SliTaz Forum

655321

Member

Registered: 2012-10-09

Posts: 6

Slitaz refuses to save package changes across reboots

hi guys, first off thanks a lot for the distro and all the work you put into this!!!

I just installed slitaz 4 on my usb drive but I am having some trouble keeping package changes,

everything I do on my home persists no problems, but If I install a package it does not survive a reboot

I used the writefs command and the file rootfs.gz is saved on the usb drive, but for some reason slitaz does not load it

USB drive is formatted with ext4 filesystem and I made the liveUSB from a slitaz ISO (burned cd, booted from cd and then on tazpanel choose Live > create a live USB key).

What can be the cause of this?

Trixar_za

Administrator

Registered: 2011-03-29

Posts: 1,506

Re: Slitaz refuses to save package changes across reboots

Probably because you're using it as a bootable LiveUSB rather than a frugal install. Try some of the suggestions found at http://doc.slitaz.org/en:guides:uncommoninst to see if it helps.

655321

Member

Registered: 2012-10-09

Posts: 6

Re: Slitaz refuses to save package changes across reboots

I just tried this one...no luck.

USB key install

Tazusb

This is a mix between a frugal and traditional install. The system runs fully in RAM but the home directory is always on the key. You can modify the system (configure, install packages) and then save the new system on the key . See tazusb manual

You can create the USB key from the ISO image

# tazusb gen-iso2usb slitaz-cooking.iso:

I get the exact same problem as before. Home directory keeps changes but package changes won't save.

mojo

Administrator

Registered: 2011-03-29

Posts: 2,174

Re: Slitaz refuses to save package changes across reboots

@655321

If you don't have enough hard memory for the size of the rootfs or the memory is defective the tazusb script will quit or can corrupt the new rootfs.gz which results in kernel panic.

Open one terminal with watch -n 1 free, open 2nd terminal run tazusb writefs gzip

See if you run out of memory before tazusb finishes thr write/compress of the new rootfs.

Tazusb renames the old rootfs.gz to previous.gz which is found /home/boot

655321

Member

Registered: 2012-10-09

Posts: 6

Re: Slitaz refuses to save package changes across reboots

I have like 760300 memory free all the time (the pc has 1GB of ram) while running the commands you suggested.

Here is something I found that might help clarify the problem.

If I go to the second option at the boot prompt "boot slitaz core" and I edit that line and put /boot/rootfs.gz right after /boot/rootfs4.gz my changes DO load, but my GUI is all messed up (I do not have the top or bottom panels, nor desktop icons or wallpaper)

this is very weird

To make another try thinking the ext4 file system was at fault, I formatted using:

tazusb format /dev/sdb1

and choose ext3 filesystem, then did:

tazusb gen-iso2usb slitaz-4.0.iso

but still, exact same problem. At this point I think I may be either overlooking something obvious or found a bug.

mojo

Administrator

Registered: 2011-03-29

Posts: 2,174

Re: Slitaz refuses to save package changes across reboots

Try booting into your saved rootfs.gz with syslinux like this.

At the orange boot menu arrow down to SliTaz core

Hit the tab key

After initrd= delete the commas and any /boot/rootfs[1-4].gz so it looks like this:

initrd=/boot/rootfs.gz

Hit enter to boot the modified rootfs.gz with your installed programs.

Edit the /boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg to modify SliTaz core Live entry to boot without having to manually edit every boot.

655321

Member

Registered: 2012-10-09

Posts: 6

Re: Slitaz refuses to save package changes across reboots

that did the trick! which takes me to my next question....is this normal behaviour? or did something went wrong when doing the liveUSB? I just want to know if I should report this as a bug or not.

thanks for the help!