Slax author's Blog (RSS)
21
November2012
Weekly update #12
I can see I didn't write many blog posts last week, yet still I made some noticeable progress, as far as I can see from my changelog.
I was primarily improving Slax after testing on some other computers. I noticed that phonon remembers devices on current computer and then complains if the user runs Slax on another computer that the previously discovered devices are missing. This is somehow unwanted so I've added a reset function which makes phonon forget previous state. The user knows he is on a different computer, so he doesn't need to be reminded by annoying dialog.
There were some file permissions set incorrectly in Slax due to a mistake I've made. It was no problem for default Slax user, which is root, but if a regular user account was used, it wasn't even able to access /etc configuration files at all. To my surprise, AUFS checks permissions on all branches, so even if the topmost branch has correct perms, some lower branch may break things. This is now fixed by providing the very same (sane) permissions for /etc.
The kdm desktop manager, which I am using to autostart KDE session in Slax, is somehow mad. It wants to log some debug info all the time, which nobody needs actually. I set it to put the infos to /dev/null, but kdm removed the null device and recreated it is a regular file. Silly kdm. So it was necessary to convince kdm to stop logging but not to remove /dev/null. I've actually resolved it by specifying that it should log to /tmp. And since it's a directory, which can't be removed (since it's not empty), it gives up the logs.
Lastly, I've updated Linux Live Kit (a set of my own scripts which I base Slax on) to support boot parameter from=/path/slax.iso. This way, it is possible to run Slax even from an ISO file, which may be located on any disk. Slax will search all disks until /path/slax.iso is found. While I was on this task, I noticed Copy to RAM feature didn't work well in combination with from=, so it's now fixed as well. Finally, if persistent changes is enabled at the same time as Copy to RAM, Slax copies its data to RAM and keeps the device mounted to put persistent changes to it, as you would expect (it wasn't able to use persistent changes with Copy to RAM before).
Next week, I have no simple plan at the moment. My TODO list (actually a piece of paper on my desk) is full of 20 different things, so I'll just pick them one by one and report the progress again :)
User comments
"Even in Windows"
And by this you are asking Tomas to take "window " as the "desired" standard.
@jcsoh:
i don't think that Prcek meant it that way ;)
even m$ finally understood that it was a hell of stupid idea to make an os just usable when using it with a priviledged user.
something linux and unix always knew ... ;)
Better to preserve only root user for modularity purpose.
And make an addon guest user bundle... (not a difficult task).
Not necessary to build an Ubuntu / W$ clone release :) !
Main goal now is to restore cheatcodes of the previous releases like noload load etc ... Far ore usefull.
I have no plans to add non-root users to Slax. As a Live OS, Slax is meant to be as powerful as possible, and non-root user would not follow that. I fully understand that a standard Linux distro needs non-root users, but Slax is not a standard distro :)
Regarding the load and noload boot parameters, I'm actually more and more convinced that those are of no use at all. If you need the flexibility to load or not load certain modules (Slax Bundles), you can put them to some directory so they're not autoloaded automatically and make a rootcopy script which activates only those you need, when Slax is started. EM, please explain to me why exactly do you need the load and noload boot params. Thanks
In past days of Slax 6 ... :) they permit me to runs many differents Slax frugal on hard drive with a sole slax directory, loading differrent modules for each config ... Not vital but really usefull with a Grub or Syslinux menu on hdd or usb flash device.
Also old Slax 6 permit to load modules even located in subdirectory trees of the main modules directory thats no more allowed since Slax 7 ...
Its up to you! Youre the king here :)
But thats a usefull function that others distros dont have ...
Modularity and frugal mode is one of the most interesting function that Slax bring to us over other distros even the most popular! Keep this in mind! The choice is in your hands!
Thanx again for your huge work Tomas!
And may the Slax be with us ... :)
My best regards.
Linux live 6.3.0 provide tools for create modul for slax. Please update that tool for slax 7 and be included in slax release. thanks
Speaking of grub and syslinux... Is it possible to load the syslinux menu from grub? I have more live distros on my flash drive and I am using grub. But this way I have to know the kernel parameters and put them in the grub config. It would be nice if I could load the syslinux menu from grub and it would show the nice graphic menu with options.
Other solution would be to put one extra level of syslinux menu as a new root menu and there put the distro selection. But I am familiar with grub, not much with syslinux :-).
@Prcek
Some answers here concerning grub and syslinux :
h ttp://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/how-to-get-grub-to-launch-isolinux-syslinux-boot-menu-796787/
h ttp://serverfault.com/questions/98950/how-do-i-chain-boot-from-grub-to-syslinux
h ttp://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/chainload-syslinux
h ttp://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/grub_intro
h ttps://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux
h ttp://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/48729/how-can-i-get-from-menu-lst-to-syslinux-cfg
h ttp://www.unix.com/unix-dummies-questions-answers/132619-how-get-grub-launch-isolinux-syslinux-boot-menu.html
h ttp://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/install_linux.htm
And others concernings kernel boot parameters :
h ttp://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
Regards.
Tomas, about non-root account, there are many servers that refuse to run as root. This is a serious problem, because some do not have an option at compilation time to accept root account.
Even if you do not put the non-root account as default, it would be very well received to have a second account and a boot cheatcode to enter as that.
About load and noload, I need noload to be able to have differente desktops to choose and to test dependencies of other modules easier.
hi!
tomas! can you make slax 7 installed in USB-HDD?? and make slax run in ATI RADEON or NVIDIA vga?
thank you
Maybe #69 (Liquid Snake) in h*tp://www.tomas-m.com/blog/19355-Slax-RC2-and-weekly-update-11.html
don't forget *=t
If I am not mistaken the latest Google Chrome will not let you use it as root.
If the mountain won't come to Muhommad, then Muhommad must go to the mountain.
You have it backwards, the functionality of the OS should not be crippled just so that errant programs can run.
Despite its other good points, Chrome is notoriously difficult to compile, and if you do get it to run, then as you suggest, it might be a good idea to not run it as root.
Relax, quite likely someone will write a module to allow non-root accounts to be added. I think something similar was done for slax 6.
I hope the simplicity and power of slax is not compromised.
Process to build bundles .sb modules for Slax 7 :
All tools included in Slax 7 RC2.
The squashfs lzma cli way :
1. Create a bundle from a Desktop dir :
mkdir /root/Desktop/your-bundle-dir-name
installpkg -root /root/Desktop/your-bundle-dir-name/ /root/Desktop/your-bundle-dir-name/*.t?z
mksquashfs /root/Desktop/your-bundle-dir-name/ /root/Desktop/your-bundle-name.sb -comp xz -b 512K
2. Extract a bundle from a Desktop dir :
unsquashfs -f -d /root/Desktop/bundle-dir-name-to-extract/ /root/Desktop/bundle-name-to-extract.sb
Regards.
@ Tomas:
I imagine that you still want some testing of rc2 on different computers. I downloades rc2 last week.I experience some lagging and temporary freezin while in firefox. Meanwhile, I could access to other programs like terminal.
Should I redownload rc2. Have you modified it^
In RC2, 64 bits, Firefox is freezing after trying to close it with multiple tabs. I openned two tabs with youtube. Videos are played correctly. When I tryed to close it, it freezed.
The firefox lagging or freezing is simultaneous to the use of the file manager. For example, having some content in file manager from usb key, closing down a session removing the usb key (I made a frugal install of slax 7). When I boot slax 7, freezing will stop if I close the file manager window looking for the absent usb key folder.
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So will be the default user still root, or are you planing on making a regular non-root user as the default?
I can see some things are much simpler if the user is root, but is it necessary? Even in Windows are nowadays regular users preferred instead of the Administrator account.