using TCL effectively

[vinceASPECT]

Hello there,


recently i got some advice on my desired approach to get effective use of the TCL operating system

i would just like to clarify matters because it will be a quik path for me to be happily up and running
with TCL.  (i am talking about a frugal install of TCL on hdd)

My desire i to operate TCL in a certain fashion. i will describe this style. I think this subject will be simple for forum members to fullfillingly answer and it may save me a lot of unnecessary reading.

I currently use a similar distro to TCL in a certain manner (described below)which i have grown to enjoy. I hope to use TCL in a similar manner.

With the other distro i have "complete 100 percent" control over the distro and all it's apps. By this i mean to say that the distro uses a single FILE (similar to TCL's tce directory) for it's operation.


I can boot up the said distro into a session and change absolutely any feature of the distro in any location with regard to any subject. I can then choose to power down without saving and loose all those sessions changes. Or i can save the session and every change is remembered. Saving causes that particular FILE to be adjusted. I always keep a time incrimental back-up of that FILE.

Say for example, i boot the said distro into a session and make changes and save that session. Afterward i may find i don't like those changes, so i simply revert back to the previous back-up FILE and those changes are then irradicated and i am back to the earlier version of the distro.

All of the above process also applies to installed applications. If i install an APP and save the session and discover later that the APP is causing distro issue's, then i revert back to my previous back-up and thus loose those issue's.
This distro is also a frugal hard drive install.

I realize that TCL is organized in an almost identical methodology to the above description.

I would like to operate TCL in the same style as is described above and with a frugal hdd install.

i would also like to keep a "virgin" version of TCL that can be injected so as to take the whole TCL distro back to it's pristine state. Also i would like to keep several different types of back-up that make TCL into a distro for certain jobs. Multi-booting really.

Please can you advise me if the above is possible and which dir or File(s) need to be backed up.?

This is how i have enjoyed using computer operating systems. I have a similar style with windows
via a tool called "shadow user pro".

I find the above approach gives me confidence in using operating systems while experimenting and gives me forward progress with my computing without large time/work overheads.

forgive me if the above is addressed in wiki. I have read several wiki sections and used TCL to a point where i understand extensions and persistence. (but because TCL has "so many" options within these subjects i tend to cloud up my thinking.

many thanks

Vince.

[TheNewbie]

Sorry, but you *really* need to learn how to express your issues/desires more concisely. That was a mess of a post, honestly.

If I understand correctly, you want :

1) an absolutely clean version of TCL

2) a way to save incremental changes to the filesystem (and/or extensions) as different points in time, and be able to load any one of these (presumably at boot)

3) different sets of extensions to be selected by the user and loaded on boot


For the clean TCL boot, you can use the "base norestore" boot codes. As for 2 and 3, the "tce" directory that TCL restores from on boot contains a "mydata.tgz" and an "onboot" file. mydata.tgz is an archive containing various directories with files that you may have changed. onboot is a list of extensions (tcz files) that are to be loaded (guess what?) on boot.

If you want to create different "profiles" to load different extensions/files, or to use as backups, you could save each "profile" to a different tce directory, move earlier profiles to a separate directory, etc. I forget if there's a boot code for non-default mydata.tgz/onboot files (i.e. with a different name or not in the tce directory), but you can simply change the tce directory in the boot code. Depending on which bootloader you use (grub or syslinux or something), you should be able to edit boot codes on the menu for which you select an OS. This way, you can manually edit which tce directory you're loading every time you boot up your TCL install.

Hope this helped, I know I was kind of unclear on some things, =P

[gerald_clark]

You can also use the lst= and mydata= boot codes to define different onboot.lst and mydata.tgz files.
lst=newlist.lst mydata=newdata

[TheNewbie]

*facepalm* 

Those were the boot codes I was looking for, hehe...

[vinceASPECT]

Hello,

yes, i am sorry if my originalpost was unclear.

But it seems that you have understood my post perfectly.

Your solution seems perfect for me. So thanks very much.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

i was trying to understand TCL but had got "clouded up" after reading the wiki a few times

thanks

Vince.

ps. can you tell me what config file inside TCL holds bootcodes? (frugal install)

[curaga]

It is outside TC (as in not in the rootfs), mount your boot drive and browse to the bootloader config file.

[vinceASPECT]

Hello,

Ok, i will mount the partition that contains TCL (frugal install) and look around

thanks

Vince.