Updating USB stick with persistency option?
Hello.
I'm trying out to the persistency feature for the first time. I had a 4GB USB stick lying around, so I'm following the example in the wiki more or less verbatim.
What I'm wondering is, can this USB stick be updated when the next Grml version is released? Up until now, there was never any user data on the stick (or CD), but now there could be something worth preserving in $HOME. I'm not sure how exactly the persistency snapshots work, but I guess simply running grml2usb with the new ISO won't be enough.
It's no big deal if an update isn't possible. I'll expect there will only be a couple of shell scripts and .debs in my $HOME, and I can easily transfer them to a different partition before updating. If that's the case, should I wipe the home-rw, live-rw, and GRMLCFG partitions when I install the new ISO?
Thanks, stefan
Hi all,
Persistent boot option works and with grml2usb I have not needed to change the other related partitions. You may need to remove the "=nofile" as that was removed in upstream.
Note; Some of docs you find on web are proposals and may not be in upstream or grml-autoconfig (http://live.debian.net/devel/rfc/persistence/).
persistent-encryption=luks works in daily snapshot I am testing. This can keep live-rw and home-rw more private and secure. Think lost USB. I do not expect GRMLCFG to support luks.
Be aware live-rw and home-rw at this testing do not do compression. The docs indicate live-sn and home-sn will but I have not gotten to testing that feature.
The information at http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=persistency is good.
--- On Mon, 2/27/12, Stefan Weiss weiss@foo.at wrote:
From: Stefan Weiss weiss@foo.at Subject: [Grml] Updating USB stick with persistency option? To: grml@ml.grml.org Date: Monday, February 27, 2012, 6:24 AM Hello.
I'm trying out to the persistency feature for the first time. I had a 4GB USB stick lying around, so I'm following the example in the wiki more or less verbatim.
What I'm wondering is, can this USB stick be updated when the next Grml version is released?
Yes as long as bootable partiton is sized large enough.
Up until now, there was never any user data on the stick (or CD), but now there could be something worth preserving in $HOME. I'm not sure how exactly the persistency snapshots work, but I guess simply running grml2usb with the new ISO won't be enough.
grml2usb will only affect the bootable partition and mbr. If you create a completely new stick you will have to create others manually.
It's no big deal if an update isn't possible. I'll expect there will only be a couple of shell scripts and .debs in my $HOME, and I can easily transfer them to a different partition before updating. If that's the case, should I wipe the home-rw, live-rw, and GRMLCFG partitions when I install the new ISO?
I have not needed to wipe but do need to update things for newer packages in release.
Thanks, stefan _______________________________________________ Grml mailing list - Grml@ml.grml.org http://ml.grml.org/mailman/listinfo/grml join #grml on irc.freenode.org grml-devel-blog: http://blog.grml.org/
On 27.02.2012 15:24, Stefan Weiss wrote:
I'm trying out to the persistency feature for the first time. I had a 4GB USB stick lying around, so I'm following the example in the wiki more or less verbatim.
...and it worked, in a way, but I'm getting a few unexpected warnings and error messages. Maybe someone on the list can advise.
grml2usb had warnings, but appeared to complete successfully anyway:
,------------------------------------------------ # grml2usb --bootoptions="persistent keyboard=de xkeyboard=de" \ grml96_2011.12.iso /dev/sdb2
Executing grml2usb version 0.11.6 Using ISO grml96_2011.12.iso Identified grml flavour "grml32". Copying files. This might take a while.... Warning: could not find flavour directory for grml32 Identified grml flavour "grml64". Copying files. This might take a while.... Warning: could not find flavour directory for grml64 Installing default MBR Installing syslinux as bootloader Note: grml flavour grml32 was installed as the default booting system. Note: you can boot flavour grml32 using 'grml32' on the commandline. Note: you can boot flavour grml64 using 'grml64' on the commandline. Finished execution of grml2usb (0.11.6). Have fun with your grml system. `------------------------------------------------
When I boot the grml32 variant, I see
,------------------------------------------------ Begin: Mounting "/live/image//live/grml32//grml32.squashfs" on "//grml32.squashfs" via "/dev/loop0" ... done. Warning: impossible to include the ROOT Snapshot (o) Warning: impossible to include the HOME Snapshot (o) done. Begin: Running /scripts/live-bottom ... done. INIT: version 2.88 booting Mount point '/grml32.squashfs' does not exist. Skipping mount. ... (warning) * If your system hangs now, disable udev with bootoption "noudev". ... (snip) ... * Starting gpm in background. [ok] chown: cannot access '/home/grml': No such file or directory rsync: mkdir "/home/grml" failed: Permission denied (13) rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at main.c(605) [Receiver=3.0.9] rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (9 bytes received so far) [sender] rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(605) [sender=3.0.9] * Finished execution of main grml startup. `------------------------------------------------
The /home/grml directory is missing, but otherwise the system came up fine. Dummy files created in /home and /var are still there after a reboot.
The amd_64 mode doesn't boot correctly on a Thinkpad T510. The last thing I see is:
,------------------------------------------------ * Running grml64 2011.12 Release Codename Knecht Rootrecht [2011-12-23] * Finished early booting sequence. [ ok ] * Searching for GRML file, this might take a few seconds... Begin: Loading essential drivers ...done Begin: Running /scripts/live-premount ... done Begin: Mounting root file system ... Begin: Running /scripts/live-premount ... done
[ASCII Debian swirl] BOOT FAILED! This image failed to boot.
[some generic info text]
live-boot will now start a shell. The error message was: Unable to find a medium containing a live file system
Busybox v1.19.3 [...]
/bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off (initramfs) `------------------------------------------------
The /live-boot.log file doesn't contain anything interesting. Curiously, when I reboot with the debug=1 option, I get a little further than that (zsh loads ok). I uploaded the syslog and live-boot.log here:
http://foo.at/tmp/2012/grml64.live-boot.log http://foo.at/tmp/2012/grml64.syslog
I can live without the 64-bit variant, and I can just create the missing /home/grml, if that's all. But I'm afraid that something else might have gone wrong and will bite me later on.
Thanks, Stefan
Teilnehmer (2)
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Charles Alan Hewson -
Stefan Weiss