Yes, very handy.. but we need an easy installer, perhaps to USB for testing anyway.
I have obliged. Seems to work ok, posting from a saved install to ext4 (no journal - to reduce writes).
1. Download the attached file [
2. run
3. plug in a USB stick that you can totally overwrite; in other words, make sure you have got any valuable data off of it
4. run it from your fav terminal emulator. I use urxvt
5. if your pup supports f2fs or UEFI then that should be detected
6. choose what filesystem and boot type you want (choices are ext2, ext4-no journal,f2fs and legacy bios, UEFI or both respectively)
7. a summary is displayed; if anything is wrong please cancel out of this prog!
8. sit back and watch for errors
9. if succesful, make sure you can boot from USB and try to boot it, run it and save the session.
NOTE: booting is done from a FAT partition but only Linux partitions are allowed for the saving process at this stage. A 33MB FAT partition is created (labeled 'BOOT' - holds vmlinuz, initrd.gz) and a Linux partition of ext2 or 4 or f2fs (if supported) by choice - holds all the sfs files.
10. NO WARRANTY. BE CAREFUL.
* check USB isn't mounted and abort if so (accidentally wiped my running install FAT partition
* add ability to specify the label for the boot and system partitions (vfat and linux types respectively)
* feature: add P_TZ and P_TZONE vars to TIME_ZONE file (based on running systems timezone) >> initrd.gz
* feature: add ability to use ext2, ext3 and ext4 (existing was ext4[no journal] and f2fs) as well as FAT32 as SYSTEM (ie 'save') partition - please see caveat in 'KNOWN ISSUES')
* the image doesn't copy for the boot menu if Grub2-efi doesn't exist. Will be fixed when I make this a pet package
* sometimes the CD doesn't mount for copying files, I think it maybe is a hardware issue on this laptop (intermittent)
* CAVEAT from v4: There seems to be corruption, albeit fairly minor if you believe the start of the error message... ('This is mostly harmless')
Code: Select all
fsck.fat /dev/sdb1
fsck.fat 3.0.28 (2015-05-16)
There are differences between boot sector and its backup.
This is mostly harmless. Differences: (offset:original/backup)
3:53/6d, 4:59/6b, 5:53/66, 6:4c/73, 7:49/2e, 8:4e/66, 9:55/61, 10:58/74
, 90:fa/0e, 91:fc/1f, 92:31/be, 93:c9/77, 94:8e/7c, 95:d1/ac, 96:bc/22
, 97:76/c0, 98:7b/74, 99:52/0b, 100:06/56, 101:57/b4, 102:1e/0e, 103:56/bb
, 104:8e/07, 105:c1/00, 106:b1/cd, 107:26/10, 108:bf/5e, 109:78/eb
, 110:7b/f0, 111:f3/32, 112:a5/e4, 113:8e/cd, 114:d9/16, 115:bb/cd
, 116:78/19, 117:00/eb, 118:0f/fe, 119:b4/54, 120:37/68, 121:0f/69
, 122:a0/73, 123:56/20, 124:20/69, 125:d2/73, 126:78/20, 127:1b/6e
, 128:31/6f, 129:c0/74, 130:b1/20, 131:06/61, 132:89/20, 133:3f/62
, 134:89/6f, 135:47/6f, 136:02/74, 137:f3/61, 138:64/62, 139:a5/6c
, 140:8a/65, 141:0e/20, 142:18/64, 143:7c/69, 144:88/73, 145:4d/6b
, 146:f8/2e, 147:50/20, 148:50/20, 150:50/6c, 151:cd/65, 152:13/61
, 153:eb/73, 154:62/65, 155:8b/20, 156:55/69, 157:aa/6e, 158:8b/73
, 159:75/65, 160:a8/72, 161:c1/74, 162:ee/20, 163:04/61, 164:01/20
, 165:f2/62, 166:83/6f, 167:fa/6f, 168:4f/74, 169:76/61, 170:31/62
, 171:81/6c, 172:fa/65, 173:b2/20, 174:07/66, 175:73/6c, 176:2b/6f
, 177:f6/70, 178:45/70, 179:b4/79, 180:7f/20, 181:75/61, 182:25/6e
, 183:38/64, 184:4d/0d, 185:b8/0a, 186:74/70, 187:20/72, 188:66/65
, 189:3d/73, 190:21/73, 191:47/20, 192:50/61, 193:54/6e, 194:75/79
, 195:10/20, 196:80/6b, 197:7d/65, 198:b8/79, 199:ed/20, 200:75/74
, 201:0a/6f, 202:66/20, 203:ff/74, 204:75/72, 205:ec/79, 206:66/20
, 207:ff/61, 208:75/67, 209:e8/61, 210:eb/69, 211:0f/6e, 212:51/20
, 213:51/2e, 214:66/2e, 215:ff/2e, 216:75/20, 217:bc/0d, 218:eb/0a
, 219:07/00, 220:51/00, 221:51/00, 222:66/00, 223:ff/00, 224:36/00
, 225:1c/00, 226:7c/00, 227:b4/00, 228:08/00, 229:e8/00, 230:e9/00
, 232:72/00, 233:13/00, 234:20/00, 235:e4/00, 236:75/00, 237:0f/00
, 238:c1/00, 239:ea/00, 240:08/00, 241:42/00, 242:89/00, 243:16/00
, 244:1a/00, 245:7c/00, 246:83/00, 247:e1/00, 248:3f/00, 249:89/00
, 250:0e/00, 251:18/00, 252:7c/00, 253:fb/00, 254:bb/00, 255:aa/00
, 256:55/00, 257:b4/00, 258:41/00, 259:e8/00, 260:cb/00, 262:72/00
, 263:10/00, 264:81/00, 265:fb/00, 266:55/00, 267:aa/00, 268:75/00
, 269:0a/00, 270:f6/00, 271:c1/00, 272:01/00, 273:74/00, 274:05/00
, 275:c6/00, 276:06/00, 277:46/00, 278:7d/00, 280:66/00, 281:b8/00
, 282:85/00, 283:55/00, 286:66/00, 287:ba/00, 292:bb/00, 294:80/00
, 295:e8/00, 296:0e/00, 298:66/00, 299:81/00, 300:3e/00, 301:1c/00
, 302:80/00, 303:a1/00, 304:f3/00, 305:42/00, 306:6f/00, 307:75/00
, 308:74/00, 309:e9/00, 310:f8/00, 311:02/00, 312:66/00, 313:03/00
, 314:06/00, 315:60/00, 316:7b/00, 317:66/00, 318:13/00, 319:16/00
, 320:64/00, 321:7b/00, 322:b9/00, 323:10/00, 325:eb/00, 326:2b/00
, 327:66/00, 328:52/00, 329:66/00, 330:50/00, 331:06/00, 332:53/00
, 333:6a/00, 334:01/00, 335:6a/00, 336:10/00, 337:89/00, 338:e6/00
, 339:66/00, 340:60/00, 341:b4/00, 342:42/00, 343:e8/00, 344:77/00
, 346:66/00, 347:61/00, 348:8d/00, 349:64/00, 350:10/00, 351:72/00
, 352:01/00, 353:c3/00, 354:66/00, 355:60/00, 356:31/00, 357:c0/00
, 358:e8/00, 359:68/00, 361:66/00, 362:61/00, 363:e2/00, 364:da/00
, 365:c6/00, 366:06/00, 367:46/00, 368:7d/00, 369:2b/00, 370:66/00
, 371:60/00, 372:66/00, 373:0f/00, 374:b7/00, 375:36/00, 376:18/00
, 377:7c/00, 378:66/00, 379:0f/00, 380:b7/00, 381:3e/00, 382:1a/00
, 383:7c/00, 384:66/00, 385:f7/00, 386:f6/00, 387:31/00, 388:c9/00
, 389:87/00, 390:ca/00, 391:66/00, 392:f7/00, 393:f7/00, 394:66/00
, 395:3d/00, 396:ff/00, 397:03/00, 400:77/00, 401:17/00, 402:c0/00
, 403:e4/00, 404:06/00, 405:41/00, 406:08/00, 407:e1/00, 408:88/00
, 409:c5/00, 410:88/00, 411:d6/00, 412:b8/00, 413:01/00, 414:02/00
, 415:e8/00, 416:2f/00, 418:66/00, 419:61/00, 420:72/00, 421:01/00
, 422:c3/00, 423:e2/00, 424:c9/00, 425:31/00, 426:f6/00, 427:8e/00
, 428:d6/00, 429:bc/00, 430:68/00, 431:7b/00, 432:8e/00, 433:de/00
, 434:66/00, 435:8f/00, 436:06/00, 437:78/00, 439:be/00, 440:da/00
, 441:7d/00, 442:ac/00, 443:20/00, 444:c0/00, 445:74/00, 446:09/00
, 447:b4/00, 448:0e/00, 449:bb/00, 450:07/00, 452:cd/00, 453:10/00
, 454:eb/00, 455:f2/00, 456:31/00, 457:c0/00, 458:cd/00, 459:16/00
, 460:cd/00, 461:19/00, 462:f4/00, 463:eb/00, 464:fd/00, 465:8a/00
, 466:16/00, 467:74/00, 468:7b/00, 469:06/00, 470:cd/00, 471:13/00
, 472:07/00, 473:c3/00, 474:42/00, 475:6f/00, 476:6f/00, 477:74/00
, 478:20/00, 479:65/00, 480:72/00, 481:72/00, 482:6f/00, 483:72/00
, 484:0d/00, 485:0a/00, 504:fe/00, 505:02/00, 506:b2/00, 507:3e/00
, 508:18/00, 509:37/00
1) Copy original to backup
2) Copy backup to original
3) No action
?
# option 1 works well, which indicates the backup is somehow corrupted.
So there is a work around in v4 that takes care of this issue until a real solution is found, which will be the topic of another thread in the near future. It should be noted that this issue is old in that exists in my old uefi and f2fs flash drive installer programs that both used the gparted GUI. While the 4th revision should be 'safe' there will be no next version until this issue is solved. Bear in mind this is experimental so use AT YOUR OWN RISK.
* this script is somewhat dependent on @gyro's vision of overlay in Puppy Linux. That may or may not change in the future.