Remastering from an existing HD installation

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: Remastering from an existing HD installation
started by: noclobber

Posted by noclobber on Oct. 18 2004,17:42

I have installed DSL 0.8.2 onto my hard drive at hdb7 and added numerous apps, utilities, and games via apt-get and MyDSL as well as customized my wallpaper, fluxbox menu, desktop icons, ppp, etc. Now that I've got everything the way I like it, I'd like to remaster a new CD.

I booted the original DSL 0.8.2 CD, mounted hdb7 (my DSL HD installation) and hdb5 (a FAT32 partition containing Windows 2000 and plenty of free space), then as root, issued the following command:

mkisofs -R /mnt/hdb7 | create_compressed_fs - 65536 > /mnt/hdb5/KNOPPIX

The compressed KNOPPIX image file could then be mounted with the command:

mount /mnt/hdb5/KNOPPIX /mnt/some_empty_dir -t iso9660 -o ro,loop=/dev/cloop1

and indeed everything that is on hdb7 shows up in the KNOPPIX file.

Next, I booted DSL from hdb7 while leaving the original DSL CD loaded, mounted both hdb5 and the cdrom, and created the empty directory /home/dsl/newcd. I then copied everything except the original KNOPPIX file from /cdrom to /home/dsl/newcd and copied my custom KNOPPIX file from /mnt/hdb5 to /home/dsl/newcd/KNOPPIX.

After verifying that the directory structure of /home/dsl/newcd mirrored that of /cdrom, I issued this command as root:

mkisofs -r -l -J -no-emul-boot -no-pad -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -hide-rr-moved -V KNOPPIX -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat -o /mnt/hdb5/dsl082a.iso /home/dsl/newcd

I burned the iso and booted it up, but it looks and runs exactly like the original DSL 0.8.2 CD. None of my changes are there. Everything I've added is there in the /KNOPPIX directory, but not in the / directory.

I'm guessing that I've missed something along the way here, so how do I get my CD to boot DSL just like it boots from the hard drive?

Posted by Rhythmtech on Oct. 24 2004,23:32

I am not personally particularly well versed in remastering DSL so I probably won't be much help. However, I do have a suggestion. Have you looked through the KNOPPIX faq on www.knoppix.net. There is a remastering how to that you may be able to apply to the DSL remaster.

< http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/KnoppixRemasteringHowto >

Actually if you do figure it it would you let me know how you did it, I am new to this, and have had limited success remastering from a hd install also.

Posted by noclobber on Oct. 27 2004,02:19

Ah yes, I've pored over the Knoppix remastering howto so many times that I finally printed out a hard copy.

Aparently the key to getting your customized .xtdesktop and .fluxbox icons, menus, etc to show in a remaster is to copy /home/dsl to /etc/skel prior to creating the compressed KNOPPIX image. I just did such a remaster, burned & booted it, and *almost* everything appears to look and run as it does from the hard drive (ethernet didn't come up, for example, probably because a net status file couldn't be written to -- the solution may be to move the status file to the ramdrive while replacing the original file with a symlink). In fact, I am running from live CD right now as I write this in Opera.

Next, I'll try a frugal install from this CD. My goal with this is to create a sort of kiosk-mode custom remaster that always boots up the same and can't be altered (i.e. screwed up) by the user. Once I get the kinks worked out, perhaps I should post my own howto for remastering from an existing HD installation (?).

Posted by flatloop on Oct. 27 2004,15:44

noclobber, I think that would be very good of you to do that.

I'm working on a project with a similar intent, although I am not nearly as far along as re-mastering, yet. I'm still modifying the user's environment to my tastes. I support you in your HOWTO efforts.

Posted by noclobber on Oct. 30 2004,15:47

Time for a status report.

Apparently some apps don't work when run from a remastered HD installation because they don't have write access to certain log, status, config, etc. files when run from Live CD. Fixing this requires identifying all such files, then modifying the DSL/Knoppix boot files to guarantee write access wherever it's needed. I figured out a way to do this, tried it out last night, and everything seems to work. After some more testing with DSL 0.8.2 (my current HD installation) it'll take a little time to document the procedure and get it posted here. Be forewarned, though, it ain't pretty. I also want to try both frugal and regular HD installs from my remasters as well as try DSL 0.7.3 (which uses different boot files) with a custom compiled kernel for old PCs w/o math coprocessors. In addition, there may be some way to automate the gory parts of this remastering procedure, plus, I just got my paws on this new O'Reilly book called "Knoppix Hacks" which I should probably check out before proceeding. Wish me luck, I haven't abandoned you.

Posted by noclobber on Nov. 03 2004,04:53

Okay, it looks like I've got it down. I just remastered a LiveCD from my HD, booted it, and it works perfectly! In fact, IMHO it runs even better than the original DSL CD since I customized the Knoppix CD booting process.

As soon as I get the full procedure documented, I'll post it in this forum -- probably as a new HOWTO topic thread. I even wrote some scripts which make the job *much* easier. They'll be posted, too.

Posted by Rapidweather on Nov. 03 2004,23:40

You have to put a lot of stuff in /etc/skel
---
That is where the personal settings, obtain their files.
Then, your /home/dsl will have all your settings and directories that you may want, in addition to the original ones. I like to add /html, /download, /upload, and a custom filetool.lst. Also, if you have Firefox, be sure and set it up like you want, then copy the /home/dsl/.mozilla directory to /etc/skel.
Be sure and empty all your cache, cookies, etc. with Firefox's privacy dialog before you do the copy to /etc/skel, or you'll have that permanently booting up each time. Same for Opera, and of course for fluxbox, the menu, backgrounds, styles you want to have. Examine every file in the stock DSL /etc/skel, and there you will find all that you can personalize.
---

Posted by noclobber on Nov. 04 2004,00:13

Quote (Rapidweather @ Nov. 03 2004,18:40)

Oh yes! I'm definitely putting those kinds of instructions into my HowTo.

Posted by noclobber on Nov. 07 2004,10:31

I've just posted my remastering HOWTO as a new topic to give it a proper title.

< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....236;r=1 >