[gobolinux-devel] Gobolinux - From Scratch

[Anshuman Aggarwal]

Hi,

Is there a process available for gobolinux to be installed from
scratch instead of using the Live CD? I have a server setup which
wouldn't need much of what is installed by the LiveCD and would like
to keep my server minimal.

Couldn't find it documented anywhere... Can we write up the
instructions (even if it is highly technical and required in depth
knowledge ? It can it be much like gentoo's stage 3 tarball /linux
from scratch.

My two cents are that Gobo is more likely to attract power users who
appreciate the concept of file system being the package manager and
those of us would like more control that what the Desktop LiveCD
allows.

Yes I know I can install the Desktop CD and then go on a deletion
spree but that just sounds wasteful :-) and also doesn't teach much
about how Gobo is built up.

Thanks,
Anshuman

[Fabio Mierlo]

As a starting, you can rebuild the LiveCD only with the packages you want.

http://gobolinux.org/index.php?page=livecd

This information is outdated but it can help you.

As the following link is broken, follows a mirror link.

http://gobo.kundor.org/wiki/Update_Kernel_on_014.01_LiveCD_Howto

http://fmierlo.stackedboxes.org/GoboLinux/014.01+/Update_Kernel_on_014.01_LiveCD_Howto.txt

Fabio Mierlo

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Hi,
Is there a process available for gobolinux to be installed from
scratch instead of using the Live CD? I have a server setup which
wouldn't need much of what is installed by the LiveCD and would like
to keep my server minimal.
Couldn't find it documented anywhere... Can we write up the
instructions (even if it is highly technical and required in depth
knowledge ? It can it be much like gentoo's stage 3 tarball /linux
from scratch.
My two cents are that Gobo is more likely to attract power users who
appreciate the concept of file system being the package manager and
those of us would like more control that what the Desktop LiveCD
allows.
Yes I know I can install the Desktop CD and then go on a deletion
spree but that just sounds wasteful :-) and also doesn't teach much
about how Gobo is built up.
Thanks,
Anshuman
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

[Lucas C. Villa Real]

On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 9:41 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal <

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Hi,
Is there a process available for gobolinux to be installed from
scratch instead of using the Live CD? I have a server setup which
wouldn't need much of what is installed by the LiveCD and would like
to keep my server minimal.
Couldn't find it documented anywhere... Can we write up the
instructions (even if it is highly technical and required in depth
knowledge ? It can it be much like gentoo's stage 3 tarball /linux
from scratch.
My two cents are that Gobo is more likely to attract power users who
appreciate the concept of file system being the package manager and
those of us would like more control that what the Desktop LiveCD
allows.
Yes I know I can install the Desktop CD and then go on a deletion
spree but that just sounds wasteful :-) and also doesn't teach much
about how Gobo is built up.

Greetings, Anshuman,

Given that all packages are found at /Programs, the easiest way, by far, is
to install the "Full" profile, remove the software you don't need from that
directory, and then run the following command to get rid of broken links:

find /System/Settings/ /System/Index/ | RemoveBroken
<http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel>
You can also start with the "Base" profile and then copy the extra programs
that you need from the LiveCD's /Programs directory before rebooting the
machine. Afterwards, run 'SymlinkProgram <ProgramName>' for each program
you've copied. That will create the links to "activate" each software at
/System/Settings and /System/Index.

Another option, if you want to go more deep into how things are organized,
is to install the "Base" profile, reboot your machine and then mount the
LiveCD at /Mount/CD-ROM. You will find a bunch of squashfs files on that
directory. Each squashfs file contains a file system that can be
loop-mounted. Then, you copy the directories of interest to /Programs and
proceed with the SymlinkProgram procedure to link them.

Cheers,
Lucas

[Anshuman Aggarwal]

Hi Lucas,
Is the "Base" profile an option in the LiveCD? (sorry haven't gotten
a chance to boot it yet)...is it much like the Stage 3 tarball of
gentoo (are you aware of it?) ...I would like to ideally start from
that and then Compile my own. I have used source distributions before
(like gentoo) and the fact that Gobo is also one is a big plus.

Thanks,
Anshuman

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 9:41 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Hi,
Is there a process available for gobolinux to be installed from
scratch instead of using the Live CD? I have a server setup which
wouldn't need much of what is installed by the LiveCD and would like
to keep my server minimal.
Couldn't find it documented anywhere... Can we write up the
instructions (even if it is highly technical and required in depth
knowledge ? It can it be much like gentoo's stage 3 tarball /linux
from scratch.
My two cents are that Gobo is more likely to attract power users who
appreciate the concept of file system being the package manager and
those of us would like more control that what the Desktop LiveCD
allows.
Yes I know I can install the Desktop CD and then go on a deletion
spree but that just sounds wasteful :-) and also doesn't teach much
about how Gobo is built up.

Greetings, Anshuman,
Given that all packages are found at /Programs, the easiest way, by far, is
to install the "Full" profile, remove the software you don't need from that
find /System/Settings/ /System/Index/ | RemoveBroken
You can also start with the "Base" profile and then copy the extra programs
that you need from the LiveCD's /Programs directory before rebooting the
machine. Afterwards, run 'SymlinkProgram <ProgramName>' for each program
you've copied. That will create the links to "activate" each software at
/System/Settings and /System/Index.
Another option, if you want to go more deep into how things are organized,
is to install the "Base" profile, reboot your machine and then mount the
LiveCD at /Mount/CD-ROM. You will find a bunch of squashfs files on that
directory. Each squashfs file contains a file system that can be
loop-mounted. Then, you copy the directories of interest to /Programs and
proceed with the SymlinkProgram procedure to link them.
Cheers,
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

[Lucas C. Villa Real]

On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 5:11 PM, Anshuman Aggarwal <

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Hi Lucas,
Is the "Base" profile an option in the LiveCD? (sorry haven't gotten
a chance to boot it yet)...is it much like the Stage 3 tarball of
gentoo (are you aware of it?) ...I would like to ideally start from
that and then Compile my own. I have used source distributions before
(like gentoo) and the fact that Gobo is also one is a big plus.

Yes, it is an option given by the LiveCD's Installer utility. It is very
much similar to Gentoo's Stage 3 tarball: you end up with a software stack
that's just enough to launch GoboLinux' Compile utility (which depends on
things like GCC, BinUtils and whatsnot) along with a few critical software
which are tricky to build.

Lucas

[Anshuman Aggarwal]

Thanks Lucas.

Can anybody suggest an easy way to install the minimal install while
running another version of linux (Ubuntu) in another partition? I want
Gobo to be my main Linux OS (not just a side project in a Virtual
Environment) in the long run but need to minimize or eliminate
downtime?

Secondly after the minimal install,could I just chroot and continue
Compile while running Ubuntu as the main linux?

If I could parallely run both, it would make migration and acceptance
of Gobo in my environment much easier. Since I am primarily using it
as a ServerOS, it should be much easier to do this.

Anshuman

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 5:11 PM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Hi Lucas,
Is the "Base" profile an option in the LiveCD? (sorry haven't gotten
a chance to boot it yet)...is it much like the Stage 3 tarball of
gentoo (are you aware of it?) ...I would like to ideally start from
that and then Compile my own. I have used source distributions before
(like gentoo) and the fact that Gobo is also one is a big plus.

Yes, it is an option given by the LiveCD's Installer utility. It is very
much similar to Gentoo's Stage 3 tarball: you end up with a software stack
that's just enough to launch GoboLinux' Compile utility (which depends on
things like GCC, BinUtils and whatsnot) along with a few critical software
which are tricky to build.
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

[Lucas C. Villa Real]

On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal <

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Thanks Lucas.
Can anybody suggest an easy way to install the minimal install while
running another version of linux (Ubuntu) in another partition? I want
Gobo to be my main Linux OS (not just a side project in a Virtual
Environment) in the long run but need to minimize or eliminate
downtime?
Secondly after the minimal install,could I just chroot and continue
Compile while running Ubuntu as the main linux?
If I could parallely run both, it would make migration and acceptance
of Gobo in my environment much easier. Since I am primarily using it
as a ServerOS, it should be much easier to do this.

What I do sometimes is the opposite (install GoboLinux while leaving behind
the old OS and the ability to chroot to that OS when needed). The steps
should be similar to the ones listed below:

(1) boot from the LiveCD
(2) mount the partition with the existing Linux OS at e.g. /Mount/Old
(3) move existing files to a backup directory:
$ mkdir /Mount/Old/Backup
$ mv /Mount/Old/* /Mount/Old/Backup
$ umount /Mount/Old
(4) run the GoboLinux Installer. When asked, make sure the "Format
partition" option is *not* selected and also request it to skip the
installation of a bootloader.
(5) before rebooting, remount the partition again and move files around one
more time:
$ cd /Mount/Old
$ mkdir GoboLinux
$ mv * GoboLinux
$ mv GoboLinux/Backup/* .
$ rmdir GoboLinux/Backup
$ cd /
$ umount /Mount/Old

After that you should be able to reboot into your existing OS and chroot to
GoboLinux when you like it. You'll just need to bind-mount /proc at
/GoboLinux/proc + /GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Status, /dev at /GoboLinux/dev +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Devices, and /sys at /GoboLinux/sys +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Objects before jumping in.

Hope this helps.
Lucas

[Anshuman Aggarwal]

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Thanks Lucas.
Can anybody suggest an easy way to install the minimal install while
running another version of linux (Ubuntu) in another partition? I want
Gobo to be my main Linux OS (not just a side project in a Virtual
Environment) in the long run but need to minimize or eliminate
downtime?
Secondly after the minimal install,could I just chroot and continue
Compile while running Ubuntu as the main linux?
If I could parallely run both, it would make migration and acceptance
of Gobo in my environment much easier. Since I am primarily using it
as a ServerOS, it should be much easier to do this.

What I do sometimes is the opposite (install GoboLinux while leaving behind
the old OS and the ability to chroot to that OS when needed). The steps
(1) boot from the LiveCD
(2) mount the partition with the existing Linux OS at e.g. /Mount/Old
$ mkdir /Mount/Old/Backup
$ mv /Mount/Old/* /Mount/Old/Backup
$ umount /Mount/Old
(4) run the GoboLinux Installer. When asked, make sure the "Format
partition" option is *not* selected and also request it to skip the
installation of a bootloader.
(5) before rebooting, remount the partition again and move files around one
$ cd /Mount/Old
$ mkdir GoboLinux
$ mv * GoboLinux
$ mv GoboLinux/Backup/* .
$ rmdir GoboLinux/Backup
$ cd /
$ umount /Mount/Old
After that you should be able to reboot into your existing OS and chroot to
GoboLinux when you like it. You'll just need to bind-mount /proc at
/GoboLinux/proc + /GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Status, /dev at /GoboLinux/dev +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Devices, and /sys at /GoboLinux/sys +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Objects before jumping in.
Hope this helps.
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

I think you misunderstood my requirement. I have a completley spare
primary disk/partition for Gobolinux and want it to be bootable so I
can boot into Gobo Linux directly and eventually make it my primary
Linux distro.

The problem is: I would like to avoid the initial downtime on my
server machine. Two downtimes I forsee:

First (small one) Initial boot into the USB LiveCD to install the
minimal onto a partition. Just curious to know if I could trick the
LiveCD or use another mechanism to get the minimal install over to the
partition and make it bootable while still booted into and running my
current Ubuntu install?? Doesn't really matter because this would be a
half hour step in the worst case. Should I just use Ubuntu LiveCD
maker or is there a different way required for the Gobo Linux LiveCD?

Second (larger downtime) Waiting for all the required packages to
Compile and fixing any issues with drivers etc ...this could last half
a day or more and that would definitely not work. I can probably use
the chroot steps and bind the relevant partitions like you mentioned
but I was wondering if anything special is required given that there
is a Kernel patch for Gobo? I believe that patch is not critical and
only hides certain files but still there could be other issues with
symlinks and chroot.

[Lucas C. Villa Real]

On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal <

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Thanks Lucas.
Can anybody suggest an easy way to install the minimal install while
running another version of linux (Ubuntu) in another partition? I want
Gobo to be my main Linux OS (not just a side project in a Virtual
Environment) in the long run but need to minimize or eliminate
downtime?
Secondly after the minimal install,could I just chroot and continue
Compile while running Ubuntu as the main linux?
If I could parallely run both, it would make migration and acceptance
of Gobo in my environment much easier. Since I am primarily using it
as a ServerOS, it should be much easier to do this.

What I do sometimes is the opposite (install GoboLinux while leaving

behind

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
the old OS and the ability to chroot to that OS when needed). The steps
(1) boot from the LiveCD
(2) mount the partition with the existing Linux OS at e.g. /Mount/Old
$ mkdir /Mount/Old/Backup
$ mv /Mount/Old/* /Mount/Old/Backup
$ umount /Mount/Old
(4) run the GoboLinux Installer. When asked, make sure the "Format
partition" option is *not* selected and also request it to skip the
installation of a bootloader.
(5) before rebooting, remount the partition again and move files around

one

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
$ cd /Mount/Old
$ mkdir GoboLinux
$ mv * GoboLinux
$ mv GoboLinux/Backup/* .
$ rmdir GoboLinux/Backup
$ cd /
$ umount /Mount/Old
After that you should be able to reboot into your existing OS and chroot

to

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
GoboLinux when you like it. You'll just need to bind-mount /proc at
/GoboLinux/proc + /GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Status, /dev at

/GoboLinux/dev +

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Devices, and /sys at /GoboLinux/sys +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Objects before jumping in.
Hope this helps.
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

I think you misunderstood my requirement. I have a completley spare
primary disk/partition for Gobolinux and want it to be bootable so I
can boot into Gobo Linux directly and eventually make it my primary
Linux distro.

Oh, I totally misunderstood it, indeed.

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
The problem is: I would like to avoid the initial downtime on my
First (small one) Initial boot into the USB LiveCD to install the
minimal onto a partition. Just curious to know if I could trick the
LiveCD or use another mechanism to get the minimal install over to the
partition and make it bootable while still booted into and running my
current Ubuntu install?? Doesn't really matter because this would be a
half hour step in the worst case. Should I just use Ubuntu LiveCD
maker or is there a different way required for the Gobo Linux LiveCD?
Second (larger downtime) Waiting for all the required packages to
Compile and fixing any issues with drivers etc ...this could last half
a day or more and that would definitely not work. I can probably use
the chroot steps and bind the relevant partitions like you mentioned
but I was wondering if anything special is required given that there
is a Kernel patch for Gobo? I believe that patch is not critical and
only hides certain files but still there could be other issues with
symlinks and chroot.

I believe you can do this installation through QEMU by letting it use a raw
partition rather than a virtual disk as target. I haven't used that option
before, but I know it is possible to do so. That should prevent your server
from going down while you're preparing GoboLinux.

We include two patches in our kernel. The first is to hide the legacy tree
(gobohide). That is totally cosmetic. The second is to support the AuFS
file system. We use it primarily on the LiveCD to create a unionfs-based
root file system. Having it at runtime provides you with a reasonably fast
sandbox when compiling apps from the source code. If you don't have it then
we fall back to a FUSE-based unionfs implementation which also works just
fine.

Lucas

[Anshuman Aggarwal]

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Thanks Lucas.
Can anybody suggest an easy way to install the minimal install while
running another version of linux (Ubuntu) in another partition? I want
Gobo to be my main Linux OS (not just a side project in a Virtual
Environment) in the long run but need to minimize or eliminate
downtime?
Secondly after the minimal install,could I just chroot and continue
Compile while running Ubuntu as the main linux?
If I could parallely run both, it would make migration and acceptance
of Gobo in my environment much easier. Since I am primarily using it
as a ServerOS, it should be much easier to do this.

What I do sometimes is the opposite (install GoboLinux while leaving behind
the old OS and the ability to chroot to that OS when needed). The steps
(1) boot from the LiveCD
(2) mount the partition with the existing Linux OS at e.g. /Mount/Old
$ mkdir /Mount/Old/Backup
$ mv /Mount/Old/* /Mount/Old/Backup
$ umount /Mount/Old
(4) run the GoboLinux Installer. When asked, make sure the "Format
partition" option is *not* selected and also request it to skip the
installation of a bootloader.
(5) before rebooting, remount the partition again and move files around one
$ cd /Mount/Old
$ mkdir GoboLinux
$ mv * GoboLinux
$ mv GoboLinux/Backup/* .
$ rmdir GoboLinux/Backup
$ cd /
$ umount /Mount/Old
After that you should be able to reboot into your existing OS and chroot to
GoboLinux when you like it. You'll just need to bind-mount /proc at
/GoboLinux/proc + /GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Status, /dev at
/GoboLinux/dev +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Devices, and /sys at /GoboLinux/sys +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Objects before jumping in.
Hope this helps.
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

I think you misunderstood my requirement. I have a completley spare
primary disk/partition for Gobolinux and want it to be bootable so I
can boot into Gobo Linux directly and eventually make it my primary
Linux distro.

Oh, I totally misunderstood it, indeed.

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
The problem is: I would like to avoid the initial downtime on my
First (small one) Initial boot into the USB LiveCD to install the
minimal onto a partition. Just curious to know if I could trick the
LiveCD or use another mechanism to get the minimal install over to the
partition and make it bootable while still booted into and running my
current Ubuntu install?? Doesn't really matter because this would be a
half hour step in the worst case. Should I just use Ubuntu LiveCD
maker or is there a different way required for the Gobo Linux LiveCD?
Second (larger downtime) Waiting for all the required packages to
Compile and fixing any issues with drivers etc ...this could last half
a day or more and that would definitely not work. I can probably use
the chroot steps and bind the relevant partitions like you mentioned
but I was wondering if anything special is required given that there
is a Kernel patch for Gobo? I believe that patch is not critical and
only hides certain files but still there could be other issues with
symlinks and chroot.

I believe you can do this installation through QEMU by letting it use a raw
partition rather than a virtual disk as target. I haven't used that option
before, but I know it is possible to do so. That should prevent your server
from going down while you're preparing GoboLinux.

Good idea. I assume the same holds for KVM and native partitions. In
the end it may not be worth the trouble since the minimal install over
USB stick should be pretty quick and will minimize unnecessary
complications but hey that's the power of linux...anything is possible
:)

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
We include two patches in our kernel. The first is to hide the legacy tree
(gobohide). That is totally cosmetic. The second is to support the AuFS file
system. We use it primarily on the LiveCD to create a unionfs-based root
file system. Having it at runtime provides you with a reasonably fast
sandbox when compiling apps from the source code. If you don't have it then
we fall back to a FUSE-based unionfs implementation which also works just
fine.

UnionFS over FUSE has definite performance penalties. Have we
considered OverlayFS? It seems to be integrated in the Kernel and is
expected to be as fast as AuFS if not faster.

My apologies since I haven't been able to go through the mailing lists
(quite tedious in the absence of a proper search in mailman or at
least one that I could see ?). On that note, does it make sense to
move/copy mailing lists at Google Groups...I know its proprietary and
all that but it is a really good tool for communicating and will not
take away from the core of linux or gobo etc. and make communications
much faster.

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

[Lucas C. Villa Real]

On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:49 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal <

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Thanks Lucas.
Can anybody suggest an easy way to install the minimal install while
running another version of linux (Ubuntu) in another partition? I

want

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Gobo to be my main Linux OS (not just a side project in a Virtual
Environment) in the long run but need to minimize or eliminate
downtime?
Secondly after the minimal install,could I just chroot and continue
Compile while running Ubuntu as the main linux?
If I could parallely run both, it would make migration and acceptance
of Gobo in my environment much easier. Since I am primarily using it
as a ServerOS, it should be much easier to do this.

What I do sometimes is the opposite (install GoboLinux while leaving behind
the old OS and the ability to chroot to that OS when needed). The

steps

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
(1) boot from the LiveCD
(2) mount the partition with the existing Linux OS at e.g. /Mount/Old
$ mkdir /Mount/Old/Backup
$ mv /Mount/Old/* /Mount/Old/Backup
$ umount /Mount/Old
(4) run the GoboLinux Installer. When asked, make sure the "Format
partition" option is *not* selected and also request it to skip the
installation of a bootloader.
(5) before rebooting, remount the partition again and move files

around

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
one
$ cd /Mount/Old
$ mkdir GoboLinux
$ mv * GoboLinux
$ mv GoboLinux/Backup/* .
$ rmdir GoboLinux/Backup
$ cd /
$ umount /Mount/Old
After that you should be able to reboot into your existing OS and

chroot

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
to
GoboLinux when you like it. You'll just need to bind-mount /proc at
/GoboLinux/proc + /GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Status, /dev at /GoboLinux/dev +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Devices, and /sys at /GoboLinux/sys +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Objects before jumping in.
Hope this helps.
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

I think you misunderstood my requirement. I have a completley spare
primary disk/partition for Gobolinux and want it to be bootable so I
can boot into Gobo Linux directly and eventually make it my primary
Linux distro.

Oh, I totally misunderstood it, indeed.

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
The problem is: I would like to avoid the initial downtime on my
First (small one) Initial boot into the USB LiveCD to install the
minimal onto a partition. Just curious to know if I could trick the
LiveCD or use another mechanism to get the minimal install over to the
partition and make it bootable while still booted into and running my
current Ubuntu install?? Doesn't really matter because this would be a
half hour step in the worst case. Should I just use Ubuntu LiveCD
maker or is there a different way required for the Gobo Linux LiveCD?
Second (larger downtime) Waiting for all the required packages to
Compile and fixing any issues with drivers etc ...this could last half
a day or more and that would definitely not work. I can probably use
the chroot steps and bind the relevant partitions like you mentioned
but I was wondering if anything special is required given that there
is a Kernel patch for Gobo? I believe that patch is not critical and
only hides certain files but still there could be other issues with
symlinks and chroot.

I believe you can do this installation through QEMU by letting it use a

raw

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
partition rather than a virtual disk as target. I haven't used that

option

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
before, but I know it is possible to do so. That should prevent your

server

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
from going down while you're preparing GoboLinux.

Good idea. I assume the same holds for KVM and native partitions. In
the end it may not be worth the trouble since the minimal install over
USB stick should be pretty quick and will minimize unnecessary
complications but hey that's the power of linux...anything is possible
:)

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
We include two patches in our kernel. The first is to hide the legacy

tree

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
(gobohide). That is totally cosmetic. The second is to support the AuFS

file

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
system. We use it primarily on the LiveCD to create a unionfs-based root
file system. Having it at runtime provides you with a reasonably fast
sandbox when compiling apps from the source code. If you don't have it

then

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
we fall back to a FUSE-based unionfs implementation which also works just
fine.

UnionFS over FUSE has definite performance penalties. Have we
considered OverlayFS? It seems to be integrated in the Kernel and is
expected to be as fast as AuFS if not faster.

I did look at OverlayFS back in the day, but it was not mainline yet. Also,
the patch sets did not implement support for a few things that we depended
on. We do some quite fancy things on the LiveCD (such as bind-mounting
unions and expecting a union-mount to preserve any existing mounts in the
braches given as input). It would be a lot of work on our LiveCD scripts to
remove such assertions, so AuFS was chosen. We may want to revisit that on
the next release cycle.

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
My apologies since I haven't been able to go through the mailing lists
(quite tedious in the absence of a proper search in mailman or at
least one that I could see ?). On that note, does it make sense to
move/copy mailing lists at Google Groups...I know its proprietary and
all that but it is a really good tool for communicating and will not
take away from the core of linux or gobo etc. and make communications
much faster.

We have done so many service transitions in the past and it's always been a
PITA. Myself, I would not have time (nor much personal interest, to be
frank) in doing so. We'd also need to hear from other devs before commiting
to do such a move.

Lucas

[Anshuman Aggarwal]

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:49 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

On 4 December 2014 at 17:22, Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Thanks Lucas.
Can anybody suggest an easy way to install the minimal install while
running another version of linux (Ubuntu) in another partition? I want
Gobo to be my main Linux OS (not just a side project in a Virtual
Environment) in the long run but need to minimize or eliminate
downtime?
Secondly after the minimal install,could I just chroot and continue
Compile while running Ubuntu as the main linux?
If I could parallely run both, it would make migration and acceptance
of Gobo in my environment much easier. Since I am primarily using it
as a ServerOS, it should be much easier to do this.

What I do sometimes is the opposite (install GoboLinux while leaving behind
the old OS and the ability to chroot to that OS when needed). The steps
(1) boot from the LiveCD
(2) mount the partition with the existing Linux OS at e.g. /Mount/Old
$ mkdir /Mount/Old/Backup
$ mv /Mount/Old/* /Mount/Old/Backup
$ umount /Mount/Old
(4) run the GoboLinux Installer. When asked, make sure the "Format
partition" option is *not* selected and also request it to skip the
installation of a bootloader.
(5) before rebooting, remount the partition again and move files around
one
$ cd /Mount/Old
$ mkdir GoboLinux
$ mv * GoboLinux
$ mv GoboLinux/Backup/* .
$ rmdir GoboLinux/Backup
$ cd /
$ umount /Mount/Old
After that you should be able to reboot into your existing OS and chroot
to
GoboLinux when you like it. You'll just need to bind-mount /proc at
/GoboLinux/proc + /GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Status, /dev at /GoboLinux/dev +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Devices, and /sys at /GoboLinux/sys +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Objects before jumping in.
Hope this helps.
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

I think you misunderstood my requirement. I have a completley spare
primary disk/partition for Gobolinux and want it to be bootable so I
can boot into Gobo Linux directly and eventually make it my primary
Linux distro.

Oh, I totally misunderstood it, indeed.

The problem is: I would like to avoid the initial downtime on my
First (small one) Initial boot into the USB LiveCD to install the
minimal onto a partition. Just curious to know if I could trick the
LiveCD or use another mechanism to get the minimal install over to the
partition and make it bootable while still booted into and running my
current Ubuntu install?? Doesn't really matter because this would be a
half hour step in the worst case. Should I just use Ubuntu LiveCD
maker or is there a different way required for the Gobo Linux LiveCD?
Second (larger downtime) Waiting for all the required packages to
Compile and fixing any issues with drivers etc ...this could last half
a day or more and that would definitely not work. I can probably use
the chroot steps and bind the relevant partitions like you mentioned
but I was wondering if anything special is required given that there
is a Kernel patch for Gobo? I believe that patch is not critical and
only hides certain files but still there could be other issues with
symlinks and chroot.

I believe you can do this installation through QEMU by letting it use a raw
partition rather than a virtual disk as target. I haven't used that option
before, but I know it is possible to do so. That should prevent your server
from going down while you're preparing GoboLinux.

Good idea. I assume the same holds for KVM and native partitions. In
the end it may not be worth the trouble since the minimal install over
USB stick should be pretty quick and will minimize unnecessary
complications but hey that's the power of linux...anything is possible
:)

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
We include two patches in our kernel. The first is to hide the legacy tree
(gobohide). That is totally cosmetic. The second is to support the AuFS file
system. We use it primarily on the LiveCD to create a unionfs-based root
file system. Having it at runtime provides you with a reasonably fast
sandbox when compiling apps from the source code. If you don't have it then
we fall back to a FUSE-based unionfs implementation which also works just
fine.

UnionFS over FUSE has definite performance penalties. Have we
considered OverlayFS? It seems to be integrated in the Kernel and is
expected to be as fast as AuFS if not faster.

I did look at OverlayFS back in the day, but it was not mainline yet. Also,
the patch sets did not implement support for a few things that we depended
on. We do some quite fancy things on the LiveCD (such as bind-mounting
unions and expecting a union-mount to preserve any existing mounts in the
braches given as input). It would be a lot of work on our LiveCD scripts to
remove such assertions, so AuFS was chosen. We may want to revisit that on
the next release cycle.

Sounds good. What about for the Compile Sandbox? If there a lot of
dependence on AuFS for the Compile sandbox as well? If not the LiveCD,
at least Compile and the Gobo Kernel can benefit from not needing to
patch in AuFS/FUSE based unionfs for In-kernel supported ...for the
next release cycle.

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
My apologies since I haven't been able to go through the mailing lists
(quite tedious in the absence of a proper search in mailman or at
least one that I could see ?). On that note, does it make sense to
move/copy mailing lists at Google Groups...I know its proprietary and
all that but it is a really good tool for communicating and will not
take away from the core of linux or gobo etc. and make communications
much faster.

We have done so many service transitions in the past and it's always been a
PITA. Myself, I would not have time (nor much personal interest, to be
frank) in doing so. We'd also need to hear from other devs before commiting
to do such a move.

If there is enough support from other devs (who could chime in
here)...I would volunteer to help setup and administer the move. The
mailman archives have very little flexibility so don't really serve as
a growing repository of information which any mailing list like this
should (primary requirement easy searching).

Thanks,
Anshuman

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

[Lucas C. Villa Real]

On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 1:00 PM, Anshuman Aggarwal <

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:49 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

On 4 December 2014 at 17:22, Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Thanks Lucas.
Can anybody suggest an easy way to install the minimal install

while

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
running another version of linux (Ubuntu) in another partition? I want
Gobo to be my main Linux OS (not just a side project in a Virtual
Environment) in the long run but need to minimize or eliminate
downtime?
Secondly after the minimal install,could I just chroot and

continue

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Compile while running Ubuntu as the main linux?
If I could parallely run both, it would make migration and acceptance
of Gobo in my environment much easier. Since I am primarily using

it

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
as a ServerOS, it should be much easier to do this.

What I do sometimes is the opposite (install GoboLinux while

leaving

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
behind
the old OS and the ability to chroot to that OS when needed). The steps
(1) boot from the LiveCD
(2) mount the partition with the existing Linux OS at e.g.

/Mount/Old

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
$ mkdir /Mount/Old/Backup
$ mv /Mount/Old/* /Mount/Old/Backup
$ umount /Mount/Old
(4) run the GoboLinux Installer. When asked, make sure the "Format
partition" option is *not* selected and also request it to skip the
installation of a bootloader.
(5) before rebooting, remount the partition again and move files around
one
$ cd /Mount/Old
$ mkdir GoboLinux
$ mv * GoboLinux
$ mv GoboLinux/Backup/* .
$ rmdir GoboLinux/Backup
$ cd /
$ umount /Mount/Old
After that you should be able to reboot into your existing OS and chroot
to
GoboLinux when you like it. You'll just need to bind-mount /proc at
/GoboLinux/proc + /GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Status, /dev at /GoboLinux/dev +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Devices, and /sys at /GoboLinux/sys +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Objects before jumping in.
Hope this helps.
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

I think you misunderstood my requirement. I have a completley spare
primary disk/partition for Gobolinux and want it to be bootable so I
can boot into Gobo Linux directly and eventually make it my primary
Linux distro.

Oh, I totally misunderstood it, indeed.

The problem is: I would like to avoid the initial downtime on my
First (small one) Initial boot into the USB LiveCD to install the
minimal onto a partition. Just curious to know if I could trick the
LiveCD or use another mechanism to get the minimal install over to

the

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

partition and make it bootable while still booted into and running my
current Ubuntu install?? Doesn't really matter because this would be

a

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

half hour step in the worst case. Should I just use Ubuntu LiveCD
maker or is there a different way required for the Gobo Linux LiveCD?
Second (larger downtime) Waiting for all the required packages to
Compile and fixing any issues with drivers etc ...this could last

half

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

a day or more and that would definitely not work. I can probably use
the chroot steps and bind the relevant partitions like you mentioned
but I was wondering if anything special is required given that there
is a Kernel patch for Gobo? I believe that patch is not critical and
only hides certain files but still there could be other issues with
symlinks and chroot.

I believe you can do this installation through QEMU by letting it use

a

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
raw
partition rather than a virtual disk as target. I haven't used that option
before, but I know it is possible to do so. That should prevent your server
from going down while you're preparing GoboLinux.

Good idea. I assume the same holds for KVM and native partitions. In
the end it may not be worth the trouble since the minimal install over
USB stick should be pretty quick and will minimize unnecessary
complications but hey that's the power of linux...anything is possible
:)

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
We include two patches in our kernel. The first is to hide the legacy tree
(gobohide). That is totally cosmetic. The second is to support the

AuFS

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
file
system. We use it primarily on the LiveCD to create a unionfs-based

root

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
file system. Having it at runtime provides you with a reasonably fast
sandbox when compiling apps from the source code. If you don't have it then
we fall back to a FUSE-based unionfs implementation which also works just
fine.

UnionFS over FUSE has definite performance penalties. Have we
considered OverlayFS? It seems to be integrated in the Kernel and is
expected to be as fast as AuFS if not faster.

I did look at OverlayFS back in the day, but it was not mainline yet.

Also,

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
the patch sets did not implement support for a few things that we

depended

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
on. We do some quite fancy things on the LiveCD (such as bind-mounting
unions and expecting a union-mount to preserve any existing mounts in the
braches given as input). It would be a lot of work on our LiveCD scripts

to

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
remove such assertions, so AuFS was chosen. We may want to revisit that

on

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
the next release cycle.

Sounds good. What about for the Compile Sandbox? If there a lot of
dependence on AuFS for the Compile sandbox as well? If not the LiveCD,
at least Compile and the Gobo Kernel can benefit from not needing to
patch in AuFS/FUSE based unionfs for In-kernel supported ...for the
next release cycle.

Compile does not depend on AuFS. We have support for a few different
backends currently (three of them, if I am not mistaken).

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
My apologies since I haven't been able to go through the mailing lists
(quite tedious in the absence of a proper search in mailman or at
least one that I could see ?). On that note, does it make sense to
move/copy mailing lists at Google Groups...I know its proprietary and
all that but it is a really good tool for communicating and will not
take away from the core of linux or gobo etc. and make communications
much faster.

We have done so many service transitions in the past and it's always

been a

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
PITA. Myself, I would not have time (nor much personal interest, to be
frank) in doing so. We'd also need to hear from other devs before

commiting

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
to do such a move.

If there is enough support from other devs (who could chime in
here)...I would volunteer to help setup and administer the move. The
mailman archives have very little flexibility so don't really serve as
a growing repository of information which any mailing list like this
should (primary requirement easy searching).

Cheers,
Lucas

[Shawn Rapp]

I've used QEMU to boot from block devices. It actually works pretty
good. I've actually built a Gobo boot that was built for an embedded
device that used a AMD Geode that way. Which doesn't handle such
things as PAE so a custom kernel had to be built. I built this kernel
using a combo of mounting the SSD and copying files and than testing
running using QEMU with my specialized CPU parameters.
I can definitely testify that this works. Nice thing about QEMU is
that it can completely run in a console mode only environment. So you
don't need a GUI to run it, unlike many of the other VM's.
If you need some help with settings for QEMU let me know.

On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 8:12 AM, Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 1:00 PM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:49 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

On 4 December 2014 at 18:06, Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

On 4 December 2014 at 17:22, Lucas C. Villa Real

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal
Thanks Lucas.
Can anybody suggest an easy way to install the minimal install while
running another version of linux (Ubuntu) in another partition? I want
Gobo to be my main Linux OS (not just a side project in a Virtual
Environment) in the long run but need to minimize or eliminate
downtime?
Secondly after the minimal install,could I just chroot and continue
Compile while running Ubuntu as the main linux?
If I could parallely run both, it would make migration and acceptance
of Gobo in my environment much easier. Since I am primarily using it
as a ServerOS, it should be much easier to do this.

What I do sometimes is the opposite (install GoboLinux while leaving
behind
the old OS and the ability to chroot to that OS when needed). The steps
(1) boot from the LiveCD
(2) mount the partition with the existing Linux OS at e.g. /Mount/Old
$ mkdir /Mount/Old/Backup
$ mv /Mount/Old/* /Mount/Old/Backup
$ umount /Mount/Old
(4) run the GoboLinux Installer. When asked, make sure the "Format
partition" option is *not* selected and also request it to skip the
installation of a bootloader.
(5) before rebooting, remount the partition again and move files around
one
$ cd /Mount/Old
$ mkdir GoboLinux
$ mv * GoboLinux
$ mv GoboLinux/Backup/* .
$ rmdir GoboLinux/Backup
$ cd /
$ umount /Mount/Old
After that you should be able to reboot into your existing OS and chroot
to
GoboLinux when you like it. You'll just need to bind-mount /proc at
/GoboLinux/proc + /GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Status, /dev at
/GoboLinux/dev +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Devices, and /sys at /GoboLinux/sys +
/GoboLinux/System/Kernel/Objects before jumping in.
Hope this helps.
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel

I think you misunderstood my requirement. I have a completley spare
primary disk/partition for Gobolinux and want it to be bootable so I
can boot into Gobo Linux directly and eventually make it my primary
Linux distro.

Oh, I totally misunderstood it, indeed.

The problem is: I would like to avoid the initial downtime on my
First (small one) Initial boot into the USB LiveCD to install the
minimal onto a partition. Just curious to know if I could trick the
LiveCD or use another mechanism to get the minimal install over to the
partition and make it bootable while still booted into and running my
current Ubuntu install?? Doesn't really matter because this would be a
half hour step in the worst case. Should I just use Ubuntu LiveCD
maker or is there a different way required for the Gobo Linux LiveCD?
Second (larger downtime) Waiting for all the required packages to
Compile and fixing any issues with drivers etc ...this could last half
a day or more and that would definitely not work. I can probably use
the chroot steps and bind the relevant partitions like you mentioned
but I was wondering if anything special is required given that there
is a Kernel patch for Gobo? I believe that patch is not critical and
only hides certain files but still there could be other issues with
symlinks and chroot.

I believe you can do this installation through QEMU by letting it use a
raw
partition rather than a virtual disk as target. I haven't used that option
before, but I know it is possible to do so. That should prevent your server
from going down while you're preparing GoboLinux.

Good idea. I assume the same holds for KVM and native partitions. In
the end it may not be worth the trouble since the minimal install over
USB stick should be pretty quick and will minimize unnecessary
complications but hey that's the power of linux...anything is possible
:)

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real
We include two patches in our kernel. The first is to hide the legacy tree
(gobohide). That is totally cosmetic. The second is to support the AuFS
file
system. We use it primarily on the LiveCD to create a unionfs-based root
file system. Having it at runtime provides you with a reasonably fast
sandbox when compiling apps from the source code. If you don't have it
then
we fall back to a FUSE-based unionfs implementation which also works just
fine.

UnionFS over FUSE has definite performance penalties. Have we
considered OverlayFS? It seems to be integrated in the Kernel and is
expected to be as fast as AuFS if not faster.

I did look at OverlayFS back in the day, but it was not mainline yet. Also,
the patch sets did not implement support for a few things that we depended
on. We do some quite fancy things on the LiveCD (such as bind-mounting
unions and expecting a union-mount to preserve any existing mounts in the
braches given as input). It would be a lot of work on our LiveCD scripts to
remove such assertions, so AuFS was chosen. We may want to revisit that on
the next release cycle.

Sounds good. What about for the Compile Sandbox? If there a lot of
dependence on AuFS for the Compile sandbox as well? If not the LiveCD,
at least Compile and the Gobo Kernel can benefit from not needing to
patch in AuFS/FUSE based unionfs for In-kernel supported ...for the
next release cycle.

Compile does not depend on AuFS. We have support for a few different
backends currently (three of them, if I am not mistaken).

Post by Anshuman Aggarwal

Post by Lucas C. Villa Real

My apologies since I haven't been able to go through the mailing lists
(quite tedious in the absence of a proper search in mailman or at
least one that I could see ?). On that note, does it make sense to
move/copy mailing lists at Google Groups...I know its proprietary and
all that but it is a really good tool for communicating and will not
take away from the core of linux or gobo etc. and make communications
much faster.

We have done so many service transitions in the past and it's always been a
PITA. Myself, I would not have time (nor much personal interest, to be
frank) in doing so. We'd also need to hear from other devs before commiting
to do such a move.

If there is enough support from other devs (who could chime in
here)...I would volunteer to help setup and administer the move. The
mailman archives have very little flexibility so don't really serve as
a growing repository of information which any mailing list like this
should (primary requirement easy searching).

Cheers,
Lucas
_______________________________________________
gobolinux-devel mailing list
http://lists.gobolinux.org/mailman/listinfo/gobolinux-devel