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Topic: Root password retention, DSL wont retain root PW after reboot

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mikshaw

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Posted: Aug. 06 2006,02:26

Not sure. I say that files in /etc are backed up and restored only because that's what I was told. Personally i don't use backup/restore because I have a persistent home, and the few additional files I need to back up (including /etc/shadow, which by itself is enough to keep my passwords persistent) are restored through the use of a myDSL extension (essentially the same as a DSL backup, but not dynamic and using a different filename).

I wonder if ssh uses its own password, separate from a typical user password?

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Josiah

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Posted: Aug. 06 2006,04:26

"persistent home"? What does that do and how do I set it up?

Edit: Also, I'm sure that ssh does not use a password independent of the root and various user passwords. I can tell this because if I set the root password to, say, "abcdefg" and then enter "abcdefg" in the ssh dialouge (without rebooting first, of course), it goes right through. Interesting thought though

mikshaw

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Posted: Aug. 06 2006,04:55

Setting up a persistent home will allow you to use a linux-formatted harddrive partition to hold your /home/dsl files. If specified at boot time (either in the bootloader's configuration in frugal, or at the boot prompt in live CD), the partition will be automatically mounted, and any files in /home/dsl will persist from one session to the next without needing to use a backup. It makes DSL into a sort of hybrid between frugal and a traditional harddrive install. I use this instead of backup because i have no need for the portability of frugal DSL but i like many of its other qualities.

The boot option is dsl home=xxxn... for example "home=hda1". The same can be done for /opt.

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Josiah

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Posted: Aug. 06 2006,07:09

That sounds great. I've been looking for something like that. The default HD configuration has been so frustrating to me that I've looked into switching to a different distro.

Are there any drawbacks to persistent home? Does it have any impact on RAM usage? The whole reason I chose DSL in the first place was the fact that I need[ed] it to run on a system with 96 megs of RAM and a pentium 3.

I have a 19 gig hard drive, so if I have to up 500ish megs of HD for persistent home, that's no problem.

Edit: also, can I just enter that command as root in the A terminal, or to I have to put it in as a cheat code at boot up? If the later, do I have to enter it at every boot up, or will the computer remember it after the first boot up?

mikshaw

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Joined: July 2004

Posted: Aug. 06 2006,14:59

It has an impact on RAM in that it uses less than a normal setup. One thing to note is that /home/dsl will appear to still be in /ramdisk, but that is only a link to /mnt/xxxn/home/dsl (or maybe to /home/dsl...i have never quite figured that out).
You cannot send that boot option after the bootloader has done its work. However, you can run commands to accomplish the same task (it's just more work for you). I did this for a little while from /opt/bootlocal.sh before I started using the persistent home boot option. Essentially the procedure is:
Become root.
Create a /home directory on a linux-formatted partition (ext or reiser).
Copy the /ramdisk/home/dsl directory into the new home directory, making sure you keep dsl.staff ownership of these files.
Mount the new home to /home.
Point the /ramdisk/home link to the new home. I'm not sure right now if this is necessary. If it's already pointing to /home then you don't have to do this.

Drawbacks....

Persistent home does not work on a currently-mounted volume, such as the partition on which KNOPPIX resides. If you need to use the same partition you must use the "toram" boot option, but that would be a bad idea for you.

Occasionally a DSL upgrade will make a small change to a config file that ultimately has a larger impact on the way DSL behaves. If you do not temporarily disable the home boot option when upgrading you may miss one or more of these config changes.

Using incorrect syntax or non-existent location while specifying a "home=" location *may* result in data loss. I did this twice while experimenting with changing home locations, although those experiments were not typical user behavior and you should not be too concerned.

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23 replies since Aug. 04 2006,22:40

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