Not enough space when install a new package

[ton]

I install puppy linux precise as a frugal install, but when i install /add more new packages, i get an error message of not enough space.

Where should i install new packages so that it doesnt occupy space? I have 8GB space on harddisk.

thanks

[Semme]

Size of your save file? Is your browser in fact gobbling up space?

Under "filesystem" >> Gdmap >> open /root >> hover, explore..

[ton]

Semme,
You misunderstood my question.
It happened during "make install", when it unpacked all the files.
And, also remember this puppy is "frugal" installed.

But, if i keep the new installed software package at \mnt\home, some of the softwares won't work in that installation path.
For this case, the software still works even if i install it at that path.

So, any tips, where to keep downloaded files, or personal files in frugal puppy?

thanks

[nic007]

You have a frugal install so most probably you will have a save file. If you install new packages, they are installed to the save file by default as far as I know. So, your save file must be big enough for the install (if the application is say 20MB, you will need approximately three times that size to accommodate it on the save file). You can make the save file bigger by resizing it, it is in the menu. Personal files and files you download from the internet like videos, mp3's or whatever can be stored in /mnt/home outside the save file but then you must make sure it is not downloaded to root (otherwise it will be stored in your save file). So you will actually have to indicate the download location because root is normally the default. Your save file may also be allocated in /mnt/home. /mnt/home actually refers to a partition on your hard drive that may or may not include your save file (it depends where you decided to place your save file).

[ton]

thanks Nic..

[ps852]

You have a frugal install so most probably you will have a save file. If you install new packages, they are installed to the save file by default as far as I know. So, your save file must be big enough for the install (if the application is say 20MB, you will need approximately three times that size to accommodate it on the save file). You can make the save file bigger by resizing it, it is in the menu. Personal files and files you download from the internet like videos, mp3's or whatever can be stored in /mnt/home outside the save file but then you must make sure it is not downloaded to root (otherwise it will be stored in your save file). So you will actually have to indicate the download location because root is normally the default. Your save file may also be allocated in /mnt/home. /mnt/home actually refers to a partition on your hard drive that may or may not include your save file (it depends where you decided to place your save file).

Hi Nick,
I am having the same problem, but I don't understand this solution. What do you mean by mnt/home ?

[Puppus Dogfellow]

You have a frugal install so most probably you will have a save file. If you install new packages, they are installed to the save file by default as far as I know. So, your save file must be big enough for the install (if the application is say 20MB, you will need approximately three times that size to accommodate it on the save file). You can make the save file bigger by resizing it, it is in the menu. Personal files and files you download from the internet like videos, mp3's or whatever can be stored in /mnt/home outside the save file but then you must make sure it is not downloaded to root (otherwise it will be stored in your save file). So you will actually have to indicate the download location because root is normally the default. Your save file may also be allocated in /mnt/home. /mnt/home actually refers to a partition on your hard drive that may or may not include your save file (it depends where you decided to place your save file).

Hi Nick,
I am having the same problem, but I don't understand this solution. What do you mean by mnt/home ?

mnt/home or any location outside your save file. the location (unless bookmarked) is most quickly reached (in ROX) by clicking the home icon, then the up arrow, then mnt, then home (so you are going from ~ to / to /mnt to /mnt/home). once you're in /mnt though, you have access to the drives outside the system--you could store your stuff anywhere puppy can see. change the preferences in your browser to make sure the downloads are going where you want them to (outside of ~ or anything within/under it).

~ and root are the same thing and reside within your savefile.../mnt home is going to be on the same drive...mnt/[sd_ or mmc_, etc.] is anything connected (or mounted/mnted) to the machine.

HTH

[ton]

hi Nick,
I actually dont fully understand which folders will be saved into the savefile and which folders are not.

Questions:
1. Is "mnt/home" THE ONLY ONE to save outside the savefile? and the rest of them are saved into the savefile?

2. what should i do if after installing many softwares the savefile become full? (as the savefile has limited space 2GB only) ? Can we increase it more than 2GB?

thanks

[nic007]

Ton, to avoid further confusion please confirm the following first: 1) That you have made a frugal install to your hard disk 2) How many partitions you have on the hard disk and to which partition you have made the install 3) Where did you save your save file (to the same partition or not)? Thanks, I will help you from there.

[Puppus Dogfellow]

menu>utilities>resize personal storage

that will allow you to increase it up to 512mb at a time. there are other programs that will allow bigger increments or you can just change the value in the text file that gets created (machine reads it and increases the size at next boot)

[ton]

hi Nic,
Thanks for the help.
1. yes frugal install.
2. only 1 partition. (there is no other partition)
3. the save file is by default, i dont chnage / move it anywhere.
(this file is created by prompting me what name to save).

thanks again Nick.

[ton]

hi Puppus,
Yes, i know how to resize, but isn't there a limit 2GB?

thanks

[bigpup]

The save file can be made larger than 2GB.

However, there are limits to a files size depending on the file system format of the partition.

Fat16--2GB
Fat32--4GB

Other formats have file size limits in the TB's

[nic007]

ton - Okay. The drive icons are displayed at the bottom of your desktop screen. Your drive will be sda or hda (depending on the puppy you are using). If your drive had two partitions there would have been two drive icons called sda1 and sda2 eg. Now, if you click on your sda icon, you will explore what is on that drive (this is like exploring c:\ in Windows). Note however what the puppy operating system calls this drive/partition/directory when you explore it. It's called /mnt/home (so, in effect the whole drive/partition is called /mnt/home). The frugal install of puppy basically copies three files to your drive (/mnt/home), ie. Vmlinuz, initrd and the big base sfs file. You will find these files somewhere in /mnt/home and in your case the save file will also be there. So you see, these files are only files in /mnt/home. Now, when you download something it will be saved to /root by default. This means that it will be saved to your save file which is located in /mnt/home. You can however change the download location to /mnt/home in which case it will be saved to /mnt/home but outside your save file (remember your save file is just another file in /mnt/home). When you install programs it will be installed to your save file so your save file will have to be big enough for this purpose.

When you click on the home icon on your desktop, you will explore the actual puppy operating system, basically this means that you are looking inside the base sfs file as well as inside your save file. At bootup this base sfs file together with the save file are loaded. The save file has the same directory structure as the base sfs file so it basically integrates with the base sfs at bootup.

There is no limit to the size of the save file unless your drive is formated to FAT in which case it will be limited to 2GB (FAT) or 4GB (FAT32) so if you want to use a save file bigger than that, you will have to format the drive to something other than FAT(32).

Tip - I hate big save files. Mine is hardly ever bigger than 32MB. I use the save file only for the very personalized settings eg changing the desktop back ground. So what to do? You can avoid using a big save file by rather downloading a program's sfs file instead of actually installing the program. In this case you will just change your bootup settings so that the program's sfs file is loaded at startup (you can also load it on the fly if not automatically loaded at bootup). Apart from not having to install the program when using the sfs, you will also be saving space. This is because you will save the sfs file (which is in compressed format) on your hard disk in /mnt/home. If you install a program it will be installed to the save file but obviously in a decompressed state so you will need about three times the space in your save file.
If you have already installed all your programs and you now sit with a big save file, you can do a remaster and include your personal settings. The end result will be a new base sfs file which will include your personal settings as well as all your programs that were on your save file (but now it will be compressed). In this case you can load up your new remastered base sfs file, delete the old base sfs and old save file and create a new, small save file.

[ton]

hi Nic
Thanks a lot for the deail explanation.
Now, i fully understand..

Again, tahnks

[ton]

hi Nick,
Can you help me with remastering puppy? I did, but it failed.
I posted my question & the screen shot in
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 683#776683

thanks Nick.

[nic007]

hi Nick,
Can you help me with remastering puppy? I did, but it failed.
I posted my question & the screen shot in
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 683#776683

thanks Nick.

Hi, ton. Looks like a space issue. I don't know how much RAM you've got and how big your save file is but I suggest resizing your save file to double you have at the moment. Then run the remaster script again. Forget the step by step you have been following and try this simple method > when you get to the stage where the script asks if you want to change anything in \temp\root, delete everything in it and copy the entire contents of \root from your running system to \temp\root and select ok. Again when asked next if you want to change anything in \temp\etc do alike (delete everything in \temp\etc and copy contents of \etc of running system to \temp\etc). After you have done this you need to delete the hidden file .XLOADED in \temp\etc before selecting ok. Let the remaster program finish and eventually you will find the new remastered base SFS file. BTW - if you have enough space on the HDD make a backup of the puppy files (plus the save file) before doing the remaster (i normally make a zip file). Once the remaster is finish, replace the old puppy files with the new and delete the save file. If everything works you can delete the backup.

[musher0]

Hi, ton.

If you encounter space limitations when using the "make install" command,
in addition to increasing the size of your pupsave file, may I suggest that
you issue this variant of the command instead:

Code: Select all

make DESTDIR=/mnt/home/[name_of_program-version] install

This will place the program and its hierarchy of files in the folder
/mnt/home/[name_of_program-version]
instead of distributing it in your pupsave file and occupying space.

An additional benefit is that, from that location, you can easily make a pet
for future use, like so. Go to /mnt/home and then issue the command:

Code: Select all

dir2pet [name_of_program-version]

Finally, the pet you make this way is also portable to any Puppy of similar
"breed" (Precise, slacko, Lucid, etc.) and version.

I hope this helps. BFN.

musher0

[nic007]

Hi, ton.

If you encounter space limitations when using the "make install" command,
in addition to increasing the size of your pupsave file, may I suggest that
you issue this variant of the command instead:

Code: Select all

make DESTDIR=/mnt/home/[name_of_program-version] install

This will place the program and its hierarchy of files in the folder
/mnt/home/[name_of_program-version]
instead of distributing it in your pupsave file and occupying space.

An additional benefit is that, from that location, you can easily make a pet
for future use, like so. Go to /mnt/home and then issue the command:

Code: Select all

dir2pet [name_of_program-version]

Finally, the pet you make this way is also portable to any Puppy of similar
"breed" (Precise, slacko, Lucid, etc.) and version.

I hope this helps. BFN.

musher0

musher0 - Yes nice but by using that method one only avoids having a big save file but it still does not save on hard disk space (well, unless you make your save file too big unnecessarily). Also, one will have to install every program in its own folder if one wants to make pets later on (otherwise you sit wit a lot of installations in one folder)? Using sfs add-on files instead of installing anything together with using a very small save file (for general personal settings) will save more than two-thirds space still on any installation method (and your save file stays small as the SFS files are situated in \mnt\home). Something ton can consider for the future. Also, converting pets to sfs and the other way around can easily be done with a utility like pets2sfs. His current problem however is that he has already installed his programs, so best to do a remaster (which will again compress the installed programs).

[musher0]

Hi, ton.

If you encounter space limitations when using the "make install" command,
in addition to increasing the size of your pupsave file, may I suggest that
you issue this variant of the command instead:

Code: Select all

make DESTDIR=/mnt/home/[name_of_program-version] install

This will place the program and its hierarchy of files in the folder
/mnt/home/[name_of_program-version]
instead of distributing it in your pupsave file and occupying space.

An additional benefit is that, from that location, you can easily make a pet
for future use, like so. Go to /mnt/home and then issue the command:

Code: Select all

dir2pet [name_of_program-version]

Finally, the pet you make this way is also portable to any Puppy of similar
"breed" (Precise, slacko, Lucid, etc.) and version.

I hope this helps. BFN.

musher0

musher0 - Yes nice but by using that method one only avoids having a big save file but it still does not save on hard disk space (well, unless you make your save file too big unnecessarily).

> Yes, it does save on "hard disk space". The pupsave file rests in
/mnt/home as a file-system-in-a-file, and it is different from the /mnt/home
file system.
> If you mean "but it still does not 'save space on hard disk'", then you're
right. (But keep an eye open for typos!)

Also, one will have to install every program in its own folder if one wants to make pets later on (otherwise you sit wit a lot of installations in one folder)?

> No. By using the DESTDIR=/mnt/home/compiled_program-version
parameter, each compiled program gets its own folder in /mnt/home.
(I hope that it is clear that you have to replace "compiled_program", in the
above, with the actual distinctive name and version of the program.)

Using sfs add-on files instead of installing anything together with using a very small save file (for general personal settings) will save more than two-thirds space still on any installation method (and your save file stays small as the SFS files are situated in \mnt\home). Something ton can consider for the future.

> sfs's are indeed more compact that pet files, but you still have to put
the compiled programs somewhere first -- before you pack them in pet's
or sfs's.

amigo has provided a utility that allows one to compile from source to
pet or sfs directly, and perhaps save some space on disk. But amigo is a
Linux wizard with a very experienced hand. As for me, since I don't have
amigo's long experience in Linux, I feel a lot safer compiling in steps, and
checking each step.

What are we talking about here? I thought ton was talking about not using
the pupsave file to store the results of his compile operations.

Also, converting pets to sfs and the other way around can easily be done with a utility like pets2sfs.

> Of course.

His current problem however is that he has already installed his programs, so best to do a remaster (which will again compress the installed programs).

Of course, doing a remaster -- for the right reasons -- can be good. But
I'm not sure he'll regain all the space he wants on his disk by remastering.

This is a well-guarded secret -- and it may help:
If you haven't touched your source directories since you last issued the
"make install" statement, you can try issuing the command:

Code: Select all

make uninstall

from each and every source directory. It does not work every time, but
if the author of the program has thought of including this
command when he made the source available, "make uninstall"
could remove the compiled program entirely from the Puppy and free
some space in your pupsave or in your DESTDIR.

Here are a few other space saving tips related to compiling:
1) Have you stripped the executables and libraries? You can sometimes
get a 75 % reduction in file size that way. There are various of ways of
doing this, but this is the way that I like to do it: I go inside the appropriate
/usr/bin or /usr/lib folders and I type:

Code: Select all

strip --strip-unneeded <program-abcd>

OR

Code: Select all

strip --strip-unneeded <lib-abcd.so.some_number>

This usually can save a lot of space in the pupsave file or in the DESTDIR
folder, whatever the case may be.

2) Finally, once you have finished compiling program abcd,

a) you can zip or tar.gz' the source directory of that program. Source
folders are typically huge, so there's likely a 50-70% gain in folder space
(in his /mnt/home) just by doing this. If you need to get back to your
compile, you simply unpack the archive and then you are able to pick up
your work where you left off.

b) Even better: if you're satisfied with the results of your compile, you can
remove the source directory altogether, and just keep the downloaded
original source archive for reference.

I hope that this helps to clear up some of the confusion, and that it helps
ton to free some space on his disk! BFN.

musher0