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Author Topic: Dynamic remastering  (Read 3959 times)

Offline helander

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Dynamic remastering
« on: January 06, 2010, 07:38:31 AM »
With the current frequency of new TC/MC releases creating new remasters for each release becomes an issue for me. I have found a way to deal with this that makes it very simple to get a remastered version of a new release.

In principle this is what I do:

  • I create an initramfs that contains the stuff special for my remaster
  • I use a bootloader in the syslinux family and specify the initrd as both the original (tinycore.gz or microcore.gz) and my own additional initramfs (e.g. myown.gz).
  • The bootloader will then load both initramfs files and once the boot is completed the two initramfs:es are merged into memory

The nice thing is that  when a new TC/MC release is available I just have to replace the tinycore.gz/microcore.gz with the one from the new release and I do not have to do anything with my remaster additions that are contained in myown.gz

The method depends on the capabilities of the syslinux family bootloaders to load multiple initramfs:es. This capability is lacking in Grub but there is a remedy for users of Grub; it's just a matter of creating a Grub boot entry that will chainload your syslinux family bootloader.

In case others would be interested in this I would be happy to share the details of how to set it up. Maybe creating an article on the wiki ?

Kind Regards

Lars

Offline roberts

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2010, 07:59:36 AM »
I encourage you to do so. Please share.
10+ Years Contributing to Linux Open Source Projects.

Offline helander

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2010, 08:22:32 AM »
I encourage you to do so. Please share.

Wiki page created:

Direct link
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/tiki-index.php?page=Dynamic+root+filesystem+remastering


Or navigate via Wiki Start -> Remastering -> Dynamic root filesystem remastering

/Lars
« Last Edit: January 06, 2010, 10:28:29 AM by helander »

Offline tclfan

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2010, 08:42:46 AM »
In case others would be interested in this I would be happy to share the details of how to set it up. Maybe creating an article on the wiki ?
Lars
I am definitely interested. This would save lots of time and headache. Please share details.
Thank you.

Offline cjgau

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2010, 08:58:03 AM »
Quote
OK, I will do so 

/Lars

Thanks, looking forward to learning your modulated approach.

Offline helander

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2010, 10:31:17 AM »
Note that I updated my earlier post with a wiki link, but I supply it here too :)

http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/tiki-index.php?page=Dynamic+root+filesystem+remastering

Have fun

Lars

Offline Jason W

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2010, 08:43:31 PM »
I like this approach, and am using something very similar on my laptop that I have no hard drive acces to and I dislike messing with usb devices on a machine I simply use to post extensions with and surf the web.  Extra initrd files for /opt/tce extensions or extra files to pack into the remaster is very portable between releases and convenient when for whatever reason you don't have read/write available storabe space.

Offline helander

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2010, 03:14:10 AM »
I like this approach, and am using something very similar on my laptop that I have no hard drive acces to and I dislike messing with usb devices on a machine I simply use to post extensions with and surf the web.  Extra initrd files for /opt/tce extensions or extra files to pack into the remaster is very portable between releases and convenient when for whatever reason you don't have read/write available storabe space.

Jason, could you provide some details on the method you are using?

/Lars

Offline Jason W

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2010, 04:38:48 AM »
I have it scripted in the programming and scripting section.  It is similar to this but stays in iso format.

Offline helander

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2010, 04:56:17 AM »
Thanks, it looks nice. Why not pack your tool into an extension so that it is easy to add to a system ?

/Lars

Offline Jason W

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2010, 05:48:48 AM »
Custom scripts that do things like remaster need to stay in the programming and scripting section.  That keeps them easily accessible for modifications by the author among other things.

Offline cjgau

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #11 on: January 07, 2010, 09:10:23 AM »
Hi Lars,

Your wiki is beautifully written; easy to follow. And, thank you for including the grub (optional).

Offline helander

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Re: Dynamic remastering
« Reply #12 on: January 07, 2010, 10:07:10 AM »
Hi Lars,

Your wiki is beautifully written; easy to follow. And, thank you for including the grub (optional).

Your feedback is highly appreciated :). Thanks.

/Lars