[SoaS] You scream, I scream, we all scream for Mirabelle ice cream in a SugarClone

[Frederick Grose]

Was: Duplicating SoaS with customization.

New work:

1. Reduced the 3 earlier scripts to 2 that provide a means to
   duplicate a running SoaS image together with its customizations in
   a persistent overlay or home folder.

   modified_livecd-iso-to-disk
   SugarClone

   These are available at http://people.sugarlabs.org/fgrose/.

2. Automated detection of attached USB storage devices and provide a
   selection menu if there are more than one.

3. Maintained a simple command line for the default case:

      /mnt/live/SugarClone

   (even as the default liveuser account).

4. Provided input auditing for advanced uses.

5. Embedded a much more complete usage document available as an option:

      /mnt/live/SugarClone --help

6. Tested and updated more code paths.

7. Adopted satellit's suggestion to update the boot menu Welcome title.
   And updated the 'About my Computer' Build information so this is
   available at run time.


Test Usage:

1. Before booting the SoaS device that will be the source of the new
   SugarClone, copy the script files above to the root '/' folder at
   the base of the filesystem (not the /root folder).
2. Boot the USB stick into SoaS and insert a second USB device into the
   computer running that SoaS image.
3. In the Terminal Activity of that running SoaS image, enter the command,

      /mnt/live/SugarClone

The scripts will copy the currently running image to the second device.
When the second device is booted, a new Sugar Learner sign in will be
triggered, and the customized Journal and operating system will be present.

Step 1 above, from the perspective of the learner inside a currently
running SoaS image, would be different:  The root folder of the USB
device would be reached through the /mnt/live mount point.  The scripts
could be obtained (assuming Internet connectivity) as follows:

1. In the Terminal Activity, change the working directory:

   cd /mnt/live

2. wget http://people.sugarlabs.org/fgrose/modified_livecd-iso-to-disk

   wget http://people.sugarlabs.org/fgrose/SugarClone

3. chmod +x modified_livecd-iso-to-disk

   chmod +x SugarClone


Possible Use Case:

1. A teacher wants to prepare a SoaS image with a custom set of installed
   Activity bundles or a Journal of Activity instances for an upcoming
   class term.
2. The teacher modifies their current working image by adding or deleting
   Activity bundles from their Home view and adding or removing Journal
   entries with specific content, even saving distributable ebooks, or
   bookmarks in Browse instances that are named for specific sets of local
   web destinations (a class portal perhaps for deployments lacking
   Internet connectivity).
3. The teacher scrubs out any personal passwords or other history that
   should not be shared in the new copies.
4. Following customization, a fresh or recycled USB stick that is inserted
   into the computer running the customized SoaS image can become the
   SugarClone.

Step 5 assumes that Usage step 1 has been performed either directly or by
the SoaS packagers.

These scripts have been tested with SoaS-Mirabelle (available at
http://alt.pub/alt/nightly-composes/soas/<http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/nightly-composes/soas/>)
but should work with other versions of SoaS.

The current version of the scripts have the /bin/bash shell specified
without the -x (xtrace) option.  Set this option, #!/bin/bash -x in the
first line of the script to aid testing.  When set, they will show a lot
of output on the screen as they run.

The scripts are copied to the new SugarClone devices prepared with these
scripts so that they can easily propagate themselves.  This also applies to
all new SoaS installations that are prepared with these scripts (using
--image <source> options).


Needed:

1. More review and testing.
2. Submission of the modified_livecd-iso-to-disk script upstream.
3. Modifications for Intel Macintosh computers.
4. A way to automatically identify extra partitions on devices with more
   than one available partition.
5. A way to automatically identify live media images on secondary devices
   and partitions that could be used as sources for a SugarClone.
6. Bundling of the scripts for convenience until they are included in
   SoaS.
7. A Sugar Activity that calls the scripts.

These all should help us better prepare a SoaS customization kit.

    --Fred
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