Author Topic: [SOLVED] Guidance on Producing a LiveCD?  (Read 1308 times)

Offline wharfhouse

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[SOLVED] Guidance on Producing a LiveCD?
« on: April 12, 2012, 01:57:24 PM »
Dear all,

Been attempting to produce a livecd of my install for the first time to:
1)  Have a backup of my complete system
2)  To be able to re-install as easy as the original livecd complete with all my tweaks & applications.  ;D

Predictably, when reading other posts on this subject, it failed! :'(

Following Neal's advice on his post dated 10th June 2010 this is a copy of all the commands and associated output...

Code: [Select]
[root@localhost user]#df
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda8              39G  3.6G   33G  10% /
/dev/sda10            9.7G  236M  9.4G   3% /home
none                  497M   16K  497M   1% /tmp
[root@localhost user]#

[root@localhost user]#umount -a
umount: /tmp: device is busy.
        (In some cases useful info about processes that use
         the device is found by lsof(8) or fuser(1))
umount: /home: device is busy.
        (In some cases useful info about processes that use
         the device is found by lsof(8) or fuser(1))
umount: /: device is busy.
        (In some cases useful info about processes that use
         the device is found by lsof(8) or fuser(1))
[root@localhost user]#

[root@localhost user]#mylivecd livecd.iso
mylivecd, version 0.9.4, http://pclinuxos.com/
Copyright (C) 2010, Texstar <texstar at gmail.com>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

Disabling Services not needed on the LiveCD

running: /sbin/chkconfig --list
running: /sbin/chkconfig --list
running: /sbin/chkconfig --list
running: /sbin/chkconfig --list
running: /sbin/chkconfig --list

Creating initrd:                                   [100.00% 00:00:09/00:00:09]
Setting filesystem parameters:                     [100.00% 00:00:55/00:00:55]
Creating compressed image:                         [100.00% 01:35:11/01:36:27]
chmod: cannot access `/tmp/mylivecd.2866/livecd/livecd.sqfs': No such file or directory
DIE FATAL: Execution of 'chmod 644 /tmp/mylivecd.2866/livecd/livecd.sqfs' failed
[root@localhost user]#

I would be ever so grateful for any guidance or suggestions as to why it failed  ???

Out of interest, notice the time it took to produce an image... just over an hour and half, is that usual? and BTW, there was no image produced after all... well not one I could find! ;D

Thanks.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2012, 03:55:01 PM by wharfhouse »

Offline AS

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Re: Guidance on Producing a LiveCD?
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2012, 02:24:34 PM »
Hi,

the problem I see is that the /tmp filesystem is too small to store the temporary files needed to build the ISO:
i.e. you are going to remaster approx. 3.8 GB, that once compressed will result in something like 1.3 GB, that the required free space in /tmp.

It appear you have enough free space on '/' filesystem, i.e. 33 GB free, so I suggest this:

Quote
umount -a
mkdir /temp   # this will create a temp dir on / filesystem
mylivecd --gzip --tmp /temp --nodir ^/temp  mylivecd.iso

the --gzip option provide lesser compression but it is approx 3x faster, good for testing,
the option --tmp /temp tell to mylivecd program to store the temporary files in /temp
the option --nodir ^/temp tell to mylivecd to not backup /temp directory (should be excluded automatically ... just to be sure).

AS

Offline wharfhouse

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Re: Guidance on Producing a LiveCD?
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2012, 02:31:42 PM »
Thanks AS  ;D You're a star!

I'll give it a go now... BTW, am I allowed to use/work with my distro whilst it's performing the remastering task or will it cock things up?  ::)

Offline AS

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Re: Guidance on Producing a LiveCD?
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2012, 02:39:13 PM »
Thanks AS  ;D You're a star!

I'll give it a go now... BTW, am I allowed to use/work with my distro whilst it's performing the remastering task or will it cock things up?  ::)

I would suggest no ... you risk to end up with an inconsistent backup, depends from each application you will run ...
instead use the --gzip option permanently, as it appear your remaster will not fit a CD size and therefore you can allow for a larger image, up to a maximum of 4 GiB ~= 4.3 GB.

Offline wharfhouse

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Re: Guidance on Producing a LiveCD?
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2012, 03:04:16 PM »
Righto,

I take it it'll have to be a DVD then??

Offline AS

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Re: Guidance on Producing a LiveCD?
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2012, 03:09:32 PM »
Righto,

I take it it'll have to be a DVD then??

Yes  :D  or you may use PCLinuxOS-LiveUSB-Creator to produce a bootable USB stick  ;)

Offline wharfhouse

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Re: Guidance on Producing a LiveCD?
« Reply #6 on: April 12, 2012, 03:14:54 PM »
Thanks AS,  I'll log off now and give it a spin... but then it's getting a little late as well, whatever.  I'll let you know how I get on regardless,  and like your little avatar... night night!
 ;D ;D

Offline wharfhouse

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Re: Guidance on Producing a LiveCD?
« Reply #7 on: April 12, 2012, 03:54:21 PM »
Well, I really thought that was going to be a much bigger deal... I'm back as it took only an amazing 23 minutes!!  I went off to watch the news on the TV and it was all done & dusted when I came back!

Thanks AS for your very prompt help sorting me out successfully in a matter of an hour or two from beginning to end.  It all worked beautifully.  Now, burning it successfully I definitely will leave for another day!!!

I'll mark the post appropriately now.

Very many thanks.
 ;D ;D ;D