Stuff that has not yet gone into the official build.
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meandean

- meandean
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Tue May 15, 2012 12:52 pm

> anticapitalista wrote:Boot failure : No DEFAULT or UI configuration directive found!

That is the error you usually get when you do not have a syslinux/isolinux configuration file or it cannot find one.

> anticapitalista wrote:(Does syslinux need to be installed?)

Syslinux needs to be installed (or some workaround provided) as the snapshot tool copies a couple of files provided by the syslinux package

Code:
  `#copy some isolinux stuff from the system to the snapshot
  rsync -a /usr/lib/syslinux/isolinux.bin /usr/lib/refractasnapshot/iso/isolinux/
  rsync -a /usr/lib/syslinux/vesamenu.c32 /usr/lib/refractasnapshot/iso/isolinux/
  `

> anticapitalista wrote:why it won't boot an iso over 2.5GB in size.

Have you tried with and without the isohybrid option to be sure it is not isohybrid problem? Does your modified version create isohybrid images? If I recall there use to be a problem with images larger than 2gb. I do not recall if the problem was isohyrid or syslinux though.
What version of syslinux are you using?
What version of isohyrid (if any) are you using?
anticapitalista

- anticapitalista
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Tue May 15, 2012 5:03 pm

syslinux is installed from Debian Testing.
syslinux and syslinux-common 2:4.05+dfsg-2
isohybrid is not the issue. Still cannot boot large iso file.
My guess is that it isn't the iso file itself, but the compressed squashfs file. I use xz compression, but even without it, if the resulting iso is greater than 2.4/2.5 GB, it fails to boot.
isohybrid is part of the syslinux package.
meandean

- meandean
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Tue May 15, 2012 9:04 pm

> isohybrid is part of the syslinux package

My bad, forgot it is packaged with it nowadays.

> if the resulting iso is greater than 2.4/2.5 GB, it fails to boot.

Strange that smaller works but larger does not.
If you get the No DEFAULT or UI configuration error then I would not suspect the squashfs as the configuration file is on the iso itself and not in the squashfs.
That is a odd problem. If I get a chance I will play with my snapshot script. I am pretty sure I have created images larger than 2gb though.
What genisoimage command do you use? Is your antixsnapshot tool available somewhere?
anticapitalista

- anticapitalista
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Tue May 15, 2012 9:55 pm

Thanks for the help.
There is some cut off point in the iso file file (or is it the squashfs one?) as an iso of 2.1 GB booted ok, but not one 2.4GB.
Weird I know.
From what I can gather it is either something to do with the 'settings/parameters' used to create the squashfs file or the ones used to create the final iso.
I can boot the latest big Knoppix just fine (it is 3.4 GB).
Just to make it clearer.
When it fails to boot, the error message given is that it fails to find the antiX/linuxfs file (our equivalent to boot/squashfs.filesystem).
Edit: antixsnapshot debs are here at the moment.
http://www.mepisimo.com/antix/Testing/
Edit2:
genisoimage command is this.

Code:
  `genisoimage -l -V antiXlive -R -J -pad -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/isolinux.cat -o ../antiX.iso .
  `

Not sure if the -c boot/isolinux/isolinux.cat is necessary though.
meandean

- meandean
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Tue May 15, 2012 10:48 pm

> When it fails to boot, the error message given is that it fails to find the antiX/linuxfs file (our equivalent to boot/squashfs.filesystem).

oh...ignore my ramblings about the config file then....not sure where I got that from...bit rusty...

> genisoimage -l -V antiXlive -R -J -pad -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/isolinux.cat -o ../antiX.iso .

I would add -allow-limited-size and see if the same problem occurs. I don't think that should change anything but it wouldn't hurt to try.
Hopefully I can play with it more later and see what I run into....
anticapitalista

- anticapitalista
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Wed May 16, 2012 1:03 pm

add -allow-limited-size did not make any difference.
I booted frugally (to bypass the iso) and still it fails to boot, so the issue is in creating the squashfs.filesystem/linuxfs(on antiX).
Or, could it be the fact I am using grub-legacy and not grub2? (This is when booting frugally).
anticapitalista

- anticapitalista
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Wed May 16, 2012 7:20 pm

Well it seems that the issue is with busybox. It needs to be compiled (in live initrd) with >2GB file systems.
I have no idea whether the busybox used in refracta (if indeed it is used in Debian live scripts) enables booting squashfs.filesystem files greater than 2GB. Could someone running refracta try it out? (resultant iso must be around 2.4GB or more).
Thanks.
dzz

- dzz
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Thu May 17, 2012 12:45 pm

Greetings anticapitalista.
I have been off the case wih Refracta for a while. My machines have been ripped apart to build a new tower with the best of the junk nad some new stuff.
Up and running (of sorts) now. There is a new 1.5TB disk so numerous reinstalls to do. Of course snapshot will be used extensively. There will be dedicated partitions reserved for testing new systems, snapshots and bootstrapping.
Today I did a snapshot of one OS on one of the 3 old HD's which I want cleared as soon as data is backed up or transferred. It was around 8 GB, Squeeze with grub-legacy. Using refractasnapshot-9.0.2-4 in cli mode.
The resulting squashfs was 3.7GB. No significant errors are in the log file. A dvd ISO was produced and it boots without error.
I wanted to include this on my multiboot pen drive with syslinux, however as far as I know FAT32 cannot handle 2GB+ files so not possible there. If it is other than FAT, when I am traveling and only a Windows machine is available, it is unusable for simple data transfer.
one log error was: "/usr/bin/refractasnapshot: line 276: isoyhbrid: command not found" Maybe something not installed but I have little use for isohybrid anyway. the dvd still boots
My best guess with antix problem, although I don't understand how it's live-boot mechanism works, is maybe something missing or different in the initrd . Possibly something in the kernel if you're using a custom one.
Regarding cpu hammering, mksquashfs is the busiest. It will make things hot on a laptop. (mount it on stilts?) My old machine used to chirp like a parrot doing that. I also noticed zenity high on the usage list in a htop window. I think the cli method is better anyway. Rsync is intensive too.
Writing now from a live session booted from that snapshot DVD.
EDIT If you're running wheezy/sid, don't forget the tempfs in ram issue.
anticapitalista

- anticapitalista
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Fri May 18, 2012 7:25 am

Thanks dzz.
I found out it that it was the busybox used in antiX initrd.gz. It had been configured to maximise file size to 2GB. When using a version that allows file sizes >2GB all is well.
Thanks for all the help.
meandean

- meandean
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## Re: Refracta installer and snapshot used on other distros

Fri May 24, 2013 5:16 pm

uh oh....my makelive script works on mint rc15 cinnamon so i think it is probably a given that snapshot works fine and dandy on it too
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 3&t=134792
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