ext4

[spillz]

I recently installed ubuntu on an ext4 partition. Is it possible to also put tinycore on the same partition? I did this successfully on an ext3 partition but I'm getting errors at boot with tinycore failing to mount the ext4 partition and, hence, not loading tces etc. (I'm using TC v2.1)

[^thehatsrule^]

Support is available as a module in 2.x - check out the filesystems extension

[spillz]

Thanks. Now I'm trying to remaster tinycore so that the filesystem modules are included following the instructions in the wiki... the remaster works, but ext4 module doesn't seem to load. what do I need to change to make sure the ext4 module gets loaded and the drive gets detected correctly?

[^thehatsrule^]

You may have to run depmod if you haven't (or just load the modules manually)

[spillz]

You may have to run depmod if you haven't (or just load the modules manually)

thanks. I forgot a dependency. i can load the module manually now.

still have a problem... how do i ensure the modprobe ext4 happens at startup before the tce/restore stuff happens (all of my files  are on the ext4 partition)

[^thehatsrule^]

If you need to load it manually, see /etc/init.d/tc-config
Note that the depmod way should not require any futher action (which is probably the recommended way)

[Jason W]

You could make a core extension out of filesystems-2.6.29.1 (filesystems-core-2.6.29.1.tczm) and place in a remaster in /opt/tce so that the module would get depmod and be available during the extension and home functions of tc-config.  However, our current blkid app recognizes ext4 as ext3, so it may not work to use ext4 as an automatically mounted parition for the tce or home directory at this time.  Manually mounting ext4 with something like "mount /dev/hda6 /mnt/hda6 -t ext4" works, though.

[spillz]

You could make a core extension out of filesystems-2.6.29.1 (filesystems-core-2.6.29.1.tczm) and place in a remaster in /opt/tce so that the module would get depmod and be available during the extension and home functions of tc-config.

In my remaster I just copied the drivers across to /lib/modules/... and ran depmod. Yours is probably a more elegant solution

 However, our current blkid app recognizes ext4 as ext3, so it may not work to use ext4 as an automatically mounted parition for the tce or home directory at this time.

yes that was the problem. tries to mount as ext3 and fails.

 Manually mounting ext4 with something like "mount /dev/hda6 /mnt/hda6 -t ext4" works, though.

in tc-config? Do I need to modprobe too or will the mount command automatically load the driver?

[Jason W]

From looking at it, any filesystem that has it's modules in a core extension in /opt/tce in a remaster and is supported by blkid should work with the tc-config functions.  Of course, untarring the modules into the remaster and then either depmodding or using an adjusted modules.conf should do the same. 

But as ext4 is not supported at the present time, my advice would be to place the TC files and extension directory on another partition.  Things move fast around here and tend to stay pretty current, so I would just hold tight for now.

[spillz]

I think I give up.... I added the mount command to the start of tc-config, but get the error "ext4-fs: unable to read superblock"

From looking at it, any filesystem that has it's modules in a core extension in /opt/tce in a remaster and is supported by blkid should work with the tc-config functions.

But as ext4 is not supported at the present time, my advice would be to place the TC files and extension directory on another partition.  Things move fast around here and tend to stay pretty current, so I would just hold tight for now.

yeah, I guess I should wait until ext4 is supported in blkid... I currently boot TC from an SD card, which is good enough I guess. I don't really want to have to create an extra partition. I really like the idea of having TC tucked away on my main partition since it can use as much space as it needs (and no more) there.

[bmarkus]

yeah, I guess I should wait until ext4 is supported in blkid... I currently boot TC from an SD card, which is good enough I guess. I don't really want to have to create an extra partition. I really like the idea of having TC tucked away on my main partition since it can use as much space as it needs (and no more) there.

My HAL extension is replacing the blkid and uuid libraries with the latest versions from util-linux-ng as stock version is too old for HAL. You may try it. I do not know wheter ext4 is built-in or requires ext4 dev installed at compile time, but you can compile it easily, there are no exotic dependencies.

[Jason W]

The libblkid in the hal extension does indeed recognize ext4, and it would be good if hal could be made modular by seperating libblkid into it's own extension for those who only need libblkid and not hal.  This is one case, and libblkid along with filesystems-2.6.29.1 being made into core extensions and dropped into a remaster would support ext4.  The same could be said of libuuid since supporting libraries from seperate sources really belong in their own extension.

[spillz]

This is one case, and libblkid along with filesystems-2.6.29.1 being made into core extensions and dropped into a remaster would support ext4.

just to double check: If I drop the relevant modules in /opt/tce in my unpacked tinycore.gz then repack, that's all I should need to do?

[Jason W]

That would make extensions available for most base functions.  However, upon closer look support of ext4 is not going to be achieved by making the module and libblkid available.  It would be best to use the supported linux filesystems - ext2/ext3 - for base functions. 

[mikshaw]

I can't say if this works the same for ext4, but what I did to get reiserfs into tc so I could use tclocal and tce on a reiser partition was to remaster tinycore.gz to 1) include the reiserfs module from the filesystems tce package and 2) add the line /lib/modules/2.6.26-tinycore/kernel/fs/reiserfs/reiserfs.ko.gz to the file /lib/modules/2.6.26-tinycore/modules.dep (I guess you'd replace 2.6.26 with 2.6.29-1...I'm still using TC 1.x)