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DNS Changer PET

November 25, 2024 — BarryK

Forum member wizard has created this:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=13135

I modified the PET slightly and have added it to the noarch repo. It will be installable via PKGget. Not yet uploaded.   

Tags: easy

Run xrdb and xmodmap at container startup

November 25, 2024 — BarryK

Alfons reported that Pclock (in the "Personal" menu category) does not work in the Daedalus container. Yes, it requires 'xrdb' to run to load the dpi from /root/.Xresources. Github fix:

https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/d8314ad41ac52209198353ca8a877eb92b70a466

...have also attempted to improve the container desktop startup speed.

Alfons also reported that Lite-XL text editor and Ycalc calculator do not work in the Daedalus container. Yes, I have removed those from builtin.

Something that Caramel figured out before was to run 'setxkbmap' before starting 'jwm'. It seems that we might have to do this also in the nested Xephyr server:

https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/e359af486b18996e6fe1097884c57b557a8ab98b   

Tags: easy

Share /files inside container

November 24, 2024 — BarryK

Working on enhancing running Daedalus in a container, here are recent posts:

...etc.

The Daedalus container is configured to share /files/shared with the main filesystem. However, I have changed that to /files

It is a security measure to restrict sharing to /files/shared; however, security measures restrict usage. We need to find a practical compromise. I have already compromissed by sharing the clipboard. Yes, potentially a security weakness, but extremely useful to be able to share the clipboard.

The primary reason for running Daedalus in a container is to have access to the huge package repository, not for security reasons. So, we can ease up on the security.

File /mnt/wkg/containers/daedalus/configuration has the security settings. I have changed this from "files/shared" to "files":

EC_ACCESS_FOLDER_PATH='/files'

That's it, all of /files is now shared inside the Daedalus container. There are some changes needed to support this, see latest github commits:

https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commits/1f8d9e1ca5275037488bbe0459d3d72dd469259a/

Looking good!     

Tags: easy

Container /files save fix

November 24, 2024 — BarryK

I posted this morning about a container session save fix:

Forum member CF-DKS reported that /files folder in the daedalus container does not get saved:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=136335#p136335

Yes, on the main desktop, /files is a direct link to /mnt/wkg/files, so anything written to it is immediately saved. It is not "running in RAM" as are all other folders.

However, in containers, /files is just a folder and is in RAM. For anything written to it to persist, it has to be saved, to /mnt/wkg/containers/daedalus/.session/files (in the case of daedalus). Fixed, see github:

https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/ab3ae3c65ea58a7891285fa14c0f57defff89372   

Tags: easy

Container session save fix

November 24, 2024 — BarryK

Easy Containers sure is overdue for some TLC! The guys are testing Daedalus running in a container, in Scarthgap, and reporting that changes to wallpaper and icons are not remembered.

It used to work, but when I introduced "run in RAM" instead of direct save to the storage media, container saving got broken. It has been broken for years.

In the Daedalus container, the first time that it is started, scripts 'daedalus.run-once-base' and 'daedalus.run-once-top' are executed, then 'daedalus.run-once-base-flag' and 'daedalus.run-once-top-flag' get created, so at future startups of the container, those "run-once" scripts won't rerun.

When Daedalus container is running, here is content of the '.control' folder:

img1

What has gone wrong when running in RAM, is that those "-flag" files don't get saved. So the "run-once" scripts execute at every startup, which resets desktop icons and wallpaper to the defaults.

I did a quick test, changed the wallpaper, rebooted, and the change is remembered! Github commit:

https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/6ed3f023dd45b8823b166c6b35712cdff666dde1

This is very good news.   

Tags: easy

Remove network menu entries in container

November 24, 2024 — BarryK

Alfons sent me an email about this, requesting that many of the menu entries in the "Network" category are not appropriate in a container. These ones outlined:

img1

OK, removed. Github commit:

https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/6f2ebb7705c8510f24f0e80c6d8ca799bc45595d    

Tags: easy

Fix for FoxtrotGPS

November 23, 2024 — BarryK

Forum member LHESTIA reported a problem with FoxtrotGPS in Daedalus running in a container:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=136397#p136397

PKGget reported one dependency, 'libgps'; however, package 'gpsd' is also required. The latter is a daemon, /usr/bin/gpsd, and is started by "/etc/init.d/gpsd start" -- except that it failed to start as wants file /lib/init/vars.sh -- which is in the 'sysvinit-utils' package.

Daedalus has a cutdown 'sysvinit-utils', so I installed the full package, then gpsd started, and FoxtrotGPS was able to access it. There is no GPS device connected to my computer, so gpsd returns "0" coordinates. But, it looks like a goer.

A problem with the Daedalus container, when it starts, none of the daemons in /etc/init.d are started. You will have to run "/etc/init.d/gpsd start". I'm wondering if daemons installed in the container, can be started when the container starts -- will have to think about that.

Here is the FoxtrotGPS homepage:

https://www.foxtrotgps.org/     

Tags: easy

Quick flip out of container

November 23, 2024 — BarryK

I posted about getting started with this yesterday:

I have now implemented a button in the centre of the screen in the container. The button has a small help button alongside. Snapshot showing the button and help window:

img1

After taking that snapshot, I lightened the background colour a bit, and added text that when flip back into the container, the clipboard is copied in.

Perhaps that button can be made more pretty; right now it can be described as "utilitarian". Does the job, you definitely know you are in a container. Click on it and half a second later you are back on the main desktop.

Here are the relevant github commits:

https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/d927d45ebf4d73a399907b0a670bcb135195b1fb

https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/13e7179786c8824f3b6cbf65e33a19807b51af56

https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/8e06e233dd1ac12bf0e9fa5eb539e824f13384fc

Note: looking around on the forum, I see that the FatDog guys have implemented a mechanism for running FatDog in a container, with clipboard transfer, here. They did that back in 2021.   

Tags: easy