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meandean

- meandean
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## snapshot and debian installer

Fri Nov 11, 2011 9:16 am

I was trying to think if the snapshot tool would be compatible with the debian installer. I would think it would be fine. I can't think of any problems, can you?
Thoughts?
fsmithred

- fsmithred
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## Re: snapshot and debian installer

Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:35 am

Snapshot doesn't use any files from the installer and vice versa. I don't see any problems that would prevent either from working correctly, but if you made a snapshot, booted that snapshot and then installed using the debian installer, you would get debian instead of your customized system installed
meandean

- meandean
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## Re: snapshot and debian installer

Fri Nov 11, 2011 5:50 pm

> fsmithred wrote:.....you would get debian instead of your customized system installed

Why is that? The debian installer is what i use to use for refracta but I haven't used it lately, has it changed? Will it totally fubar a custom image? Obviously some things are changed by the installer but the image itself is still the customized one.
Just to clarify, I am not suggesting refracta do this or antything. I just posted in the refracta/discuss section as it is about refracta-snapshot. For future meandean customized debian images I have thought about using the debian installer so regular debian users would be more familiar with it.
I came up with one problem. The installer kernel/initrd would need to be the same version as the kernel/initrd in the image. How to make sure that stays as updated as the kernel/initrd for the system??? hmmm....
fsmithred

- fsmithred
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## Re: snapshot and debian installer

Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:19 pm

I thought the debian installer just pulled stuff from the repos rather than copy from a live CD, but I've never tried it for that. If kernel/initrd version is determined by uname -r or by the /vmlinuz and /initrd.img symlinks, then it shouldn't be a problem, because that doesn't change in Stable. If it checks the actual version number of the .deb file, then there might be a problem.
meandean

- meandean
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## Re: snapshot and debian installer

Fri Nov 11, 2011 8:53 pm

Thats just it, the installer kernel/initrd are just files on the cd so cant really keep track of package versions or anything. So it would be similar to the other files included with snapshot but these actually need to be updated in accordance with the system.
I wonder if the installer kernel/initrd could be keep on the system (but not show in grub) and therfore be updated as the system is updated and then mod-snapshot could simply copy them the same as it is done with the system kernel/initrd.
Actually now that I think about it the kernel probably isn't any different, just the initrd....might make it a bit easier to solve....much easier......good stuff....
thanks for poking me with a stick....got me thinking in the right direction....
I was actually more worried how snapshot would react to having a complicated install on multiple partitions and maybe even different filetypes, then snapshotting that, then turning it back into a complicated install via the installer. But now that I think about it that shouldn't be any problem.
Now to figure out the initrd issue...
fsmithred

- fsmithred
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## Re: snapshot and debian installer

Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:56 pm

How complicated an installation are you thinking? The current installer will allow separate /boot, /, and /home partitions, and gives choices for ext2, ext3, and ext4 for filesystems. If you want more than that, some rewriting is needed.
Snapshot copies /vmlinuz and /initrd.img from the running system to "$work_dir"/iso/live/. It's possible to specify different images in the config file.
meandean

- meandean
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## Re: snapshot and debian installer

Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:13 pm

I have no experience with complicated installs so I have no idea how complicated I was talking about??? But it shouldn't matter as the snapshot rolls everything up into the squash and the installer (whichever) will simply install things as the user desires and to the ability of the installer. So I think that is that....think....nothing to worry about there. So I think my snapshot question is answered.
I think the only thing I am worried about now is how to keep the initrd for the debian installer up to date as the system is updated.
For example, you install debian squeeze with the 2.6.32 kernel and the debian installer has the 2.6.32 kernel/initrd and everything is fine and dandy. But then you install a 2.6.39 kernel and remove the 2.6.32 kernel and create a snapshot. Now you have a system with the 2.6.39 kernel but the debian installer is still using the 2.6.32 kernel/initrd.
So I guess my actual question (now) is how to keep a initrd for the debian installer laying around the filesystem somewhere and update it properly when the kernel is updated? Not really a snapshot question though.
*just to clarify for anyone that stumbles in on this brain blast.... I am speaking of using the ACTUAL debian installer, not about using the refracta installer on debian or using the refracta installer at all actually.
fsmithred

- fsmithred
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## Re: snapshot and debian installer

Sat Nov 12, 2011 7:59 pm

If you add the backports repo to sources.list, will the debian installer preserve that? Does it install the system by copying the running system, or does it use information from the package manager to decide what to install?
meandean

- meandean
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## Re: snapshot and debian installer

Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:19 am

> fsmithred wrote:If you add the backports repo to sources.list, will the debian installer preserve that? Does it install the system by copying the running system, or does it use information from the package manager to decide what to install?

The debian installer does rewrite sources.list. But I would bet any files in sources.list.d would be preserved.
I used the debian installer to install refracta-beta2 and it seems to have worked well. I do not think it created the user that the installer asks for, but it still has the 'user' user and it has the refracta tweaks and configs. I guess it would be possible to preseed the installer so it does not ask about setting up a user or maybe if 'user' user wasn't already configured it would properly setup the new user. Everything looks good though.
fsmithred

- fsmithred
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## Re: snapshot and debian installer

Thu Nov 17, 2011 2:49 am

If you make a snapshot and then install it with the debian installer, you may need to do this:

Code:
  `chmod +x /usr/bin/updatedb.mlocate`

(updatedb is disabled for the live-CD so it doesn't try to run every time you boot the CD.)
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