nicOS-Utility-Suite

[amethyst]

@amethyst Oddest thing happened! While using the utilities to remaster the base SFS on a "instance" of F96-CE created using @wiak's wd_multi script, the utility script managed to delete the entire /mnt/sdc1/TestPup directory containing 10 frugally installed instances of F96-CE_5-alpha3.

Funny thing, I had done 10 or more remasters with no problems when suddenly in the last attempt, the partition icons all began to change as the partitions disappeared! The OS became unstable and froze, when I realized it was actually gone!

In summary, the utility suite managed to delete the entire directory /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/, which contains /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/F96-CE_5-alpha3/instance0, /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/F96-CE_5-alpha3/instance1, /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/F96-CE_5-alpha3/instance2...... during a remaster process!

For a moment of panic it appeared that the suite managed to delete the entire 4 partitions of a 1 terabyte HDD, but it only deleted the /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/ directory and it's complete contents of 10 frugally installed Puppy's

I'll take a guess and say your windows manager crashed or a bug with JWM. There's nothing in the script that would delete that directory of yours. BTW - JWM shows odd behaviour for me too sometimes (crashes), especially when running low on RAM. Not the most stable windows manager in the world.

[wiak]

For a moment of panic it appeared that the suite managed to delete the entire 4 partitions of a 1 terabyte HDD, but it only deleted the /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/ directory and it's complete contents of 10 frugally installed Puppy's

I presume that utility suite is fine having Puppy booting from a sub-sub-directory (rather than just one level down)? Actually I think it ends up being a sub-sub-sub directory in above arrangement for each instance.

[rockedge]

@amethyst Yes one of the oddest occurrences I've experienced lately! No idea on what happened or why exactly. Couldn't perform any diagnostics since the entire collection was just gone.

I had just started the remaster base SFS process and watched how suddenly the partition icons switched to a yellow oh-no icon one by one, the machine fans went into high gear and the OS froze solid. This all happened while running the remaster.

This has never ever happened like this before. I had to hard stop the machine by holding the power button down. Rebooted into another system and examined what had happened. This is when I discovered the deletion of the entire 10 frugal installations.

One question is the OS being remastered is instance1 which is all just symlinks to the actual system in instance0 !! Do you think that the symlinks are part of the cause?

@wiak the structure is /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/F96-CE_5-alpha3/instance0, /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/F96-CE_5-alpha3/instance1, /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/F96-CE_5-alpha3/instance2 and so on and so forth....

./wd_multi 10 3 was the command used to create. But I had done like 7 remasters using the same set up same program, all successful.

I was remastering the base rootfs of /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/F96-CE_5-alpha3/instance1/puppy_fossapup64_9.6.sfs which is in reality a symlink to /mnt/sdc1/TestPup/F96-CE_5-alpha3/instance0/puppy_fossapup64_9.6.sfs

[wizard]

@galen

See this post for an alternate method to remaster.

viewtopic.php?t=11305

wizard

[amethyst]

One question is the OS being remastered is instance1 which is all just symlinks to the actual system in instance0 !! Do you think that the symlinks are part of the cause?

Didn't your previous 10 remasters work as mentioned?

[rockedge]

Yes the remasters were working though sometimes some weird results. That's what makes it odd. It was working nice and safely mostly with predictable results, then this complete very specific deletion occurred.

EXTREMELY worrisome that it destroyed 10 frugal installs all by it's self without any apparent reason.

[amethyst]

Yes the remasters were working though sometimes some weird results. That's what makes it odd. It was working nice and safely mostly with predictable results, then this complete very specific deletion occurred.

EXTREMELY worrisome that it destroyed 10 frugal installs all by it's self without any apparent reason.

Maybe it works weird because it's for Puppys and you are using it for KL? So my advice will be NOT to use it if you have problems with it.

[rockedge]

I am working on a Puppy Linux F96-CE_5 which is a very current woof-CE generated Fossapup64. I booted and and with no save folder/file, made some installs of updated PET packages for Fossapup64 and F96-CE then again with no save yet ran the remaster of the base SFS

So my advice will be NOT to use it if you have problems with it.

there is not a single remaster script that is 100%. I have remastered in every which way possible since 2010 I think I could figure that out.

Crazy is I never initiated nicOS remaster to start to actually remaster. I was going through the set up configuration selecting check boxes in the GUI. Going back to adjust a setting and going again forward and it began to go haywire.

@amethyst I wrote this topic for the benefit of improving the package. Figure if 95% of the time it works OK it's a winner. I can always use something else, and perhaps forget I mentioned anything, matter of fact I could always delete the topic if it's useless and the experience reading it is annoying.

[Clarity]

... I wrote this topic for the benefit of improving the package. ...

I support this position. It emphasizes what I feel we should do when unusual circumstances appear in use of ANY products built for use in the forum. As well, we SHOULD report, even, if we see or envision improvements in product use-behavior or to change negative behavior if found to exist.

I am not calling out an unfavorable position on this Suite; rather, if a conditions arises and it has any appearance that the product might have somehow influenced it, the flag 'should be' raised for investigation or at least a mere evaluation. It is what I think most of us find appropriate.

Just a thought

[amethyst]

@rockedge

made some installs of updated PET packages

Can your issues be related to the changes in the package manager? I have had problems with pets uninstalling themselves in Fossa96CE.viewtopic.php?p=114606#p114606.

[fr-ke]

@rockedge wrote

Yes one of the oddest occurrences I've experienced lately! No idea on what happened or why exactly.

I had the same experience!

Normally I use a different working area (partition) than the partition on which the Puppy to be remastered is located. Unfortunately not in this case!
On an nvmedevice it was just a moment and everything was gone.

I don't remember exactly whether it was a remasatering or a Save2SFS that I ran.

I attributed it to the fact that the partition in question was mounted once by clicking on the desktop under its partition name and a second time using .pet as /mnt/home.
For this reason I didn't pursue it further. However, since then I have made sure to use an empty partition as the working area.

[amethyst]

So what has changed in Fossa96CE that we have all these error reports now? Do you have the same issues when running the builtin remaster script of Fossa96CE (I don't know if the builtin remaster script gets updated every time there is a new Puppy release)? My remaster scripts are basically based on the builtin remaster script as it was with Bionic (obviously with the intention that it could be useful for remastering older and newer Puppys). Are the results different using my alternative script in the suite, etc? BTW - If you have lots and lots of RAM, use ramdisk as the working area (much faster too).

[fr-ke]

@amethyst

If the partition from which the Puppy was started is mounted twice, whether as /mnt/home or another mount point, then redundant copying of certain files appears to occur.

e.g. /mnt/nvme0n1p3/tmp/root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/OpenWith/.application_pdf/nvme0n1p3/tmp.....

Aborted with kill results in the entire partition being deleted.
Tried under BookwormPup64-10.0.6
.

It doesn't work any better under Bionicpup64_8.0.
I aborted /mnt/nvme0n1p3/PuppyRemasterpuppy_bionicpup64_8.0.sfs at 8GB size.
The remastering would certainly have continued until the partition overflowed.

[fr-ke]

@amethyst

If the system partition is mounted multiple times, the deletion process should take place at the beginning.
Attached is a screenshot after I canceled the remastering process right after it started.

The system directory has already been deleted.

[amethyst]

What the hell is nvme..,.? Anyways - try the builtin remaster script of the specific version of the distribution you are using and use that if it works for you.

[fr-ke]

nvme = sda just faster.

No problem at all with your RemasterScript, I'm happy and satisfied with it - thank you!

After something similar to @rockedge happened to me, I tried to explain it in a comprehensible way.
This may also have been the reason for the deleted partition that @rockedge reported.

I set up my OS for daily use using a series of petfiles.
Among other things, a partition is automatically mounted as home.
The situation that arose for me was that the partition from which I got the pet files and the system partition (Puppy frugally installed) were the same.

After this partition was mounted twice during preparation for the remaster by installing the pet file to automatically load the partition during the startup process, it was deleted by the subsequent remaster, using the same partition as the working partition.

I've done it this way many times, but always with a different working partition during the remastering process, so I didn't have any problems.

[mikeslr]

amethyst, what's with the OP and link to the application having been deleted?

[fredx181]

amethyst, what's with the OP and link to the application having been deleted?

@amethyst felt offended and decided to leave the forum (and at the same time, deleted some of his shares).

[mikeslr]

If ametjhyst should change his mind rockedge should consider banning the membership of anyone using his address. The last thing a 'do-archy' needs is an unreliable member who uses the creations and advice of other members to create applications others relying on don't independently develop, then remove those applications.

Joe didn't show me the proper amount of deference and respect so I fire-bombed his village.

With the Utility-Suite being MIA, may I suggest shinobar's RemasterX as a reasonable alternative for the remastering component. http://shinobar.server-on.net/puppy/opt/. Shinobar explains its use here, https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=94034.

Unfortunately, the inclusion of adrvs and ydrvs, has become commonplace. I don't know of any application such as the Suite's Save2SFS capable of managing them. And AFAIK, Save2SFS was the only tool capable of capturing settings in order to avoid having to use a READ-WRITE Save.

Any ideas?

[wizard]

@amethyst felt offended and decided to leave the forum

Wow, I thought the advantage of posting code and utilities on the forum was so users and members could help debug them and improve the usefulness.

wizard

[mikeslr]

amethyst copyrighted the code he wrote for each module without specifying any limitations. Never studied copyright law. Human Laws are not self-executing. So while someone might consider the approach some of my clients took --catch me if you can; sue me and waste your time and money trying to overcome any defenses I can dream-up-- my 'better angels' suggest we extend to amethyst more decency than he has shown this Forum.

The essential component of nicOS-Utility-Suite was Save2SFS. Even though I don't code and without examining the code he used all it does copy the current content of I think /initrd/mnt/tmpfs/pup-rw, to a temporary folder, write a flag to /var in that folder --I'm pretty sure /var/local/delayedrun_firstboot_flag-- in whose absence first-run setup automatically runs-- then dir2sfs the folder. Or it could use some other code to do the packaging. Might offer a choice of compression. The user is offered the choice of naming the SFS either adrv or ydrv, perhaps taking the rest of the name from distro-specs.

A substitute could offer a choice of compressions and a wider range of names, e.g. bdrv, etc or better still user imput of the desired letter. The user would know what, if any, 'drvs' a Puppy's initrd supports.

@rockedge. To avoid any problems in the future --and as only members can post to the Forum-- you might amend the terms of membership to include something like this:

Posting code or software packages containing code or providing a link on this Forum to such code or software packages shall constitute a license to everyone to use and/or modify such code excluding only their use in a product to be sold for profit.

Although I don't know the intricacies of copyright law, I do know that --unless it violates 'public policy'-- contractual agreements 'trump' rights otherwise provided by Law; that membership is a contract, and that other members and users of this Forum as third-parties to that contract have the right to rely on the terms of that contract. Offer + reliance on that Offer = a contract.

[mikeslr]

I've been comparing the condition of Bookworm before and after a Save. Creating an application to capture the changes made to the former before shut-down no longer seems as simple as I previously suggested. Maybe I've got it wrong. But I need to take a break. Will post my notes tomorrow.

[amethyst]

@mikeslr and others. All the stuff that I posted on this forum is in public domain and can be used by anyone. The utility suite for example has been included in some recent puppys so is readily available anyway. The reason why I deleted some stuff is because I won't actively be participating on this forum anymore, not support any of my own work and thus won't be available to answer any questions about it or make any improvements/changes to already existing applications. I won't be producing anything new either. I may make a zip file and include all/some of my applications that I still have on record and upload it to an external site and give a download link for those interested in using it...but won't be giving any support nor partake in any discussions concerning the applications. Cheers.

[mikeslr]

@mikeslr and others. All the stuff that I posted on this forum is in public domain and can be used by anyone. The utility suite for example has been included in some recent puppys so is readily available anyway. The reason why I deleted some stuff is because I won't actively be participating on this forum anymore, not support any of my own work and thus won't be available to answer any questions about it or make any improvements/changes to already existing applications. I won't be producing anything new either. I may make a zip file and include all/some of my applications that I still have on record and upload it to an external site and give a download link for those interested in using it...but won't be giving any support nor partake in any discussions concerning the applications. Cheers.

Thanks, amethyst, for the post. I'm really less peeved and less saddened. If it means anything to you, you will be missed. I, for one, consider your Utility-Suite essential; and you other contributions valuable and insightful. TBH, I wish there was a way for me to devote less of my time to Puppy. I have other, more pressing, interests. But I am a creature of habit. I start each day reading the new posts on the Forum and, like Michael Corleone, "they pull me back in".

FWIW, any writing published after January 1, 1978 has copyright protection for 70 years, and under some circumstances a long as 120. With certain exceptions, https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/academic-in ... -copyright, a work is entitled to copyright protection as soon as its author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. The author doesn't even have to declare it to be copyrighted. [Copyright filings, Offices in which they are filed, and the Laws and regulations relating to them have as their supposed objective the reduction of costly litigation relating to copyright infringements*]. However, authors have the right to waive or limit the extent of the protection otherwise provided by law. If not already and otherwise, you just did.

-=-=-=-=-
In reality, our copyright laws make little sense. They were originally passed to encourage creativity and innovation ... Nevermind. I've decided against spending time and effort detailing the insanity which results when you try to enforce the mindset of those who 200+ years ago wrote laws and their methods of enforcement for what was essentially an agricultural society where little changed from generation to generations and publications consisted of poems, book, and new print --all requiring the harvesting of trees-- to a dynamic environment dominated by monetary interests, where the publication of a Kernel runs to millions of lines of code which will be modified 10 times within a year, and the most valuable publication for a little while will be the latest performance of a Super-Star digitized and streamed.

[mikeslr]

Just to note that wizard has published remasterme2, viewtopic.php?p=117427&sid=8e04004aa697 ... b4#p117427 and shinobar's remasterX can be obtained here, http://hg.shinobar.server-on.net/puppy/opt/. There are instructions somewhere. Note that it predates the use of adrv and fdrv, but you can include anything in the 'work-dircetory' --such as also file/folders relating to UEFI-- before it packages the ISO.

[mikeslr]

If you've read the last few posts of this thread or the first post you'll know that amethyst deleted the download link to this application. This doesn't affect BookwormPup64 or F-96 as the application was 'built-into' those. But if you are working with a different Puppy, I just realized that I published a slightly older version here, https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewto ... 307#p69307