Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Extensions => TCE Q&A Forum => Topic started by: emninger on November 19, 2015, 01:59:19 PM

Title: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 19, 2015, 01:59:19 PM
Since my netbook is really coming up slowly, i'd like to "slim" the boot/startup. Therefore i did in APPS a check fo onboot unneeded. And i got a long list of extensions. But i'm a bit scared, because not all seems really logical to me and i'm in fear to shoot down what i built up to now.

For example:

Code: [Select]
claws-mail.tcz not needed a dep of claws-mail-locale.tcz
Does that mean, i should NOT put onboot claws-mail-locale.tcz? Not necessarily, but in my case yes, since i'm not using the default english.

And, if i'm taking away an extension from onboot, does that mean it still remains there to be pulled in (from ondemand, i presume) when needed?
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: Misalf on November 19, 2015, 04:06:43 PM
- How long does your netbook need to boot Tiny Core?
- What do you have in your /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/onboot.lst?

Since you are using the lang= boot code, any *.locale.tcz extension will be loaded automatically if present. This has nothing to do with OnDemand. However, adding stuff to the ondemand list (AND removing them from the onboot list) will certainly speed up boot time.

I doubt you will notice any difference in boot time by removing a few unneeded entries in onboot.lst.
If you would have hundred of entries and a very slow boot device than it might make sense to remove duplicates because tce-load would not need to be bothered trying to load something already loaded.
"Apps -> Maintenance -> Check Onboot Unneeded" just checks exactly that - if something listed to be loaded will be loaded anyway since it's a dependency of some other extension.

- How big is you backup file (/etc/sysconfig/tcedir/mydata.tgz)?
I'd suggest you clean up you backup file; get an understanding of what you want to backup and only backup exactly that. You keep reporting issues that seem to come from backing up more than you need.
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 20, 2015, 07:49:30 AM
I'd suggest you clean up you backup file; get an understanding of what you want to backup and only backup exactly that. You keep reporting issues that seem to come from backing up more than you need.

That sounds very reasonable. I'll have to work on it, the understanding i mean ... ;) As for the boot time, next time i'll check the watch.

PS. Backup file is 530MB.
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: gerald_clark on November 20, 2015, 09:23:34 AM
Show the output of 'showbootcodes' and show contents of /opt/.filetool.lst
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: Misalf on November 20, 2015, 10:50:43 AM
Quote
PS. Backup file is 530MB.
O.o

Mine is 3.5 MB which I already consider big.
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 20, 2015, 08:00:38 PM
Quote
PS. Backup file is 530MB.
O.o

Mine is 3.5 MB which I already consider big.

Boot time(s):
about 55 seconds extensions, 80 seconds restoring from backup.

Showbootcodes:
Code: [Select]
initrd=/tce/boot/core.gz quiet lang=de_DE kmap=de waitusb=10:UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" tce=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" restore=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" home=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" opt=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" local=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" tz=CET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3 blacklist=b43,ssb,bcma bkg=beudanne.jpg desktop=fluxbox noautologin BOOT_IMAGE=/tce/boot/vmlinuz

/opt/.filetool.lst
Code: [Select]
opt/.filetool.lst
opt/eth0.sh
home/tc/
etc/
usr/local/etc/
usr/local/share/X11
usr/local/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf
usr/local/etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/usb-autosuspend.conf

/opt/.xfiletool.lst
Code: [Select]
Cache
cache
.cache
XUL.mfasl
XPC.mfasl
mnt
.adobe/Flash_Player/AssetCache
.macromedia/Flash_Player
.opera/opcache
.opera/cache4
.Xauthority
.wmx
etc/fltk/
etc/modprobe.d/
etc/pcmcia/
etc/profile.d/
etc/skel/
etc/sysconfig/
etc/init.d
etc/udev/
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: Rich on November 20, 2015, 08:35:23 PM
Hi emninger
Code: [Select]
opt/.filetool.lst   
opt/eth0.sh
home/tc/
Not needed, your  /opt  and  /home  directories are persistent. I wouldn't be surprised if this accounts for the bulk
of your backup.

Code: [Select]
etc/Gerald_clark already told you that you should not backup up this directory. If you need  passwd, shadow, or other
files backed up, list them.

Code: [Select]
usr/local/etc/
usr/local/share/X11
usr/local/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf
usr/local/etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/usb-autosuspend.conf
Don't backup  usr/local/etc, only any files you modified in there. Why are you backing up  usr/local/share/X11?

I feel like I'm repeating myself.
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: coreplayer2 on November 20, 2015, 11:32:29 PM
Quote
PS. Backup file is 530MB.
O.o

Mine is 3.5 MB which I already consider big.
I try real hard to keep my backup to only a few KB :p

Quote
Showbootcodes:
Code: [Select]
initrd=/tce/boot/core.gz quiet lang=de_DE kmap=de waitusb=10:UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" tce=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" restore=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" home=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" opt=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" local=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f" tz=CET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3 blacklist=b43,ssb,bcma bkg=beudanne.jpg desktop=fluxbox noautologin BOOT_IMAGE=/tce/boot/vmlinuz
AIUI  the sole purpose of using "restore=" bootcode is to locate the backup to a different location than the default.  Yet, the location you've specified here is the same as the default!! making the bootcode redundant and inefficient.

Specking of redundant and inefficient,  am not sure if "local=" bootcode is valid, I have a suspicion it may not be recognized at all.??  but I could be wrong on that, didn't I mention that before..? 


Also, if you load fluxbox from the traditional onboot.lst then "desktop=fluxbox" bootcode can (should) also be discarded
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 21, 2015, 02:39:16 AM
Thanks! Yes you mentioned your doubt respect "local=" It should define the keyboard on the console (not the terminal) correct? If so, it does not: On the console (Ctrl-Alt-F1) i still have the english (qwerty) keyboard.
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: Misalf on November 21, 2015, 06:16:42 AM
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:boot_options
Quote
tinycore local={hda1:sda1:tcvd} Specify PPI directory or loopback file. This option is not available with 4.0 or newer
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 21, 2015, 06:53:42 AM
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:boot_options
Quote
tinycore local={hda1:sda1:tcvd} Specify PPI directory or loopback file. This option is not available with 4.0 or newer

Yes, i know. But the last time i canceled that statement, on the next boot i was "naked", many of my personal settings were gone. And since i had no idea, how to get them back -  >:( :'( - i had to re-install all from the ground. I've fear of the next experiment ... ;)
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: Misalf on November 21, 2015, 07:03:37 AM
My personal believe is that breaking things - and observing why they broke in order to be able to fix them - is better than living with something partially working.

You can have several installs of Core by specifying the tce directory via boot code. You can simply copy your tce dir and mess with this so you can always go back to your current install.
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 21, 2015, 03:47:04 PM
My personal believe is that breaking things - and observing why they broke in order to be able to fix them - is better than living with something partially working.

That's for sure. But, please, gently accept, i'm a totally newbie with tcl :) I've a vague idea about it and an intuition it might be a nice tool for small (in all terms) devices, But i still have to learn about anything about it.

You can have several installs of Core by specifying the tce directory via boot code. You can simply copy your tce dir and mess with this so you can always go back to your current install.

Could/would you explain this a little bit more in detail?

PS. For the moment, my main machine - running like a truck (slackware on a samsung ultrabook) is fa away. I only have this netbook - and a partly configured very old hp laptop running alpine linux, so, i'm a bit careful  ... ;)
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: Misalf on November 21, 2015, 06:19:37 PM
You are using:
Code: [Select]
tce=UUID="3b305a3c-d95b-4f80-b1fa-b7baaf7db06f"
This will result in the directory  /tce , from the partition with the given UUID, to be used as Core's main directory (where the backup and extensions are stored etc.) since  /tce  is the default.

However, you can specify an alternate tce directory
Code: [Select]
tce=UUID="01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef"/tce-test

I like to learn by braking things. Core is very forgiving in this regard by providing features like this where breakage is not connected to fear of loosing stuff.
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 22, 2015, 01:57:56 AM
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:boot_options
Quote
tinycore local={hda1:sda1:tcvd} Specify PPI directory or loopback file. This option is not available with 4.0 or newer

I did (left away the local={hda1:sda1:tcvd} and the desktop=fluxbox settings - and on the next reboot i lost all my configured datas in /home/tc/.fluxbox/ as well as many configurations i did in  (but not in the main directory) in .Xresources. Also, the noautologin was not respected - although it was still in the bootcode. May be because there were not anymore passwd and passwd- ? The background.jpg was the tinycore default one, not mine, although already configured in bootcode. Looking systematically at what was missing, i'd say: Any "personalization" of the (fluxbox) desktop. Fluxbox came up, but in the default tinycore skin ...

My .Xresources:
Code: [Select]
!~/.Xdefault: Control the behavior of x-clients
!

! Xcursor theme: ~/.icons
!
Xcursor.theme: SharpDot

! Xfont settings ------------------------------------------------------------
!
Xft.autohint: 0
Xft.lcdfilter:  lcddefault
Xft.hintstyle:  hintslight
Xft.hinting: 1
Xft.antialias: 1
Xft.rgba: rgb


! aTerm settings ------------------------------------------------------------
!
! double-click to select whole URLs :D
aterm*charClass: 33:48,36-47:48,58-59:48,61:48,63-64:48,95:48,126:48
!
aterm*loginShell:true
aterm*transparent:true
aterm*shading:60
aterm*background:Black
aterm*foreground:White
aterm*cursorColor: green
aterm*utf8: always
aterm*utf8Fonts: always
aterm*utf8Title: true
aterm*scrollBar:true
aterm*scrollBar_right:true
aterm*transpscrollbar:true
aterm*saveLines:4096
aterm*font:*-*-fixed-medium-r-normal--*-140-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
aterm*boldFont:*-*-fixed-bold-r-normal--*-*-140-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
aterm*selectToClipboard: true

fltk*scheme: gtk+


! xpdf -----------------------------------------------------------------------

xpdf*enableFreetype:    yes
xpdf*antialias:         yes
xpdf*foreground:        black
xpdf*background:        white
xpdf*urlCommand:        /usr/bin/firefox %s

I had luck, since i'd done a safe backup before so i could restore the setup before.

Would it be safe to copy a "mydata.tgz" to let's say "mydatadefault.tgz" to have at least a secure fallback - at least as long as i'm playing around with the bootcode settings?
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: Rich on November 22, 2015, 02:01:49 AM
Hi emninger
Quote
Would it be safe to copy a "mydata.tgz" to let's say "mydatadefault.tgz" to have at least a secure fallback - at least as long as i'm playing around with the bootcode settings?
Yes. If something gets messed up, copy it back to mydata.tgz, then reboot without running a backup.
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 22, 2015, 02:20:50 AM
Hi emninger
Code: [Select]
opt/.filetool.lst   
opt/eth0.sh
home/tc/
Not needed, your  /opt  and  /home  directories are persistent. I wouldn't be surprised if this accounts for the bulk
of your backup.

See my answer to misalf. The last time i changed here, i lost all my settings. It was frustrating ... :-( If it is a safe way to restore a mydata.tgz to mydatadefault.tgz (or something similar) and if reconverting it to mydata.tgz - in case of breaking something - would restore my setup, i'll give it a try :)

Code: [Select]
etc/Gerald_clark already told you that you should not backup up this directory. If you need  passwd, shadow, or other
files backed up, list them.
I excepted all subdirectories in my .xfiletool.lst; i did this to safe passwd pwasswd- and others which i believe are needed to disable the autologin (?)

Code: [Select]
usr/local/etc/
usr/local/share/X11
usr/local/etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf
usr/local/etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/usb-autosuspend.conf
Don't backup  usr/local/etc, only any files you modified in there. Why are you backing up  usr/local/share/X11?

I feel like I'm repeating myself.

Because of the keyboardsettings ...
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: Misalf on November 22, 2015, 05:17:30 AM
Quote
See my answer to misalf. The last time i changed here, i lost all my settings.
That doesn't make sense. You just said you lost your settings after removing the  local=  boot code - not after adjusting  /opt/.filetool.lst .
Also note:  /opt/.xfiletool.lst  is for excluding files from the backup!

Quote
Because of the keyboardsettings ...
You might want to change that to
Code: [Select]
usr/local/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 22, 2015, 07:57:09 AM
Quote
See my answer to misalf. The last time i changed here, i lost all my settings.
That doesn't make sense. You just said you lost your settings after removing the  local=  boot code - not after adjusting  /opt/.filetool.lst .
Also note:  /opt/.xfiletool.lst  is for excluding files from the backup!

Hmm ... :sgrat: Exactly, i used .xfiletool.lst to exclude all /subdirectories from /etc - so, i think i only get the single files in /etc, where sit some important config settings.

My .xfiletool.lst:
Code: [Select]
Cache
cache
.cache
XUL.mfasl
XPC.mfasl
mnt
.adobe/Flash_Player/AssetCache
.macromedia/Flash_Player
.opera/opcache
.opera/cache4
.Xauthority
.wmx
etc/fonts
etc/init.d
etc/modprobe.d
etc/pcmcia/
etc/profile.d
etc/skel/
etc/ssl/
etc/sysconfig/
etc/udev

Quote
Because of the keyboardsettings ...
You might want to change that to
Code: [Select]
usr/local/share/X11/xorg.conf.d

Yeah, i see. I was unsure, if there were other settings involved. But, indeed, most, i moved to home ... (in .Xresources, .gtkrc-2.0 and .gtkrc-2.0.mine ) but i'm bit anxious because fontconfig did not form ~.fontconfig file, which i'd expect to be there.
Title: Re: Check onboot unneeded
Post by: emninger on November 22, 2015, 08:36:09 AM
Hi emninger
Quote
Would it be safe to copy a "mydata.tgz" to let's say "mydatadefault.tgz" to have at least a secure fallback - at least as long as i'm playing around with the bootcode settings?
Yes. If something gets messed up, copy it back to mydata.tgz, then reboot without running a backup.

Hi there. I did (= excluded all opt and home from backup) and indeed, loading time now is less than the half! And all the settings are there - as far as i see in this moment.