How do I deploy an iso with persistence built in?

[sudodus]

How detailed help do you need? If you upload your tool (22 MB) or your system image with the tool (550 MB) somewhere, I can download it, try to use it and maybe I can suggest some improvement, maybe even upload something that you can try to use and compare to your system.

By the way, is your tool easier to use compared to Clonezilla?

[lhh29936]

@sudodus - one of my testers has a machine that won't boot a kernel newer than the 4.15 series, so I've been sticking with a Ubuntu 16.04 base. It's a Thinkpad, not sure what series but he's pretty Linux literate. If he's having problems with newer kernels, it's something I have to take into account.

Let me see if I'm understanding what you proposed as a method for me to provide a ready for upgrade app using mkusb.
1. Use the p option to create a persistent partition
2. Create an img from the result of step 1.

[lhh29936]

@sudodus, I sent you a PM with login info to download my stuff.

Larry

[sudodus]

Thanks for the PM with details to give me an opportunity to get your files and try to make a persistent live drive.

- I cloned from the iso file to a USB pendrive. It works for me both in UEFI mode and BIOS mode.

- I could not make the program file work in a standard Lubuntu 16.04.6 LTS system. There was a segmentation error.

- I could make a persistent live drive with your foxclone iso file, that boots in BIOS mode. If you wish, I can upload it for you to test. (I can upload a Lubuntu 16.04.6 LTS persistent live system too, and it works both in BIOS and UEFI mode.)

- But I could not make a persistent live drive with your foxclone iso file, that boots in UEFI mode.

There is something in the boot structure for UEFI, that does not match that of Ubuntu (and Lubuntu and the other community flavours). I spent a considerable amount of time trying to find a way to get around it, but failed.

I think it is important to have a system that boots both in UEFI mode and BIOS mode. So I am sorry, but I don't know how to make such a persistent live drive using your iso file.

- The easy alternative for you is to let people download new iso files, when they need a new version of your tool.

- An alternative is to create an installer system for your tool, that works in a light-weight flavour of Ubuntu (Lubuntu or Xubuntu) for people who prefer that to downloading a whole new iso file from you. We assume that those people can create their own persistent live drives using for example Lubuntu.

- A more difficult alternative is to make the UEFI boot system in your iso file such that it works more like that of Ubuntu, so that persistence will work also in UEFI mode. An Ubuntu system and many other operating systems work in UEFI mode when extracted from the iso file to a FAT32 file system. But the system in your iso file does not. If you can make that work (without destroying the ability to boot in BIOS mode), I can help you make a persistent live system that works both in BIOS mode and UEFI mode.

[oldfred]

Newest version of Ubuntu does not work with extracted method. The added a couple of links which do not work in FAT32 partitions.

Links in FAT32 error:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...a/+bug/1849534

[sudodus]

Newest version of Ubuntu does not work with extracted method. The added a couple of links which do not work in FAT32 partitions.

Links in FAT32 error:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...a/+bug/1849534

Thanks for telling us, @oldfred.

Is this bug only affecting Focal so far?

The extraction method was good and has worked for years. Let us add heat to the bug report and push for a bug-fix so that those links will not be necessary.

[oldfred]

@sudodus
Have not tried extracted ISO for ages. Only tried it with 20.04 as I have one computer with only one drive and wanted to update it from old install. It also has 18.04, but is primarily a Windows computer for TV use as Linux did not (then) support most of the DRM restricted sites.

I normally just use grub2's loopmount to install from one drive to another. Is fast from RAM to drive.

The only small USB flash drive I had was an old USB2 drive. Not using that again as extremely slow. I had forgotten how slow USB2 was.
Decided to update my system's M2 SATA SSD drive with an NVMe drive. But put SATA SSD drive into a external enclosure. Makes for a faster larger external drive. Have so many larger flash drives now, will probable not buy any more.
Has full Ubuntu and will see if I can use it on my system to install like I do with my two drive systems using grub2's loopmount.

[lhh29936]

@sudodus, which is the lightest, xubuntu or lubuntu? Whichever is lighter, I'll use to try and recreate the system.

Larry

[lhh29936]

@sudodus - decided to try and rebuild with lubuntu 18.04 base. Will let you know when it's ready for you. I'll mark this thread as solved and start a new one specific to lubuntu base.

[sudodus]

@sudodus, which is the lightest, xubuntu or lubuntu? Whichever is lighter, I'll use to try and recreate the system.

Larry

In 16.04 LTS and 18.04 LTS I think Lubuntu is slightly lighter. In Focal to become the next LTS release there is not much difference.

@sudodus - decided to try and rebuild with lubuntu 18.04 base. Will let you know when it's ready for you. I'll mark this thread as solved and start a new one specific to lubuntu base.

The problem with your current iso file to make a persistent live system is not due to the version, but to the method that you create the boot mechanism for UEFI. You may have the same problem when you start from Lubuntu 18.04.x LTS.

So what you could do is to simply do what I did in the demo examples, that I referred to in an earlier post: Do not tamper with the iso file.

- Create a persistent live drive, which is well tested and works with mkusb. Choose an MSDOS partition table, because it will be easier to extract to a drive of different size compared to the master drive, where it was created.

- Install your tool, check that it works in the persistent live system.

- In order to get a minimal sized compressed image file you should overwrite all free space in the file systems with zeros. (When booted from another drive, it can be done by writing zeros to a file until each file system is full, and then remove those files). Then compression will work fairly well (clone with dd and compress with xz to 'file.img.xz').

- Create a compressed image file of the persistent live system, check that it works as expected, when you extract from the image to another USB pendrive.

- Later on you can create an installer (tarball or deb file or PPA) for your tool, an installer that works in Lubuntu and Xubuntu. This way users need not download a whole iso file in order to install and/or update your tool.

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Edit:

But your current iso file is small and looks quite nice. I think you can start by distributing your tool with this current iso file. Then you can work with a persistent live system as a possible next generation.