[SoaS] [SugarClone] -was Re: You scream, I scream, ...

[Frederick Grose]

On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 1:48 AM, Frederick Grose <fgrose at gmail.com> wrote:

Not yet final, but ready for more testing is a new version of SugarClone,

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

>

 New:

>
1. Reports the portion of persistent overlay or home folder storage
   that remains on the file systems.  This will help Learners manage
   their storage resources and learn ways to economize limited
   resources.  (See notes below.)

2. Uses the /tmp/ directory, which is on a RAM file system in LiveOS
   images, to run the installation scripts and save temporary mount
   points and files.  This conserves the write-once persistent over-
   lay

2. Bug fixes

   a. Allows multiple options to be entered.
   b. Improved support for cloning from one attached device to
      another.


Test Usage:

>
1. Before booting the SoaS device that will be the source of the new

>    SugarClone, copy the SugarClone script to the root '/' folder at

>    the base of the filesystem for the device or to /mnt/live (from
   the perspective of a running LiveOS image).

>
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

>
If there is more than one USB/SD storage device available, a menu of
the devices
will appear for selection of the target device.

>
The scripts will copy the currently running image to the target device. When
that device is booted, a new, Sugar Learner sign-in will be triggered.  The
previously customized Journal and operating system will be present on the
SugarClone image.

>
On a running LiveOS image, the root folder of the USB/SD device is

> available at the /mnt/live mount point.  The SugarClone script

> can 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/SugarClone

>
3. chmod +x SugarClone

at this point, you may simply execute

   SugarClone

>

See http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/Sugar_Clone for
more information.

>

Notes:

>
The Fedora LiveOS system allows for persistent storage in 3 ways:

   1. A general persistent overlay - a compressed, write-once,
      fixed-size file space that will save updates and changes the
      LiveOS image (Activities, operating system changes, anything
      written in the LiveOS file space.

   2. Persistent Home folder - a re-sizable (with difficulty),
      uncompressed, optionally-encryptable, file space for anything
      that goes in the Learner's /home/ folder (all the Sugar
      Activities, logs, and good stuff).

   3. The device's original partition file space - outside of the
      LiveOS file tree, but accessible through the /mnt/live folder
      mount point.  There, one will find the boot configuration
      files and anything else one had on the device before loading
      SoaS.  Any file one might want to carry on the stick, without
      consuming the other limited file spaces, may be saved here
      (limited by device capacity).

The standard persistent overlay is needed for operating system changes and
updates.

But, one may find many advantages to installing Sugar on a Stick
with a persistent home folder (--home-size-mb NN --delete-home) that
will hold all the Activities one wants to try and, perhaps later,
throw away--all without consuming the write-once overlay that would
fill up very quickly.

Additionally, keeping some device disc storage space out of the
LiveOS system will let you copy, carry, and delete large resource
files, such as alternate image .iso files, or anything you might
want to use or share.  (We should adjust the Journal code to show
this root mount to facilitate file sharing.)

Sugar on a Stick may be installed on a 1-GB USB device using these
options to livecd-iso-to-disk or modified_livecd-iso-to-disk:

./livecd-iso-to-disk --overlay-size-mb 200 --home-size-mb 200 \

   --delete-home --unencrypted-home /path/to/source/iso/or/device \

   /dev/sdA1


(where 'A' represents your bootable device node, such as sdb1 or
sdc1, etc., and the backslashes '\' are line-continuation symbols.)

That would allow space for the home folder, the operating system,
and a little on the device root.

But with a larger storage device, one can allocate the resources to
suit the anticipated use as described above.

The new feature that reports persistent file space usage on the LiveOS
device is included as a component script in SugarClone.  It
is separately available, to allow for Learner testing and discovery,
in the 'SugarCellar' script (saved in /mnt/live/LiveOS/SugarCellar.

  (Available at http://people.sugarlabs.org/fgrose/SugarCellar.)

      --Fred
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