Frugal install works fine

I am of course reading the bug reports in the 4.1 feedback thread on the forum. Gradually solving each one, though 4.1.1 is strictly bugfix-release only and cannot have any major changes -- though, I have been getting a bit carried away, see my recent posts regarding a dependency-checker for installed packages and 'puppyserialdetect' utility for mouse detection.

Anyway, there were a couple of reports about difficulties with a frugal installation:

1.
Beem reported that 'pup_410.sfs' got copied to /mnt/home (the top directory of the partition in which Puppy is installed) at bootup, even though the file as already in "psubdir" (the subdirectory into which the frugal installation was done).
2.
Dogone reported that when doing the frugal installation, with the Universal Installer I presume, it failed to find 'pup_410.sfs' on the CD for copying to the insallation directory. Dogone mounted the CD and selected the directory containing the Puppy files (which is a fallback method offered by the installer) but it again failed to install the file.

I did a test install, with a pristine 4.1 CD (2.6.25.16 kernel), booted with 'pfix=ram". The PC has a IDE optical drive, one IDE hard drive and one SATA hard drive. I ran the Universal Installer, and just followed each step. I accepted the default "puppy410" name for the installation directory. When it came to wanting the Puppy files, I chose "CD" and the files installed without any trouble. When it came to the suggested GRUB entry, I pasted that into my 'menu.lst' file, but I changed "hd0,0" to "hd1,0" -- which the installer warns about -- due to the mixed IDE and SATA drives, GRUB sees the IDE drive first, whereas I installed to the SATA drive.

It booted ok, I created a "pup_save" at shutdown. Next boot, it came up fine, and I looked at the partition -- the only 'pup_410.sfs' was in the 'puppy410' directory, it did not create a copy of the file at the top directory.

So, I don't now what those guys have been getting up to.

Frugal install bug
I would like to mention one potential problem though. For a frugal install, it is best to stay away from saving to the entire partition. This is offered at first shutdown if the partition has a Linux filesystem, however there is a problem with Aufs.
This is the reason that I went back to Unionfs as default with an earlier version of Puppy. With a frugal install, session saved to the entire partition, if you install an extra SFS file, Aufs will crash. Unionfs can handle it, however I don't think that the version of Unionfs in the kernels used for 4.1 is very stable -- a crashing bug is reported to be fixed in the very latest version of Unionfs -- unfortunately though, no distro (that I know of) is using Unionfs anymore, so it isn't getting any testing.
So, if you do want to do frugal with save to the full partition, try with the boot parameter "layerfs=unionfs" then keep your fingers crossed.

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Comments

multiple pup_410.sfs
Username: jamesbond74
Hi Barry, I got the 2 pup_410.sfs by running livecd with pfix=ram, and then creating a savefile during shutdown (specifying a directory). When asked whether I wanted to copy pup_401.sfs for faster booting, I said yes. After reboot (again with the same live-CD but no longer using pfix=ram), I found pup_410.sfs in both /mnt/home and in the psubdir directory. If it matters, the system I'm booting 4.1 already has another puppy (in another subdirectory - 2.14R). Note that I didn't use the universal installer at all - I just tried to create a savefile during shutdown. To continue the story, I later deleted the pup_410.sfs on /mnt/home - it was ok, it never came back and I was never asked anything else after that. cheers!

Frugal Install OK but ...
Username: ICPUG
"Barry you probably mirrored what I did and got no problem. i.e. your pupsave file was stored in the psubdir directory with the sfs file. Beem stores his pupsave file on a separate drive and the second copy of the sfs file gets stored there. As the release notes say the sfs file gets stored with the pupsave it kinda fits in - although it is not behaviour we would necessarily want.

Frugal Install OK but ...
Username: ICPUG
"Barry you probably mirrored what I did and got no problem. i.e. your pupsave file was stored in the psubdir directory with the sfs file. Beem stores his pupsave file on a separate drive and the second copy of the sfs file gets stored there. As the release notes say the sfs file gets stored with the pupsave it kinda fits in - although it is not behaviour we would necessarily want.

Tags: puppy