Weird ex-FAT native issue

[PDP-8]

I can use the exfat fuse tcz's to properly mount and operate exfat partitions, but I'm trying not to use that and go native with the kernel support I see in my 13.0

BUT, when running with native only kernel support in 13.0, it can recognize exfat, and even tce-setdrive *seems* to work.

However, backups don't.  Filetool.sh -b fails with an unrecognized device.  Trying to manually mount the exfat partition, as root even with specifying options like -t exfat still result in "no such device".

It even shows up in my /etc/fstab:

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/dev/sda1   /mnt/sda1   exfat   noauto,users,exec    0 0 # Added by TC
But for some reason, even after using tce-setdrive where everything *seems* to be ok, things like filetool.sh -b fail.

Scratching head...

What makes it even more frustrating is that I *can* CD into the exfat partition and look around like it was mounted.  Filetool.sh -b doesn't think so.

I also tried in the gui environment just for kicks with the backup/restore app.  A "Dry Run" doesn't complain.  But when you instruct it to do a real backup, it throws

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Unable to mount device sda1
Which is consistent with the cli filetool.sh -b failing with the same.

I also performed a sudo rebuildfstab, but the fstab is the same as before.

[Rich]

Hi PDP-8
Did you install  filesystems-5.15.10-tinycore64.tcz ?
Did you :

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modprobe exfat

[PDP-8]

Hi Rich! - thanks for the tip - so I tried installing filesystems-5.15.10-tinycore64.tcz

That fixed the backup filetool.sh -b issue!

Did notice in the repos that it seems to be referencing an older dependency of mtd-5.4.3 missing, which is cosmetic since it did download the mtd-5.15.10 properly.

Still weird - even after that, when using the Apps tool, when it finished finding my fastest mirror, I got this:

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Fatal error:
TCE directory is not writable
Erm, ok.  Not a showstopper.

But what is a showstopper is that trying to use an exFAT filesystem for your tce-setdrive is a hilarious catch-22.  That is, since TC doesn't natively support exFAT fully without using either fuse or filesystems additional tcz after boot, you always start out back where you started after reboot.

Looks like tce-setdrive only needs a very small part of exFAT kernel support to set up all the directories, but other useraland utils need a helper tcz of sorts for the ability to mount.

So I was just trying to avoid having to download anything additional, but this would mean a larger TC.  Either that, or program tce-setdrive NOT to recognize exFAT as valid.  For now.

But thanks for the help.   Not an issue as I'm mostly using vfat or ext for my data filesystems, but good to know for generic exFAT file exchange in the future.

[Rich]

Hi PDP-8

... Did notice in the repos that it seems to be referencing an older dependency of mtd-5.4.3 missing, which is cosmetic since it did download the mtd-5.15.10 properly. ...

It appears some of the TC13  .tree  files are referencing TC11 kernel modules.

... That is, since TC doesn't natively support exFAT fully without using either fuse or filesystems additional tcz after boot ...

Or xfs, udf, reiserfs, hfsplus, cifs, btrfs, etc. You yourself have marveled at Tinycores slim footprint. 

If you look under:

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/lib/modules/KERNEL/kernel/fsyou'll see it supports fat, ntfs, and squashfs out of the box.

You are free to unpack the  initrd , add an  exfat  subdirectory to that location, run  depmod, and repack the modified
initrd (to a new name). As you know, Tinycore is a toolkit. 

[nick65go]

As you know, Tinycore is a toolkit. 

+1! for x86.
But, for x86_64 architecture maybe exfat should be inside core64 by default, if you consider the audience this core64 is targeting (powerful machines, not embedded) and exfat module size. IF space constrain (for embedded machines) then a shave of +4MB from 1000 network-card drivers will recover the space.

PS: Just curious, how many users will complain about (few KB) exfat into core64?
because not enough RAM to boot from 64MB RAM (really !? in year 2022) versus few MB increase in kernel size (vmlinuz64) during upgrade from TC7 (3.6MB) to TC13 (5.3MB).

[Rich]

Hi PDP-8

... It appears some of the TC13  .tree  files are referencing TC11 kernel modules. ...

Fixed. Delete the  *.tree  files from your  /tmp  directory and you should see the correct kernel versions.

[PDP-8]

Thanks Rich - that did the trick.  Just cosmetics.  And for sure, the toolkit philosophy of TC, like Unix itself, means there are always more than one way to achieve a goal...

Nick - I'm with you on this one about exfat.  Mostly because I view usb sticks as the modern equivalent of cd/dvd's which TC was originally the design medium for users, so the small increase in ram is to me justified.

But like Rich says, nothing stops me from compiling my own.  But if I was part of the decision making design process, I'd probably vote for it now.

[Rich]

Hi PDP-8

... But like Rich says, nothing stops me from compiling my own. ...

Just semantics, but it's not compiling, it's repackaging.

Instructions can be found here:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,23447.msg146916.html#msg146916
Depending on the files you are booting, you do this to either  modules64.gz  or  corepure64.gz.

Once unpacked, copy the  exfat  driver to:

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~/tmp/extract/lib/modules/KERNEL/kernel/fs/exfat/exfat.ko.gz
Then  depmod  and pack it up. You no longer need the  filesystems  extension and the kernel should recognize  exfat.