Error When Attempting to Exclude Directories from Remaster

[Stephen]

Hello,

Following Andy’s excellent article, Remastering Your PCLinuxOS (creates ISO from a current installation)…

http://andrzejl.no-ip.org:10101/wordpress/2011/06/25/remastering-your-pclinuxos-creates-iso-from-a-current-installation/

I was able to remaster my brother-in-law’s simple PCLinuxOS set-up, successfully using mylivecd.

The script that I used was:

mylivecd --xz --nodir ^/media/Data/PCLOS-Remaster/ --tmp=/media/Data/PCLOS-Remaster/ --md5sum --ufs unionfs /media/Data/PCLOS-Remaster/PeppePCLOS14-08-11.iso

Considering that I have very little knowledge of terminal, I was very pleased with the result and was emboldened enough to attempt a remaster of my much more complex set-up.

I dual boot PCLinuxOS and Windows 7; my set-up is as follows:

[stephen@localhost ~]$ df
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb7             9.9G  4.5G  4.9G  49% /
/dev/sdb5             485M   21M  439M   5% /boot
/dev/sdb8             119G  7.1G  112G   6% /home
/dev/sdb2             100G   54G   47G  54% /media/Windows Data
/dev/sda8              87G  1.8G   80G   3% /media/disk
/dev/sda7             9.9G  4.8G  4.6G  51% /media/disk-1
/dev/sdb1             100M   26M   75M  26% /media/System Reserved
/dev/sda5             485M   36M  424M   8% /media/disk-2
/dev/sda1             133G   73G   60G  55% /media/Windows 7
/dev/sdc1             1.9T  1.6T  236G  88% /media/W-2T
[stephen@localhost ~]$

Andy’s article outlines how one can exclude partitions and directories not wanted in the remaster.  Again, following his directions, I arrived at the following:

mylivecd --xz --nodir ^/media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/,^/media/Windows Data/,^/media/disk/,^/media/disk-1/,^/media/System Reserved/,^/media/disk-2/,^/media/Windows 7/,^/media/W-2T/ --tmp=/media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/ --md5sum -ufs unionfs /media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/StephenPCLOS-15-08-11.iso

(The above was copied directly from the terminal input.)

Unfortunately, this resulted in the following error message:

FATAL:  Too many command-line arguments.

I then attempted this slight variation:

mylivecd --xz --nodir ^/media/Windows Data/,^/media/disk/,^/media/disk-1/,^/media/System Reserved/,^/media/disk-2/,^/media/Windows 7/,^/media/W-2T/ --tmp=/media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/ --md5sum -ufs unionfs /media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/StephenPCLOS-15-08-11.iso

as I thought that the inclusion of the first entry after nodir (i.e. ^/media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/,) might be unnecessary or even the cause of the problem.

The same error message resulted.

I do not have sufficient knowledge to identify the cause of the problem.  I have looked unsuccessfully throughout the forums for a solution.  I am sorry if I have overlooked the answer.

Is there anyone who can see where I might be going wrong?

Thank you for any assistance.

[AS]

Hi Stephen,

FATAL:  Too many command-line arguments.

I then attempted this slight variation:

mylivecd --xz --nodir ^/media/Windows Data/,^/media/disk/,^/media/disk-1/,^/media/System Reserved/,^/media/disk-2/,^/media/Windows 7/,^/media/W-2T/ --tmp=/media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/ --md5sum -ufs unionfs /media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/StephenPCLOS-15-08-11.iso

It seems to me that the above error is reported when mylivecd is unable to process some option, looking at your command line I think that the option "-ufs unionfs" really should be "--ufs unionfs", using double minus in front.

Additionally,  unionfs is the default used from mylivecd, so that you can safely omit that option.

Finally, names containing spaces: you need to "escape" each space character in the middle of an arguments using a backslash, otherwise the names are interpreted as separated arguments:
"/media/Windows Data" should be escaped as "/media/Windows\ Data"

Your final command line should look like:

Code: [Select]

mylivecd --xz --nodir ^/media/Windows\ Data/,^/media/disk/,^/media/disk-1/,^/media/System\ Reserved/,^/media/disk-2/,^/media/Windows\ 7/,^/media/W-2T/ --tmp=/media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/ --md5sum --ufs unionfs /media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/StephenPCLOS-15-08-11.iso

AS

[Just17]

I would suggest that you unmount all those partition you do not want included in the remaster, and then only include the exclusion arguments for the content of the mounted partition/s that you do not wish included.

That would make things much simpler IMO.

[AS]

I would suggest that you unmount all those partition you do not want included in the remaster, and then only include the exclusion arguments for the content of the mounted partition/s that you do not wish included.

That would make things much simpler IMO.

+1,

why I missed that ? 

[AndrzejL]

@ as - yes it's the space that messes stuff up - that's why I always replace it with _ when it goes to mount points.

@ Just19 - sometimes I find myself working away on a machine when it's remastering. Watching a movie. Listening to music. Just goofing around. Sometimes I need partitions to be mounted while I remaster so this is the solution that allows me to access the files on the partitions and yet have them excluded from the iso.

@ Stephen - just like as said when dealing with space in a path replace it with \space

example folder /media/I need a spaces in my path/
will look like this /media/I\ need\ spaces\ in\ my\ path/

Thanks for visiting my site.

Hope this helps.

I will try to add this info to my site when time allows as an update .

Regards.

Andy

[AndrzejL]

I have updated the post on my site to point to this thread on the forum plus I have added a little explanation there as well.

Thanks to all.

Andy

[Stephen]

Firstly, thank you to AS for your very clear and welcome advice.  I attempted, very late last night, to implement your instructions, and was excited to see that this time, the process commenced correctly and the creation of the remaster proceeded as it did when I successfully created the remaster (image) of my brother-in-law's PCLOS installation.

Unfortunately, at the end of the process, the image was not successfully created.  I am not sure of the reason (given) for this and as it was so late in the evening, I decided to try again tonight, anticipating that the process would either be successful, or the problem would be repeated, whereupon I would be able to document the problem, accurately and then seek advice.

Tonight, I started the process again but after about 30 minutes, a new (different) problem arose; the computer crashed.  A message (both in the notifications and in the terminal) quickly indicated that the computer was to close.  It gave no detail of the problem that I could see (though the crash was very abrupt).  No changes were made to the computer between my attempts with mylivecd last night and those attempts, tonight.

I have attempted the process three times now, with the crash occurring at the same point.

[stephen@localhost ~]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost stephen]# mylivecd --xz --nodir ^/media/Windows\ Data/,^/media/disk/,^/media/disk-1/,^/media/System\ Reserved/,^/media/disk-2/,^/media/Windows\ 7/,^/media/W-2T/ --tmp=/media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/ --md5sum --ufs unionfs /media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/StephenPCLOS-15-08-11.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% 00:00:13/00:00:13]
Setting filesystem parameters: [100.00% 00:02:31/00:02:31]
Creating compressed image: [ 0.89% 00:01:43/00:01:43]

The above is shown in the terminal for about 30 minutes and then the “Creating compressed image” percentage starts to increase (for about a minute).  The error (crash) message is then seen.

The only other times that I have experienced this type of abrupt crash (on this computer) was when I had been watching a video in SMPlayer.  (This has happened about three or four times, but has not occurred recently.)

(The computer is an Acer Notebook, 32bit Intel Core2 Duo 2.20GHz with 4GB memory.)

Has anyone got any suggestions as to what I can do now?  Should I start another thread about the computer crashing?

(I'd also like to thank Just19 and AndrzejL (Andy) for their help.)

[Just17]

Two things come to mind ....

make sure that all files related to the fail build/s have been removed and sufficient space remains for further attempts

but mostly I would be looking to temperature related shut-down ......  building a remaster does drive the system at high rate continuously for a considerable time.
this can cause overheating - especially in laptops which are not efficiently cooled.

....  initial thoughts only ...

[AS]

Fully agreed with Just19's opinion, it look like some issue related to overheating.

Additionally, and it could be a separated issue, it seems to me that you are reaching the limits of mylivecd, 4 Gb is the maximum size allowed for the generated ISO image. Because you are actually using approx 4.5+7.1=11.6 Gb, and considering that the resulting image will be approx. 1/3 of the used space....

For test purposes, you may want to exclude also your /home directory, and use the --gzip compression option, this will speed up the test too.

[Stephen]

Well, thank you again, Just19 and AS.  I installed a Temperature Monitor widget and while the computer was normally around 70 degrees Celsius, as the mylivecd process was being undertaken the temperature hovered around 90+ degrees.  I managed this time to get the process to ‘complete’ without crashing the computer.  Could I be doing any long-term damage to my computer by maintaining these temperatures over the extended period that it takes to create the mylivecd image?

I checked that I still had enough disk space for the process, and there is plenty. I changed the compression to gzip.  (Is --ufs gzip the correct entry?)  At this stage, I have not excluded the /home directory.

Unfortunately, the process was not completed successfully, as is shown in the information, below. 

[root@localhost stephen]# mylivecd --xz --nodir ^/media/Windows\ Data/,^/media/disk/,^/media/disk-1/,^/media/System\ Reserved/,^/mediamaster/ --md5sum --ufs gzip /media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/StephenPCLOS-17-08-11.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% 00:00:11/00:00:11]
Setting filesystem parameters:                     [100.00% 00:01:06/00:01:06]
Creating compressed image:                         [100.00% 00:48:33/00:48:33]
Creating isolinux boot:                            [100.00% 00:00:01/00:00:01]
Creating final iso:                                [100.00% 00:00:00/00:00:00]
Embedding MD5 checksum:
[                                                                            ]Argument "\n0\n1" isn't numeric in division (/) at /usr/sbin/mylivecd line 278.                            [  0.00% 00:00:00/00:00:00]Error - Unable to open file /media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/StephenPCLOS-17-08-11.iso

Illegal division by zero at /usr/sbin/mylivecd line 296.

Would anyone be able to explain to me what is meant by the above and what I can do to rectify it?

[AS]

[                                                                            ]Argument "\n0\n1" isn't numeric in division (/) at /usr/sbin/mylivecd line 278.                            [  0.00% 00:00:00/00:00:00]Error - Unable to open file /media/W-2T/PCLOS-Remaster/StephenPCLOS-17-08-11.iso

Illegal division by zero at /usr/sbin/mylivecd line 296.

this the way mylivecd is telling you that you have exceeded the 4 Gb size limit, yes a bit cryptic  see my previous post.

About the temperature... yes it look high ... and yes although a thermal protection exist (that one that shut down your computer previously) ... I think you can damage the CPU on the long run ...

[Just17]

I installed a Temperature Monitor widget and while the computer was normally around 70 degrees Celsius,

That is high .... Very High!!!!!  My desktop CPU is presently 38C as I write this ..... and hits 50+C when under heavy load ....  at which point the fans speed up to help balance the temp.

You need to do some cleaning inside it to get rid of whatever is causing it to overheat ......  usually dust stuck in the fins of the heatsink.

It would also likely be advisable to refresh the thermal compound between CPU and Heatsink to ensure the best possible heat transfer between them. The first thing is to get it cleaned out ...  to allow the air to flow where it does its work best 

[Stephen]

Hello again, AS.  I excluded /home and tried again.  This time it worked!

I’ll try transferring some files out of /home to reduce its size and attempt to create a mylivecd image with a ‘minimal’ /home.

Just19, I’ve never contemplated physically cleaning the insides of my notebook and the idea scares me, somewhat.  Do you have any advice on how to go about it?

I’ll let you know if I make further progress in the mylivecd creation.

[AndrzejL]

Just19, I’ve never contemplated physically cleaning the insides of my notebook and the idea scares me, somewhat.  Do you have any advice on how to go about it?

Don't do it Yourself it it scares You. It's not very difficult BUT it may cause some problems. It would be best to try a computer service - a good one... and give the machine to them. It may cost You a bit tho...

Andy

[AS]

My desktop CPU is presently 38C as I write this .....

Not all of us are lucky enough to live in a fresh place like you, as I understood from other posts  
and the CPU temperature can be (and usually is) higher when you live in "hot/warm" countries.

@Stephen,
Seriously, however should not be more then 50/55 °C when idle ... in summer  

Consider also it's possible you may have some process running all the time, then try to start ksysguard (System Monitor) and look at CPU usage when idle, should be between 1% and 4%