Refracta Development, Scripts, etc.
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nadir

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:16 pm

PS: You can go through the how-to section at forums debian net, search for "live" and -perhaps- will find hints there.
I got an archive of old releases, and can have a look (or, if you like, you can have a look too). I doubt that it will change the general idea ( live-helper -> dean fooling -> snapshot with live-helper -> snapshot without live-helper but commands -> fsmithred )
live-helper was very hard. Things never worked, one had to take care of kernel modules (squashfs) and what not (two minutes before the build finished you figured out that you are running out of space in Vbox ...) . 2 hours of work, and the result was null-nada-nix, all the time. Threads several pages long, with no one having a clue what might be the actual problem, ... like that. live-helper has become much more comfortable, but refractasnapshot is even better. And be it only for the excludes.
golinux

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:26 pm

Thanks, nadir. The info you've provided is just what I was looking for.
nadir

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:29 pm

ah, good. To me it looked a bit chaotic.
Again: what i remember (dean or fsmithred might recall it different).
golinux

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:51 pm

> nadir wrote:ah, good. To me it looked a bit chaotic.
> Again: what i remember (dean or fsmithred might recall it different).

I am pretty good at sorting things out. If I don't get it right, others will chime in with corrections.
fsmithred

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:53 pm

I got involved a couple of years go, first, by trying one of the enlightenment versions of refracta. I was already making my own live builds using live-helper (now called live-build). I liked Dean's installer (xinstallerx) so much, that I included it in my builds. Then I got the list of 22 system commands that were inside his python script, and I re-wrote the installer in bash. Dean liked the idea, and I then did the same with the snapshot tool. He then asked me if I wanted to make a version of refracta with xfce4 desktop. I did it using live-build. Not long after that, Dean retired and handed me the keys to Refracta.
golinux

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Mon Feb 11, 2013 8:39 pm

I have revised the text of my first post to include the development history. Please check it out. fsmithred . . . can we have your real name? Or will wikipedia let your handle stand?
nadir

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:11 pm

Ups, how could i miss that.
Regarding the OP:
What is missing is that refracta either comes with "main" repo only or, if non-free is enabled, with the absolute minimum of non-free stuff.
I think that is worth to be mentioned.
golinux

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:29 pm

> nadir wrote:Ups, how could i miss that.
> Regarding the OP:
> What is missing is that refracta either comes with "main" repo only or, if non-free is enabled, with the absolute minimum of non-free stuff.
> I think that is worth to be mentioned.

A section on refracta's relationship to Debian to explain some of that might be helpful. Aren't there also some 'refracta' repos? Where to get updates of refracta tools should be included too.
Also want to go into more detail on the installer and snapshot (including screenies and possibly vids). Speaking of screenies . . . they should really be optimized for the web. I'll be happy to do that when they are updated. They should probably be of a default install - don't know whether the current ones are or not as the default desktop lasted about a minute here..
fsmithred

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:06 am

Flann O'Brien
That might not fly (or swim.) Try Fred Smith.
Refracta uses debian repositories for all except for a few things. (yad, deadbeef and a few bash scripts.)
You can update the installer and snapshot easily from gitub. From within a running instance of refracta -
Open a terminal and issue the following commands:

Code:
  `cd ../github/refracta
  git pull origin master
  dpkg -i whatever.deb (Don't do *.deb or you'll be trying to install multiple versions of the same package.)`

The wheezy screenshots I made are mostly to show what packages are installed by showing the menus. There's only one shot of the installer, and it's the options menu.
golinux

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## Re: Refracta wiki project

Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:21 am

@fsmithred . . . I'll work this new info into the blurb tomorrow. Did I get the development players/timeline right?
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