Hi:

I have installed Debian Linux on my computer. Have many software installed. I want to make it into a re installable DVD or Live DVD. Which is th easiest way to do it? I tried live-magic, it does not work.

Thanks,

Regards,
Alan

The easiest way is to create a tarbal (zip) version of your system and bunring it.

tar -cjfp mySys.tar.bz2 /mnt/myactualOS

be sure not to put mySys.tar.bz2 on the same partition if you want to avoid infinite loop.

When you want to restore your system, put the CD in and use
cd /mnt/myNewPartition
tar -xpvf /mnt/cdrom/mySys.tar.bz2

This solution is very easy and restore a perfect system in only a few minutes. Do it from a live-CD if possible. If you don't have addtitional partitions, remember you can use any cifs/smb or nfs network drive to put the backup in.

Hi:

All I have is a single P4 computer with a single 250 GB HD, partitioned with MS Windows XP, Kanotix, and Debian. When I try your method from Kanotix partition I get this error

sudo tar -cjfp /media/sda6/home/hilbert/mySys.tar.bz2 /mnt/myactualOStar: Removing leading `/' from member names
tar: /media/sda6/home/hilbert/mySys.tar.bz2: Cannot stat: No such file or directory
tar: /mnt/myactualOS: Cannot stat: No such file or directory
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Alan

You need to replace
with the drive/partition you want to backup

is the file you will create
is the drive/partition you want to backup

use Remastersys backup
its almost hands free and its GUI too

Remastersys will make a custom livecd/dvd of your debian or ubuntu install
http://www.geekconnection.org/remastersys/

Thats how I make some of mine
http://linux.softpedia.com/progMoreB...isX-31789.html

its pretty cool

if you need help with it holler back

If you want to create live cd/dvd from your running system, take a look at remastersys
http://www.geekconnection.org/remast...ersystool.html

EDIT:
Damned
The remastersys guru was faster :-)

LOL
I got you this time Repo

Hi:

I am trying to use remastersys, I am using the remastersys with gui. In the end it states hilbert.iso is created in /home/remastersys/remastersys. But I dont find anything in this directory. What might have gone wrong?

Thanks

AJ

OH

what system are you using?
debian lenny?

uh, do you have aufs-modules and squashfs-modules installed?
did you reboot after installing them then run remastersys-gui?

Hi:

This is the error I get while I am using remastersys.

E: Couldn't find package squashfs-modules-2.6.24-3-kanotix
Checking if the /home/remastersys/remastersys folder has been created
Copying /var and /etc to temp area and excluding extra files
find: /home/remastersys/remastersys/dummysys/var/crash: No such file or directory
Setting up live options for dist mode
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-3-kanotix
W: mdadm: unchecked configuration file: /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
W: mdadm: please read /usr/share/doc/mdadm/README.upgrading-2.5.3.gz .
W: mdadm: no arrays defined in configuration file.
W: mdadm: falling back to emergency procedure in initramfs.
Copying your kernel and initrd for the livecd
Creating filesystem.squashfs ... this will take a while so be patient
/usr/bin/remastersys: line 403: [: 32-r2: integer expression expected
Adding stage 1 files/folders that the livecd requires.
Adding stage 2 files/folders that the livecd requires.
ls: /home/remastersys/remastersys/ISOTMP/live/filesystem.squashfs: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/remastersys: line 494: [: : integer expression expected


Guess I will have to install squashfs-modules-2.6.24-3-kanotix

Thanks
AJ

yeah
its not really made for Kanotix

you will have to find those modules
if they exist

Hi:

I installed sqaushfs-modules-2.6.24-3 kanotix etc and I get this error.

Checking if the /home/remastersys/remastersys folder has been created
Copying /var and /etc to temp area and excluding extra files
find: /home/remastersys/remastersys/dummysys/var/crash: No such file or directory
Setting up live options for dist mode
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686
W: mdadm: unchecked configuration file: /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
W: mdadm: please read /usr/share/doc/mdadm/README.upgrading-2.5.3.gz .
W: mdadm: no arrays defined in configuration file.
W: mdadm: falling back to emergency procedure in initramfs.
Copying your kernel and initrd for the livecd
Creating filesystem.squashfs ... this will take a while so be patient
/usr/bin/remastersys: line 403: [: 32-r2: integer expression expected
Adding stage 1 files/folders that the livecd requires.
Adding stage 2 files/folders that the livecd requires.
ls: /home/remastersys/remastersys/ISOTMP/live/filesystem.squashfs: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/remastersys: line 494: [: : integer expression expected


Also I tried sudo tar -cjfp /media/sda6/home/hilbert/mySys.tar.bz2 /dev/sda3

I get these errors

tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
tar: /media/sda6/home/hilbert/mySys.tar.bz2: Cannot stat: No such file or directory
tar: /dev/sda3: Cannot stat: No such file or directory
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors


I just want a Live installable CD. I find that tar option to be easy but it is not working.

Thanks for your help,

Regards,
AJ

um
look at the remastersys scripts in /usr/bin

open any of them with a text editor and turn on "show line numbers"
then go to that error line
and see what it says...

it seems like its still missing something

Tar will not create a live CD, it will backup your system to a compressed file.
You can burn this file to a CD/DVD, and restore the system in case of problems.
However, it will not create a CD/DVD from which you can boot.

Hi

This what line 403 states

if [ "$SQUASHFSVERSION" -lt "33" ]; then

SQUASHFSOPTSHIGH=""

else

SQUASHFSOPTSHIGH="-no-recovery -always-use-fragments"

fi

echo "Adding stage 1 files/folders that the livecd requires."


This is what line 494 states

if [ "$SQUASHFSSIZE" -gt "3999999" ]; then
echo " The compressed filesystem is larger than the iso9660 specification allows for a single file. You must try to reduce the amount of data you are backing up and try again."
echo " The compressed filesystem is larger than the iso9660 specification allows for a single file. You must try to reduce the amount of data you are backing up and try again.">>$WORKDIR/remastersys.log

Thanks for your help

Regards,
AJ