After chatting with Gokhleyah on IRC, it seems the problem with config files for new users has been solved, and with a bit more consideration, there doesn't seem to be a need for /root to be kept in the /home directory -- however, it would still be good to have some way of adding persistent files such as /etc/network.conf that would override the defaults present in a read-only filesystem, or including other files and directories such as the addition of /opt. I don't know the best way to achieve this, but being able to reboot a liveCD while maintaining specific changes in global settings is definitely desirable....
On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 4:19 PM, Indigo <[email protected]> wrote: > Correction -- /etc/skel would actually have become the new /root > folder to be copied to /home/root where /root would be linked. This > would allow for booting without a home= option, as it would contain > the basic defaults, and could still be run on a machine without any > writable media available. Any thoughts on this whole idea are very > much welcome. > > On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 4:02 PM, Indigo <[email protected]> wrote: >> Let's remember the importance of keeping the permissions right for the >> root user. A regular user should not have the ability to change >> settings in /etc or alter /var/cache -- I do like the idea of using >> the home= boot option, though. My idea is this: lets make a >> /home/root folder and just symlink /root to it. In the /home/root >> folder, we can have a cache directory, as well as the slitaz directory >> (only a root user should be able to generate a new iso from the >> existing filesystem, anyway) -- the permissions could remain >> root:root, and this could facilitate a writable place for changes in >> the root filesystem. By this, I mean that the root user could make a >> custom /etc/network.conf, or whatever, and have it persistent for the >> next boot. We could do away with /etc/skel also, as I suggested >> before, and have one place for customizations that wouldn't affect >> $user directories or the rootfs... this would mean that a user could >> reboot into a completely different flavor, or custom package list, and >> not lose display settings or wireless configs. >> >> >> On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 3:00 PM, Christopher Rogers >> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>The goal of home= boot option is precisely to use an external devide >>>>instead of having a home in RAM, so I don't see how it will make grow >>>>the RAM requirement to 2GB. It's the exact opposite : Having the cache >>>>folder on /home will avoid keeping all downloaded packages in RAM ! and >>>>will avoid re-download them at each session. And you can mount >>>>absolutely what you want as home (i.e: liveCD+home on hdd; usb+home >>>>from an encrypted file; etc). >>> >>> I was talking when you were said that the livecd could be 700mb. (Like puppy >>> linux multisession or something.) This is without the home= option. Even >>> with home= option your still not going to have your custom packages that you >>> installed to system. Also since its only saving to home folder everything >>> else is still in RAM. You will not save /etc folder. You will not save any >>> other folder other than /home. >>> >>>> I also use my modular-slitaz that has changes boot option. This saves >>>> everything that is not from the livecd into changes folder on my hard >>>> drive. >>>> The home= boot option you also don't have system settings from /etc folder >>>> too. >>>> >>>> With the way sitaz works the make a full 700mb cd would take over 2gb of >>>> ram >>>> just for the filesystem. This is cause everything is uncompressed from >>>> initramfs file into ram. Also this would cause slitaz to be slow to boot >>>> and >>>> buidl the iso. >>> >>> I said in the quote uncompressed 700mb cd/rootfs.gz = OVER 2GB. I was not >>> talking about home= option in 3rd paragraph. >>> >>> I hope this helps. >>> >>> PS I can talk to you better in irc then email. Sorry about my confusion. >>> >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 10:37 PM, GoKhlaYeh <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> On Tue, 14 Dec 2010 20:44:55 +0000 >>>> Christopher Rogers <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> > The /home/slitaz folder is a bad idea since most development folders on >>>> > tank >>>> > go there. That could cause confinct with there being to many folders >>>> > there. >>>> >>>> As you know, I made some changes recently in tazpkg. Before that, >>>> tazpkg copied packages info files from local repository >>>> (/home/slitaz/$release/packages) into the /var/lib/tazpkg; and copied >>>> packages from local repository to cache dir (/var/cache/tazpkg). Now, >>>> it uses symlinks instead; so virtually cache and local repository **are >>>> already merged**. It doesn't complexify anything and save a lot of >>>> ressources. Then, about undigest : as you push the m5sum verification >>>> in tazpkg, here's whats going on : if names overlaps, it replace the >>>> symlink to a repository (lets >>>> say /home/slitaz/cooking/packages/pkg.tazpkg) by a symlink to the >>>> desired one (i.e. : /home/slitaz/undigest/packages/pkg.tazpkg). So once >>>> again, all run as cache dir and local repo are merged actually; and >>>> it's precisely based on tank directory structure = no problem here, >>>> even with multiple repositories using the same cache. I was talking >>>> about desirable changes to make things better, because there's really >>>> no problem with actual behavior. About info files : the side-effect of >>>> using symlink is that tazpkg recharge is needed only once time; then >>>> info files linked from local repository are always up-to-date :) >>>> >>>> > Also this would require a rewrite of most tools that look at CACHE_DIR >>>> > path. >>>> So : tazpkg, as the only other occurence to CACHE_DIR in SliTaz tools >>>> is a line in tazlito which try to link packages from cache directory to >>>> the local directory... >>>> >>>> > I also use my modular-slitaz that has changes boot option. This saves >>>> > everything that is not from the livecd into changes folder on my hard >>>> > drive. >>>> > The home= boot option you also don't have system settings from /etc >>>> > folder >>>> > too. >>>> > >>>> > With the way sitaz works the make a full 700mb cd would take over 2gb of >>>> > ram >>>> > just for the filesystem. This is cause everything is uncompressed from >>>> > initramfs file into ram. Also this would cause slitaz to be slow to boot >>>> > and >>>> > buidl the iso. >>>> >>>> The goal of home= boot option is precisely to use an external devide >>>> instead of having a home in RAM, so I don't see how it will make grow >>>> the RAM requirement to 2GB. It's the exact opposite : Having the cache >>>> folder on /home will avoid keeping all downloaded packages in RAM ! and >>>> will avoid re-download them at each session. And you can mount >>>> absolutely what you want as home (i.e: liveCD+home on hdd; usb+home >>>> from an encrypted file; etc). >>>> >>>> > I just think its better to use the /var/cache/tazpkg/undigest/$repo path >>>> > for >>>> > undigest for now. We should just work on make home= boot option work >>>> > more >>>> > like changes boot option in modular-slitaz. >>>> >>>> I don't see the point about home= boot option. I disagree with your >>>> criticals but obviously you can proceed to this change if you want to. >>>> Hoverwhere, I think having the cache on a peristent home will be a >>>> great improvement and I intend to code this someday. >>>> >>>> Peace, >>>> >>>> -- >>>> GoKhlaYeh <[email protected]> >>>> >>>> >>>> --- >>>> SliTaz GNU/Linux Mailing list - http://www.slitaz.org/ >>>> >>> >>> >> > --- SliTaz GNU/Linux Mailing list - http://www.slitaz.org/
