dCore-5.13.12.06 released

[Jason W]

Team Tinycore is pleased to announce the release of dCore-5.13.12.06.  Changes since dCore-5.13.11.06:

• Updated 3.8.13-tinycore kernel, the same build and patches as Core.
• usr/bin/debGetSize : New utility called on by importsce when the -s option is used to give package size info.
• usr/bin/deb2sce, usr/bin/importsce: adding options -s for size function and -r for on ram imported package unpacking.
• usr/bin/importsce: Made package search and results case insensitive.
• usr/bin/importsce: Made the -s option that stores md5sums of packages in the sce as the default.
• tce-setup: Enable lst= boot option.
• tc-functions: getpasswd preserve last char entered.
• etc/group: added plugdev group, and added user messagebus to messagebus to simplify dbus setup.

Please test and give feedback.  Since there has been a kernel upgrade, please remember to download the vmlinuz as well as dCore.gz.

Files can be found at:

http://www.tinycorelinux.net/5.x/x86/release/

[netnomad]

hi jason w,

interesting new options and approaches!

the modules in the sce-repository are for the 3.8.10-kernel... should we wait for the updates in the rep?
a small little bug in the kernel: the message in the boot-process reports dCore-5.13.11.06 instead of 5.13.12.06.

in my test of this cut fluxbox didn't start flawless, the display was corrupted (wide horizontal expanded images) and the error message told me that my i915-intel-module was not found in modules.dep

i keep on testing,
thank you for your work

[Jason W]

Hi netnomad, the new modules have been in the repo for quite some time, use importrsce to install them.

I will correct the version number and check on the modules.dep thing.

[netnomad]

hi jason w,

yes, i've successfully got them with importsce...
i noticed that it is possible to edit sceboot.lst suitable for different kernel-version with a variable like <<KERNEL>>?
are all provided modules in the package original-modules?
do i  get with the entry "original-modules-KERNEL" a multifunctional sceboot.lst?
would you please give some more explanation for the -r option, for on ram imported package unpacking?

thank you for your commitment in tinycore.

[Jason W]

original-modules-3.8.13-tinycore is a mega package of all the available module packages, I kept the same name as Core to preserve familiarity.

I will ponder the KERNEL variable for sceboot.lst, as it would make rebooting with a different kernel seamless without having to edit the sceboot.lst, though official kernel upgrades don't happen very often, usually one per major release which is roughly once a year it seems. 

The -r option of importsce makes the unpacking of deb packages occur in /tmp which is in RAM.  This is where up to thousands of files, or even hundreds of thousands in the case of large imports from file lists, get unpacked so they can be merged into the resulting sce.  This option was added primarily to extend the life of flash media, and perhaps also to support the tce directory existing on a Widows filesystem. 

[netnomad]

thank you for your further explanations
i guess the KERNEL-variabel arleady works

[Jason W]

dCore.gz and dCore-5.13.12.06.iso reposted for correct version number.

[netnomad]

hi jason w,

i experience the sudo problem again:

tc@box:~$ sudo su
su: pam_start: error 26

but sudo mc works fine and i can work as root in mc.

i get the feeling that dCore-5.13.12.06 has some problems with big packages
imported by "importsce -f mydesktop".

mydesktop:

Xprogs
wbar
xorg-all
grep
bash
screen
mc
ssh
iptables
fluxbox
fail2ban
laptop-mode-tools
pm-utils
iceweasel
icedove
cups
cups-driver-gutenprint
hplip-cups
jpilot
gnupg
rsync
epdfview
gthumb
xvnc4viewer
gimp
alsa-base
alsa-utils
alsamixergui

sceboot.lst with dCore-5.13.12.06:
original-modules-KERNEL
firmware
wireless
mydesktop

or
 
sceboot.lst with dCore-5.13.11.06:
graphics-3.8.10-tinycore
kernel-all-3.8.10-tinycore
alsa-modules-3.8.10-tinycore
filesystems-3.8.10-tinycore
hwmon-3.8.10-tinycore
v4l-dvb-3.8.10-tinycore
mydesktop

in former test i could get rid of this error by reimporting, but now i tried it so many times that there is still a fundamental mistake... i'm not sure whether it's a mksquashfs-error or a filesystem-related thing (or module) something like that, but it has something to do with the save-process... very often the system freezes or the filesystem needs a check after the packaging-process.

thank you for your help.

[Jason W]

I don't have the sudo su issue with the current dCore and recently imported sce's.

The mydesktop file you posted results in a 335MB sce.  My mydesktop is 1.3GB, and I have never had trouble loading or creating it.  I imported and loaded your mydesktop with no issue.  Sounds like you are running out of disk space in the importing process.

[netnomad]

I don't have the sudo su issue with the current dCore and recently imported sce's.

The mydesktop file you posted results in a 335MB sce.  My mydesktop is 1.3GB, and I have never had trouble loading or creating it.  I imported and loaded your mydesktop with no issue.  Sounds like you are running out of disk space in the importing process.

hi jason w,

i guess that you are right, although there are no clear hints for that.

yes, my system is not really up-to-date, but it has enough resources for so many configurations.
i have 1gb of ram and my usbstick has 2,5gb free memory. i watch the memory consumption with top and df -h... and there is no hint for a memory-overflow.
i tried it with an additional swap-file prepared by tinycore from 256mb up to 1gb.
i placed this swap-file in the same partition as the tce-directory or on another partition or even on another stick.
at the end of the importsce-packaging i additionally close all open files with sync and even waite some moments after a successful syncing-process without any error messages.
although i successfully packaged the same mydesktop-package with around 330mb in the last weeks, now smaller mypackage-configurations do not work properly anymore.
so i tried to package in an environment with a bare small configuration (that has not the "sudo su"-problem), but this clean environment has the same buggy result.


tc@box:~$ importsce -s -f /mnt/sdb2/sce/mydesktop
#################### 100.0% 0.0 kBps DONE   
verifying download...checksum matches OK
used 9943040 local, fetched 0
Using mirror: http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian
Do you want to create mydesktop.sce from package list /mnt/sdb2/tce/sce/mydesktop?y
#################### 100.0% 0.0 kBps DONE   
verifying download...checksum matches OK
used 9943040 local, fetched 0
Using mirror: http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian
Using Package Index: /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/debian_wheezy_main_i386_Packages
Using Debian Mirror: http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian
mydesktop is from your own custom package list.
...
0.39 MB of downloads required.
796.06 MB needed for unpacking archives.
258.51 MB of compressed archives will be used.
796.45 MB is a good estimate of /mnt/sdb2/tce space needed, 119.87 MB is available.
WARNING: You do not have enough /etc/sysconfig/tcedir tcedir space, you should not proceed.
Proceed to create mydesktop.sce? (y/N):

i don't understand these warnings, cause df -h shows enough memory in
/dev/sdb2       3.7G  1.2G  2.3G  35% /mnt/sdb2
why should there only 119.87 MB be available?
796.45 MB should be no problem at all, even in the RAM!?

btw, this example shows the conditions without an extra swap file, but it's the same result

once i thought that perhaps the package pm-utils cause the problem (on my hardware with an intel i915-card the actual kernel has some problems with s2ram), but without this package the same happens.
my only "sudo su"-problem-free configuration is without:
fail2ban
laptop-mode-tools
pm-utils
iceweasel
icedove
cups
cups-driver-gutenprint
hplip-cups
jpilot
gnupg
rsync
epdfview
gthumb
xvnc4viewer
gimp
alsa-base
alsa-utils
alsamixergui

that is problem-free myminidesktop:
Xprogs
wbar
xorg-all
grep
bash
screen
mc
ssh
iptables
fluxbox

it's a pitty, cause my fullblown mydesktop-configuration worked so fine for such a while

perhaps you have some hints or ideas, they are welcome, thank you.

[Jason W]

There may be a typo in the available space function, I will look into it.  Also, if there is a swap file/partition present, I may work that into the free RAM estimate.

I very much suspect that the sudo issue is due to an old sce. 

There are some more import features coming, along with some bugfixes.  Better for me to spend my time there than to try to duplicate your situation.  After the new changes are released, then we can go from there.

But for testing purposes, I strongly advise folks who are having package issues to do a fresh import of what they are testing with no old sce's in the mix to affect the results.  There have been no startup script changes since dbus, and hopefully the need to re-import for that purpose will be few and far between.  But with the cacheing of the downloaded deb packages, re-importing is just a matter of issuing the command.  I know you have been trying to re-import, but this is advice for anyone who is testing.

Since I am testing some changes to import, I will import everything from scratch on my box to make sure all is well there.

[netnomad]

hi jason w,

you've got it!!!
i did so much testing and tried so hard to find the cause of my problems...
now after i deleted all my downloaded debs and all my sces everything works flawless.

did it make sense to delete all my deb-packages?
or is it enough to delete all sces and tar.gzs?
what do you recommend to do with the md5.txts?

thank you for your help and your advice.

[Jason W]

The .deb packages in the /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/import/debs/ directory should not need to be purged, as import recognizes if they are old and redownloads them if needed.  Same for the custom packages.  The startup scripts are downloded fresh during each importsce session.  Just deleting the sce packages in /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/sce would suffice.  But hopefully after the dbus thing about a month back, things are stable enough now to where that should not have to happen much if at all.

The importupdatecheck package has been updated to check for startup scripts, so it will be able to tell you if an existing sce has any need of an update, so that should help also.

[netnomad]

i guess that i deleted mydesktop.sce a couple of times without any success
perhaps all sces in the directory need to be deleted!?
but i will keep on testing and report you my experiences

[Jason W]

So it is still not able to import without errors?

You can use importupdatecheck on the existing sce's and see what may need to be updated.  Focus on startup scripts needing to be updated, the debs are not so important.