Live + memdisk installation in PAIPIX 7 Re: PAIPIX
Dear Andreas,
You mean a copy of the same message that I have sent to the debian-live
list? I append it to this message.
Regarding the common science task list for debian-live. I had to define
a default environment for PAIPIX but I do not claim that this should be
the default for Debian-Science. For example I decided on KDE but GNOME
could be used instead.
What I have defined was that this common environment includes a nucleus
of packages in which one can install the specific science packages at
run time using unionfs. This separation is more convenient if one opts
for the disk installation since it defines the common environment and
the users can install, off the DVD, what they specifically need. At the
same time they can install live if they just want to test them.
The core of installed applications should not be too large because the
same applications are filling space in the squashfs live file system and
in the package repository (if one wants to be able to use the standard
debian installer). This core should also not be too small because if
there is a long list of dependencies that have to be installed in memory
for each application the ram gets exhausted.
The "install when you need" approach is also excellent to install
services that must be user configured during the installation.
Keeping this problems in mind I think that our approach could be used to
deliver an unique Debian-Science DVD with live plus install.
All the best,
António Amorim
PS:
Dear Colleagues,
I have just published PAIPIX 7 (http://www.paipix.org) that is using
debian-live. PAIPIX is main focused on scientific applications.
Clearly it was only possible due to the excellence of the work of the
debian-live team. Thanks!
There are some main concepts that I have added to the debian-live:
1- The Debian-live image only has about one third of the packages. The
Debian repository that goes with the DVD includes not only include the
image packages but also all other ones that can then be installed either
live or in an installed system (see PAIPIX menu or paipix-install command).
2- To achieve this the system runs apt-cdrom when booted live.
Have a look at the scripts/i386/chroot_local-hooks/install.sh for the
actual work.
The source code for all PAIPIX packages is available from the paipix
repository, together with the compiled versions. The patches to the
live-helper package are available in the paipix-helper package.
use: deb http://mirror.paipix.org/debian-paipix etch main contrib non-free
apt-get install paipix-helper and have a look at
/usr/share/doc/paipix-helper (/changes) for all the scripts and
coorrections that I have applyed to debian-live. They are applyed to
live-helper_1.0~a22-1_all.deb that was checked out form svn.
Patches include avoiding the unionfs problems in /proc/self/exe that are
important for example to the SUN java packages.
Please feel free to ask if you have any further question and once again
thank you for developing the excellent live-helper,
António Amorim
PS: I include bellow the general announcement:
PAIPIX 7 the new integrated PAIPIX
The new PAIPIX 7 GNU/Linux keeps its focus on scientific software but
drops the emphasis on a pure live DVD to integrate, in the same DVD, the
installation, live and upgrade systems.
These solutions result form using the Debian official packages
debian-live and debian-cd, making the development of PAIPIX more
sustainable in the medium range. The new main use cases are:
LIVE: Starting PAIPIX in the live mode, one has access to complete
system including KDE, Office and Development. In a second stage, the
PAIPIX menu allows to install in memory all remaining applications. This
approach is usable since a typical live session only explores a
restricted subset of applications. It still allows you to try all the
available software without installing it definitely it in the hard disk.
INSTALLATION: By starting PAIPIX in the installation mode one has access
to the standard debian-installer system. The installer was configured
(pre-seeded) to reproduce the complete KDE, Office and Development
environment available in the live system with further access to all
packages trough the PAIPIX installation menu. The DVD includes all
binary packages necessary to the full system installation.
UPGRADE: As part of the entire system, the DVD includes a Debian-CDROM
like repository that includes all necessary packages. This repository
can be also be used to upgrade or install further packages in any Debian
type installation. To upgrade an existing system one should use the
apt-cdrom add command to add this DVD to the list of used repositories.
The PAIPIX iso images are available in English (PAIPIX) and in bilingual
editions that support both English and one of the following languages:
Portuguese (PAIPIX-PT), Spanish (PAIPIX-ES), French (PAIPIX-FR), Italian
(PAIPIX-IT) and German (PAIPIX-DE).
PAIPIX 7 is based on Debian Etch (4.0) although all packages in the
paipix repository are made available for sid(unstable), lenny(testing)
and etch(stable).
PAIPIX is build both for 32bit (i386-686) and 64bit (amd64 – intel ET64)
architectures. The 64 bit support, although newer, is is rather complete
except mainly (in Etch) the browser Java and Flash plugins.
PAIPIX 7 is free (as in speech) software and results from a
collaboration between the SIM Research Laboratory at F. Ciências, of the
Universidade de Lisboa and the SEE-FUTURE spin-off. The source code for
all PAIPIX packages is available from the paipix repository, together
with the compiled versions.
The patches to the live-helper package are available in the
paipix-helper package.
As an aggregation of mostly free-software packages, you can only use
PAIPIX at your own risk. The Author can not accept any responsibility on
any problem or hardware damage or data loss that can result from PAIPIX
usage.
Andreas Tille escreveu:
On Wed, 29 Aug 2007, Antonio Amorim wrote:
I would be very much interested in:
"Joining Debian-Science people?"
Reply to: