed are espeak and gnome-speech-espeak. If the festival packages are removed then orca will use espeak by default, if festival is not removed then users can choose between the two. I hope you will consider changing this on the LiveCD as it should improve the user experience for blind users. Michael Whapples

3 3

mandatory syslinux on live cd causes perl dependency
by Mads Kiilerich 06 Mar '10

06 Mar '10

python-imgcreate adds syslinux to the list of installed packages. AFAICS that is because it uses data files from syslinux in the installed root to populate isolinux. It do not execute any syslinux files in the installed root. The problem is that syslinux depends on perl. The unused syslinux on the livecd is the only reason my live cd has perl, and it thus costs 30+ Mb. How do you think that could be solved / worked around? Could python-imgcreate be changed to use files from the build system if they can't be found in the installed root? Or could syslinux be split into a executable package depending on perl and a /usr/share/syslinux package? /Mads

4 9

LANGUAGE trumps LC_ALL
by Mads Kiilerich 03 Mar '10

03 Mar '10

Regarding > user: Jim Meyering <meyering(a)redhat.com> > date: Wed Dec 16 13:46:07 2009 -0500 > files: tools/livecd-iso-to-disk.sh > description: > livecd-iso-to-disk.sh: use LC_ALL=C, not LANG=C, since LC_ALL trumps > all other envvars, including LANG. For example, > $ LC_ALL=fr_FR.UTF-8 LANG=C /bin/cat no-such > /bin/cat: no-such: Aucun fichier ou dossier de ce type be aware that LANGUAGE trumps: $ LC_ALL=fr_FR.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=da_DK /bin/cat no-such /bin/cat: no-such: Ingen sådan fil eller filkatalog $ LANGUAGE=da_DK.UTF-8 LC_ALL=fr_FR.UTF-8 LANG=C /sbin/parted WARNING: You are not superuser. Watch out for permissions. /dev/mapper/control: open failed: Adgang nægtet Failure to communicate with kernel device-mapper driver. Fejl: Ingen enhed fundet Forsøg igen/Retry/Annullér/Cancel? /Mads

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Custom initrd
by Mads Kiilerich 03 Mar '10

03 Mar '10

I am using livecd-creator from livecd-tools-024-1.fc11.i586 and need to customize the initrd. But I have problems making it work and figuring out what is going on. I have figured out that livecd-creator through imgcreate creates a /etc/sysconfig/mkinitrd. When rpms runs mkinitrd from their %post script then it will exec mkliveinitrd and use the configured module list. AFAICS livecd-creator then picks up the initrd from /boot, and the end result after having written the iso to usb with livecd-iso-to-disk is that it ends up in /syslinux/initrd0.img. But if I overwrite the /boot/initrd* in %post like this: /sbin/mkinitrd -f /boot/initrd-$(rpm -q kernel --qf '%{version}-%{release}.%{arch}\n').img $(rpm -q kernel --qf '%{version}-%{release}.%{arch}\n') then it won't be used. What am I doing wrong? When is the initrd picked up? What is the code flow? If I make %post preserve /etc/sysconfig/mkinitrd and boots from usb and restores /etc/sysconfig/mkinitrd and runs /sbin/mkinitrd -f /mnt/live/syslinux/initrd0.img $(rpm -q kernel --qf "%{version}-%{release}.%{arch}\n") then it works as expected. /Mads

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Accessibility on the LiveCD and installing from LiveCD
by Michael Whapples 03 Mar '10

03 Mar '10

Hello, Firstly let me briefly introduce myself. I have been using Linux for some years now, originally starting out in text consoles but for the last couple of years more and more in the gnome desktop. I am a blind computer user so rely on assistive technologies such as orca http://live.gnome.org/Orca. My main history has been on distributions such as slackware and debian, however I felt may be time to start looking around (partly as I want to do some work on promoting the accessibility in Linux and for that I may be better with a distribution such as fedora). Now to the actual main subject. I just tried installing fedora 12 from the LiveCD. In the main the process is reasonably accessible (there are a few points I would alter for a really good user experience, but still usable), however when I went to reboot the system after running the installer I hit a big show stopper, the first boot application is inaccessible and I couldn't find any work around. The issue is that it runs before loading the full gnome desktop so I can't launch orca and there is no text based screen reader (eg. speakup or YASR). I have one question, why does fedora use this first boot application? other distributions seem to be able to do all that this does (I read the quick start guide for details of what the first boot application does) on the LiveCD installer (eg. opensuse, opensolaris, GRML's grml2hd, etc). Would it be possible for these things to be dealt with on the LiveCD? If there is a good reason why some may want the first boot application, may be it could be an optional thing (eg. in the liveinst programme we have a checkbox for "Use first boot application", if ticked the first boot application will be used, if unticked user configuration will be done in liveinst). Another alternative, may be not so satisfactory to me, have some sort of accessibility for first boot. This would take the form emit a sound (may be a beep) when first boot starts, the user could use a keyboard shortcut to load a screen reader. May be accessibility for first boot could be set to start automatically on the LiveCD (may be a check box, may be if accessibility is enabled on the LiveCD accessibility for first boot could be enabled). The big question would be though, what screen reader will work with first boot? I am sorry I can't answer this as I can't see the first boot application and so don't know if it is text based, GTK based, etc. Other than the speakup modified fedora (which I don't think is an official fedora distribution) there is no accessible way for a blind user to install fedora. Anyway for what I need the speakup modified fedora will not do as it uses the text based installer and so will use the whole disk, but I have windows on that disk and want to preserve the windows installation. The LiveCD looks like the most promising solution for installing fedora if the show stopper problem I mentioned above is solved. I will quickly say why I feel accessible install of fedora should matter. While accessibility of the desktop system itself is important, many computers don't come with Linux preinstalled, and so many users may need to install it themselves. Now the LiveCD gives me a good chance to see what fedora can do (in fact I will be honest and say in the past that generally fedora has been overlooked by me, but I decided to look at the LiveCD and it has changed my mind), and if you like what you see you want to get it installed. Its not always possible to get sighted assistance and sometimes the sighted assistant may not be as computer knowledgeable as you would hope, so it would be best if the blind user could install it independently. Other distributions have made it possible for blind users to do an accessible install (ubuntu, opensuse, opensolaris, slackware and debian, possibly others) and so fedora falls behind in this respect. Talking personally, I cannot proceed with fedora at the current time as I don't have the appropriate support to get beyond the first boot screen. I would be prepared to work with fedora developers to try and solve this major issue and other smaller issues regarding the accessibility of installing fedora from LiveCD. Would it be best for me to ask this else where or approach anyone in particular? Michael Whapples

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