copy2fs.lst ignored by tc-config on boot, only works with tce-load

[zharr]

I'm using piCore and trying to have all auto-loaded extensions copied to RAM (to unmount the SD card during operation) but normally mount optional extensions loaded later.
However this only seems to work when using tce-load directly, on boot it always seems to mount the extensions (though the copy2fs.flg works).
Seeing how the /etc/init.d/tc-config script has it's own implementation handling copy2fs.lst (different from tce-load), the issue might lie there.
That's why I'm posting here - I don't think it's necessarily a piCore packaging issue.
Sadly, I have not found a good way to edit that script to iterate on (or even run it safely).
Any help would be appreciated!

[Rich]

Hi zharr

... Seeing how the /etc/init.d/tc-config script has it's own implementation handling copy2fs.lst (different from tce-load), the issue might lie there. ...

I don't think so. The section of  /etc/init.d/tc-config  you are referring to looks like this:

Code: [Select]

if [ -n "$PRETCE" ]; then
        PKG=optional ; LOADER="tce-load -i" ; LIST=onboot.lst
        RAM=/tmp/tce
        CPTOFS=""
        if [ "$PRETCE" == "RAM" ] ; then
                SRC=$RAM
                [ -f $SRC/copy2fs.flg ] && CPTOFS=1
        else
                PPATH=${PRETCE%%/*}
                mkdir -p /mnt/$PPATH
                mount /dev/$PPATH /mnt/$PPATH
                SRC=/mnt/$PRETCE
                [ -x $SRC/onpre.sh ] && cp $SRC/onpre.sh /tmp
                [ -f $SRC/copy2fs.flg ] && CPTOFS=1
                if [ $CPTOFS ] ; then
                        cp $SRC/$PKG/* $RAM/$PKG/
                        cp $SRC/$LIST $RAM/
                        SRC=$RAM
                        umount /mnt/$PPATH 2>/dev/null
                fi
        fi
        MNT=""
        while read NAME OPT
        do
                [ $CPTOFS ] || grep -q $NAME $SRC/copy2fs.lst 2>/dev/null && FL="-c" || FL=''
                [ $FL ] || MNT=1
                su "$USER" -c "/usr/bin/$LOADER $SRC/$PKG/$NAME"
                [ "$SRC" == "$RAM" ] && [ "$FL" == "-c" ] && rm $RAM/$PKG/$NAME
        done < $SRC/$LIST
        [ "$SRC" != "$RAM" ] && [ $MNT ] || umount /mnt/$PPATH 2>/dev/null
        rm $RAM/copy2fs.flg $RAM/copy2fs.lst 2>/dev/null
        [ -x /tmp/onpre.sh ] && /tmp/onpre.sh
fi
Unless you are using the  pretce=  boot code, that section will not execute.

[zharr]

Right, figured it must execute since that's the only place I found where it reads onboot.lst in the boot process (using corebook as reference).
Color me surprised when I found the actual TCE loading is done by a python script! /usr/bin/tce-bootload to be exact, getting passed the onboot.lst contents.
And sure enough, it doesn't check copy2fs.lst at all:

Code: [Select]

for p in tczout:

        pid = os.fork()

        if pid == 0:
                #This is the child process.
                if showapps:
                        print(p[:-4] + ' ', end="")
                        print('\033[1;33m', end="")

                os.mkdir(root + '/tmp/tcloop/' + p[:-4])
                system_command('sudo /usr/bin/mount -t squashfs -o loop ' + sys.argv[1] + '/optional/' + p + ' ' + root + '/tmp/tcloop/' + p[:-4], p[:-4])
                #Child process exits
                sys.exit(0)

I assume this is something that can only be fixed by remastering, or using "base" bootcode and manually loading onboot TCEs (will try that first).

[Rich]

Hi zharr

... or using "base" bootcode and manually loading onboot TCEs (will try that first).

I think this might work:

Use the  base  bootcode.

Add this to /opt/bootsync.sh:

Code: [Select]

/usr/bin/tce-setup "booting" > /dev/null 2>&1

[zharr]

Executed that manually, "Skipping regular Extension loading as requested on the command line"
Still investigating, but it seems tc-restore.sh won't work at all with base bootcode, nor will tce-load (because /etc/sysconfig/tcedir just points to /tmp/tce).
So I removed base, and instead used an empty onboot.lst, loading them manually in bootsync with:

Code: [Select]

# Manually load intial tces with normal tce-load
TCEDIR=$(/usr/bin/readlink /etc/sysconfig/tcedir)
sudo -u tc /usr/bin/tce-load -cli $(cat $TCEDIR/onstartup.lst)(note I skipped copy2fs.lst entirely here with the -c flag, but it does work just fine with the copy2fs.lst instead)

Now I finally have an embedded system that's RAM-only for low SD card wear, and can mount more dev packages on-demand when remoting in.
Thanks for your help!

[Paul_123]

It’s only taken about 6 years for someone to mention this, from when the bootload script was introduced.  There are a few changes needed to the bootload script  I’ll look at them soon.

But for piCore16, what you did should work for you.