Re: [debian-knoppix] Some thoughts&questions about knoppix...
On Fri, May 24, 2002 at 07:59:46PM +0200, Stephan Walter wrote:
> > Hmm, I don't think so. Did you do a real measurement? Remember that
> > also the modules on the miniroot.gz are compressed.
>
> Oops, that was my fault. I used strip -s on the modules. They got
> smaller by 130k, but of course they didn't work anymore. But you can
> still gain some bytes...
Well, then I can also gain a lot of bytes by just removing all the
modules that don't work anymore. ;-)
> > > b) remove unused /dev/ nodes: *random loop* ram[2-9] ram??
> > > psaux sndstat , maybe "ttyp*" and "ttyS*" as well.
> >
> > They COULD be needed on a rescue system. And ram* is definitely
> > needed at boot time.
>
> Only ram0 is needed. Other question: is KNOPPIX a rescue system?
Yes, you can also use the boot floppy alone to sucessively mount
your filesystems (and even floppy disks with additional modules).
You may also need more ramdisks sonetimes.
> > > c) Maybe: use busybox + uClibc and asmutils instead of ash-knoppix.
> >
> > This is probably way bigger. ash-knoppix is already linked against
> > dietlibc and has insmod compiled in (which is needed for loading the
> > cloop module).
>
> and for the SCSI stuff...
Yes.
> Even the gzip algorithm can be better than with gzip -9 (see the Windows
> utility 7-zip).
>
> I made a measurement:
> KNOPPIX' miniroot vs. mine
> Same filesystem: loop ext2, 3000 blocks, 8k inodes
> Same directories, /linuxrc script not include
>
> KNOPPIX: 475585 bytes
> compressed with gzip -9
>
> mine: 439882 bytes
That looks good. But do you have insmod?
> some /dev nodes deleted as mentioned above, removed most files in /etc,
Which ones did you remove? There are not so many files in /etc, and
usually those compress well.
> using busybox and asmutils, compressed with 7-zip, doesn't have ls and
> cat (use "echo *" for ls, cat is not needed IMHO)
cat is a very small builtin command, uses very few bytes.
> /linuxrc:
> # copy library cache
> cat /KNOPPIX/etc/ld.so.cache > /etc/ld.so.cache
> Is this necessary? I don't think so.
Yes it is!
It's way faster than running ldconfig from CD-Rom, and you need
/etc/ld.so.cache for the dynamic loader.
> You can use "ldconfig -n /lib /usr/lib"
That would cause about 10-20 seconds of delay, scanning all
libraries on CD.
> 7-Zip could also be used for the Kernel bzImage (see
> /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/compressed/Makefile). Or maybe we could
> tweak gzip?
Are you sure that 7-zip is compatible with the Kernel uncompressor?
How would you create a 7-zipped kernel?
> This would give free space for more SCSI modules. Or what about e3 (VI
> clone)? Uses 8282 bytes... Or a graphical boot logo? Or...?
We have a graphical boot logo on Knoppix-3.0 (the LinuxTag edition),
it replaces the initial bootscreen and still fits.
> > I use the atime timestamp from the files on the master system to
> > generate the sortlist, but there are probably better ways. The results
> > may vary, so you may just leave out the -sort option at all and get
> > an even faster CD.
>
> This is my sort file (numbers are automagically inserted with awk):
> cloop/sbin/ldconfig
> cloop/bin/rm
> cloop/lib/ld-linux.so.2
> cloop/lib/libc.so.6
> cloop/bin/awk
> cloop/bin/gawk
> cloop/lib/libm.so.6
> cloop/bin/expr
> cloop/bin/test
> cloop/bin/mkdir
> cloop/bin/mount
> cloop/bin/ln
> cloop/bin/cp
> cloop/dev/*
> cloop/etc/*
> cloop/sbin/init
> cloop/bin/bash
> cloop/lib/libdl.so.2
> cloop/lib/libncurses.so.5
> cloop/lib/*
> cloop/bin/*
> cloop/sbin/*
> cloop/usr/bin/*
> cloop/usr/lib/*
Looks good, my list is about 2000 lines. Just make sure the order of
the proirity numberin is from top to bottom, not vice versa, otherwise
you will get a LOT of head movements on CD. ;-)
> This is maybe shooting with cannons at sparrows (is there an english
> saying for this?), as my ISO image is only 50MB but perhaps it would be
> good for KNOPPIX. It will surely speed up booting. You cannot speed up
> the loading of other applications, because you don't know which are
> started and in which order. Maybe you can set a negative value for
> dpkg/apt databases and other things that are seldom used.
Well, for creating the sort list, I boot into KDE and start openoffice
and some often used applications. This should get access times right
(in some cases).
> Mit freundlichen Grüssen (Schreib doch auf deutsch, wir zwei sind in
> diesem Thread wohl alleine)
Too late. ;-)
-Klaus
--
Klaus Knopper LinuxTag 2002 - Europes largest Linux Expo
Technical Solutions Where .com meets .org
knopper@linuxtag.de http://www.linuxtag.de/
Phone +49-(0)180-5-546898 Fax +49-(0)180-5-546893
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