frugal install -- menu.lst for old grub version?

[burninbush]

Hi all ... just today got the kde4 version of the latest livecd [13.37-64 of 4/11/2012].

I would like to run this as a frugal hd install, but in 2 hours of editing and rebooting I have not found the magic kernel parm to get it to find where I have put it on hd. Did a Google search of this forum on 'menu.lst' and read all hits, but still don't see what is needed. I want to just edit an entry into my existing grub 0.97 menu.lst. I do NOT want to overwrite my existing MBR in any way, so this seems to preclude running either of your install scripts.

I have copied the entire cd contents to a /dev/sdb11/salix subdirectory. My sdb11 is vfat.

My menu.lst entry so far is ...

title Salix 13.37
kernel (hd1,10)/salix/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 vga=791 rw lang-en_US keyb=US fromhd=/dev/sdb11/salix/
initrd (hd1,10)/salix/boot/initrd.xz

... but that doesn't work. Please tell me the cheatcode to get the kernel to find the modules.

The error message I see appears after 'starting usb support' and appears to say it can't find the signature file 'salix-kde-13.37-64.live, though of course it is there in the /salix directory on the hd.

TIA for any help.

[JRD]

of course it is there in the /salix directory on the hd

The .live file is expected to be in the root directory of partition. So put it in / and it will find it.

[burninbush]

The .live file is expected to be in the root directory of partition. So put it in / and it will find it. >jrd

+++++++++++++++

OK, I moved the .live file to the root of /sdb11 -- and it fails in almost the same way. Then I edited my menu.lst to read just fromhd=/dev/sdb11, and that seems to get farther, but now prints 'fatal error, could not chroot init' (or something like that),

I suspect that fromhd= cheatcode -- can someone verify what that should be? I hope I don't have to copy the contents of the iso directly to /dev/sdb11, I'd prefer to copy it into a subdirectory, but clearly the kernel has to be informed of which subdir, does it not?

Thanks for trying, seems to almost work.
bb

[Shador]

If the data searched by Salix Live is not in the root, you need to change the basedir variable in the .live file to reflect that path (no cheatcode needed like fromhd).
The . live file might look e.g. like this:

Code: Select all

ident_content=88d818ae211826b61c7f038ab0e1dee1
basedir=/salix
iso_name=salixlive-xfce-13.37-32.iso


Do NOT ever change the ident_content, unless you know what you're doing. iso_name is just used for loopback booting of the iso image through grub2.

For cheatcodes have a look at the boot/grub/grub.cfg files.


If you wanted to boot with the original menu, you just need to load the boot/grub2-linux.img as a linux kernel (without initrd or arguments). The .live file needs to be in the root in that case too - as always - and the basedir variable needs to be adapted accordingly as well for subdirecories.


If you didn't want to explode the iso image you can also just explode the grub2-linux.img anyplace and load it as linux kernel. Again .live file needs to be taken care of (location and basedir variable).
Additionally if you change the iso name, those changes need to be reflected with the iso_name variable, which also supports wildcards (first match used).

If you're already using grub2 (preferably 1.99), you can also boot the unexploded iso image like this: http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/Loopback.cfg


Generally speaking only the .live file needs to be taken care of (location --> root of the fs, basedir (+ iso_name) variable). Apart from that you can load the kernel (+ initrd) in any manner desired or the grub2-linux.img instead if you want the original menu. You also need to make sure that the live data is accessible whether its exploded or not.

[burninbush]

ident_content=88d818ae211826b61c7f038ab0e1dee1
basedir=/salix
iso_name=salixlive-xfce-13.37-32.iso

++++++++++++

Thanks, Shador, that worked. I tested the fromhd= parm isn't needed.

But there's another problem; that done, I immediately ran the desktop link to setup a 500mb persistence file, made some changes and rebooted -- only to see a kernel panic. I was only able to boot again by booting a different distro and renaming the persistence file. I told the script to use reiserfs, if that matters to the solution. It's what I use for all other linux distro work here.

Is there some doc here that tells how to use persistence? Again, I looked for it and did not find any answer. It clearly needs something more than I have done so far.

Edit: and I'll add, I just loop-mounted the salixlive.save file, and see that it has what looks very much like a slax changes file, has 159mb of stuff inside, presumably the changes I made. So, I conclude that there's nothing wrong with the file itself, just needs to be somehow unioned [?] correctly at boot?

[Shador]

What kind of kernel panic? What's your menu entry in the menu.lst? Anthing else?

[burninbush]

What kind of kernel panic? What's your menu entry in the menu.lst? Anthing else?

Renamed the /persistence folder back to test again, reliable failure. I scribbled a bunch of the screen output and will attempt to reproduce it here. This occurs not long after the USB message, and the finding of the signature file.

********* Passing execution path to salix-live ......

/sbin/init: exec: line 245: chroot: not found

[15.920522] Kernel panic -- not syncing: Attempt to kill init!

[15.920906] Call trace:
[15.920998] [<ffffffff81ac5826>] panic+ 0x91/0x194
[15.921173] [<ffffffff810d7d0d>] ? perf_event_ent_task+0xbd/0x200
[15.921391] [<ffffffff810507bd>] do_exit+0x84d/0x850

and 3 more lines that I didn't copy. I'll post this and then come back on the other machine to get the menu.lst item for Salix. If there's some way to capture the entire text, tell me how and I'll do it again.

title Salix 13.37
kernel (hd1,10)/salix/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 vga=791 rw lang-en_US keyb=US
initrd (hd1,10)/salix/boot/initrd.xz

Anything else ... puter is an AMD64-3000 with 1gb of memory and a nvidia vid card. The partition where I put /salix is a /dev/sdb11, vfat, on a 1-tb sata disk. Boots using grub4dos' grldr invoked via a boot.ini (winXP) entry. This drive holds XP and 4 linux distros on 13 partitions, and I will not screw with the MBR of it.

I imagine the info I need to know is somewhere within the grub2 files on the iso, but I have not yet felt the requirement to learn that mess. I'm hoping you can tell me of a changes= cheatcode or similar that will activate the restore, and/or allow me to boot without changes if want.

I appreciate your indulgence on my issue, understand it's not the intended usage. I have had good success booting other slack-like livecds in this poor man's manner, though none using your system.

[burninbush]

@ shador ... back again asking for clarification of something you wrote above ...

"If you didn't want to explode the iso image you can also just explode the grub2-linux.img anyplace and load it as linux kernel. Again .live file needs to be taken care of (location and basedir variable)."

bb: what does "explode" mean here? that file is only 126.1-kb size in the iso, don't see how it could be a linux kernel. Tried to loop mount it, but don't know the filesystem type.

[Shador]

kernel (hd1,10)/salix/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 vga=791 rw lang-en_US keyb=US

Use these arguments:

Code: Select all

root=/dev/ram0 quiet max_loop=20 lang-en_US keyb=US autologin vga=791

Maybe the rw switch is causing troubles.

I have not yet felt the requirement to learn that mess

It's no mess. It's as clearly structured and as cleanly written as possible. But due to the limitations of a bootloader it's still not as straightforward as it could be in a full environment. It's also quite modular, which allows it to be loaded in different manners and the easy addition of new features. But never mind.

bb: what does "explode" mean here? that file is only 126.1-kb size in the iso, don't see how it could be a linux kernel. Tried to loop mount it, but don't know the filesystem type.

Never said it's a linux kernel. It isn't. It's grub core image wrapped in such a manner that it can be loaded as if it were a linux kernel (arguments are ignored). So you're actually loading grub2 with it through a commonly supported boot protocol. With explode I mean to extract that grub2-linux.img file from the iso image.
It doesn't matter how that core image is loaded and where it's stored, as long as it can locate the corresponding .live file and as long as that file allows it to access the other Live data (iso image or extracted to some directory (on a supported fs, partmap, host controller, ...).

[burninbush]

Use these arguments:

Code: Select all
root=/dev/ram0 quiet max_loop=20 lang-en_US keyb=US autologin vga=791

Maybe the rw switch is causing troubles. >shador

++++++++++++

OK, I tried that, made no difference at all to the panic. One thing that did make a difference, allowed me to boot one time, was to run a mkfs.reiserfs on the container file, after which it booted in what looks like normal fashion. Changed a couple things, but then a reboot evoked the same panic. Tried that again to be sure; it boots fine when that file is empty, panics when it has anything inside it. And after asking 2x I still have no idea what enables persistence.

Giving up here, good luck with your distro, and thanks again for the effort you put into my issue.