Hello,

On the OpenSUSE 11.4 Linux DVD, there are compressed filesystem images for the live version for KDE or Gnome for example, but they have no extension, but they are clearly an image file due to their sizes( compressed filesystem images for the live version before deciding to install ) !!

I was wondering, How do I mount these compressed filesystem images, after I copy the ISO content of the DVD on my system .... I want to edit some files or packages and make some changes, like if I want to customize a live version of gnome for example ! ... ( I know you might be tempted to tell me to use KIWI etc to customize etc ..... ) ... but I want to be able to mount the compressed file system image, then edit it for reading and writing while it is in a subdirectory on its own ... i want to open it ! ... is there a way to do this ??? ... these type of files have no extension ...

Please help ... can someone give me a command so i can open this compressed filesystem image then to edit for read & write ... before I roll it back again ..... If and when I succeed .... what should I watch out for ? ... will the same compressed file image but slightly modified work again ???? ... please advise ! any cues on this will be much appreciated !

thank you

Don

Most, if not all, of those compressed files are not filesystems, but cpio-archives (somewhat similar to a tar-ball). You have to decompress and de-cpio them, then alter the files, cpio them again and then compress again.

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I am afraid that the files I am referring to are not cpio-archive files.
they do not have cpio extension, they don't have extension at all !

I made a little research on cpio ... and I don't think it's it !

here are some clues that made me draw this conclusion :
first : on this OpenSuse 11.4 DVD, there are 2 other files, like the config.kde.isoclient & the config.gnome.isoclient files

for example, the config.kde.isoclient file contains the following :

IMAGE=/dev/ram1;openSUSE-kde-11.4-livecd-kde.i686;2.8.0
UNIONFS_CONFIG=/dev/ram1,/dev/loop1,clicfs


and the files that I am referring to in my first question above are on the DVD & named as:

openSUSE-kde-11.4-livecd-kde-read-only.i686-2.8.0
openSUSE-kde-11.4-livecd-gnome-read-only.i686-2.8.0

with no extension and they weigh about 665 MiB each

????

If you truely believe they are cpio files .... give me an example of a command line to extract or open one of them for read & write ... plz ... and I will let you know if it works ! ??? ...

thank you

Don

You are aware that Linux is not dependent on file-extensions, like Windows is?

you can easily test if they are cpio-files with the file-command, like

I am aware that linux is not so extension dependent like windows is ... but ... Thanks for the tip & reminder ! ...

here are some more info :
... after doing a custom build, with suse studio.. I ended up with a file just like the one I told you about ! ...
locally, with the help of KIWI ... ended up with one just like it too ... !
old suse distros ( like the 10.0 named SUSE OSS ) did not have these big files .. back then ... they were using archive type files !
so it was easy to customize the CD/DVDs and do what I wished to do ... but now .... since the 11.0 versions
these files are on all live CDs or DVDs.

so .. I want to use another approach .... can you help me with finding a command to open up one of these files so I can experiment ..and eventually .. possibly ..really do what I am trying to do !
by doing the file command, the response I got is :
" data " ... that's all !

I took your suggestion with the "file" command in my custom_image directory and this is what I got !

donald@linux-vzxf:/tmp/custom_image> file Boyo-Linux-1.01-live-iso-read-only.i686-2.5.2
Boyo-Linux-1.01-live-iso-read-only.i686-2.5.2: data

I get the same result with openSUSE-kde-11.4-livecd-kde-read-only.i686-2.8.0

it says : data

that's it !

???

I am currently downloading a openSuse DVD to have a look at those files. Will post back my results later.

Hello TobiSGD,
I want to thank you for your initiative ! ...
Did you notice what I was referring to ... what do you make of them ... Aren't these files somekind of unionfs/squashfs scheme files ??? ... or something else ?? ..

Sorry for not posting earlier, I was busy. Where did you find those files? I downloaded the standard openSuse 11.4 DVD and didn't find them on there. Currently downloading the KDE live-CD to have a look at that.

A quick google found:
http://desire.sk/simple/node/5

Looks like some useful information and it looks like it is still relevant.

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Michaelk my friend ! ... I believe you found what I was looking for ! ... thanks a bunch .. with clicfs it might just works .. like the link suggest ! .. this is it ! ... I will post back to share !



Don