[SoaS] [Announce] Rebuild/Refresh a custom SoaS iso from a running stick

[Frederick Grose]

We are a good ways closer to being able to
"Support cloning of a customized SoaS image directly from that running
image", which is the SoaS spin F15 feature proposal #4 on this page,
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Features/Soas_V5/

If your SoaS machine has 4+ GiBytes disc space (as is commonly available on
an attached hard drive that you could mount in your SoaS instance), then
this alpha version python script, edit-liveos.py,
http://people.sugarlabs.org/fgrose/edit-liveos

(based on the livecd-tools, edit-livecd), and a copy or rsync will let you
build a new, custom installation .iso file from your running SoaS instance.

I've tested the script on SoaS in F13 and F14, and with some filesystem
hacks (this is my first python project), it will run to completion.

I've booted the F14 version and confirmed that the system overlay file was
refreshed and the system and user customizations had transferred. See this
screenshot of 'About my Computer':
http://people.sugarlabs.org/fgrose/My%20computer.png

Customization of SoaS spins have been a long-sought goal of the project.
 See, for example,
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Features/Feature_SoaS_customization, and all
the work Satellit has contributed toward the Sugar Creation Kit,
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Creation_Kit

There remain many supporting tasks to be completed before we have an
integrated product.

1. The edit-liveos.py script depends on rsync, which has to be
   installed on SoaS first.
2. The livecd-iso-to-disk script needs to be amended to transfer the
   home.img file from the new source.iso
3. Other supporting installation scripts and a Sugar Activity are
   needed to simplify the use of the onboard image builder.

Some of the above are addressed in Sugar Clone,
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/Sugar_Clone
which is a quick way to achieve customization without any disc resources
beyond those on the Sugar Stick itself.

I imagine that further refinements of these tools will allow us to
automatically monitor the system overlay consumption and advise the Learner
to "run a refresh" rebuilds their personal system or provides a fresh one
from the School Server.

Please see the Sugar Clone page to see the project goals and plans, and
please help test the new, edit-liveos script!

       --Fred
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