remastering MORPHIX ?

published:  2003-04-19

related pages: KNOPPIX LAMP version

what is MORPHIX

morphix [1] is a linux Live-CD based on KNOPPIX [2] 
both are based on the debian distro [3].

this is a chat which describes how to remaster the Morphix LightGUI.
morphix LightGUI has an icewm desktop - which i want to use for my project.

thanks to helper again.

[1] http://www.morphix.org/
[2] http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/
[3] http://www.debian.org

other resources on remastering knoppix live-cd


There are different strategies how to remaster Knoppix and Knoppix based distros.

Read them in advance, so you understand what your are doing. 

I liked the version of stirnimann [1], where he shows how to start the X under chroot.


[1] http://www.stirnimann.com/mystuff/doc/knoppix.txt
[2] http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/KnoppixRemasteringHowto
[3] http://gnubox.dyndns.org:8080/~sunil/knoppix.php
[4] http://home.teleport.ch/matthias/knoppix.html (in german)

chat in channel #morphix on irc.freenode.net

guest: hallo martin_krung
martin_krung: he
martin_krung: i try to remaster morphix
martin_krung: someone has some experience ??
guest: morphix?
martin_krung: yes
___helper___: shoot
martin_krung: i tried it with the base, but there is too less installed
martin_krung: so i just tried the light gui, but i dont get the point
martin_krung: there is in one folder, in the base folder the same as in the base.iso
martin_krung: of course ...
martin_krung: im interested in mainmod, but in think it makes no sense to uncopress it, because i cannot chroot to it, its not a working system
martin_krung: ??
___helper___: the module in base is the one that does all the work booting and configuring the system (more in a sec)
martin_krung: i want to use a live cd to distribute my projects - i'm kinda artist
martin_krung: so i need only live cd with a galeon & mysl server on it, and i like icewm too
___helper___: the module in mainmod is where all the working programs go - So unless you are adding a new kernel, ignore the base module
martin_krung: yes thats the base, i understand that
martin_krung: ok
martin_krung: so if i want to remove aps from the mainmod , how to do that ?
___helper___: the mainmod (e.g. LightGUI.mod) is a compressed file system just like Knoppix
martin_krung: i know, but normally you uncompress the iso, eg lightGui
___helper___: First, you need the toolkit from the Morphix ftp server
martin_krung: and then chroot to it, but i can only chroot to a working system , can't i ?
martin_krung: ok
martin_krung: i look on the page right now
martin_krung: how does the interaction between base and the mainmod work ?
___helper___: Give me a few lines, and I'll outline how I do it
martin_krung: ok
___helper___: do a Morphix install to hard disk
___helper___: download and install the cloop tools
martin_krung: ok
martin_krung: i did
___helper___: download the LightGUI.mod
martin_krung: i mean install the cloop tools
martin_krung: i downloaded the LightGUI.mod ..
___helper___: extract_compressed_fs LightGUI.mod > lightgui.img
martin_krung: quick -)
___helper___: mount -o loop lightgui.img /mnt/tmp
martin_krung: ok i do it right now
___helper___: cp -a /mnt/tmp /mnt/MODDIR
martin_krung: its uncompressing ...
martin_krung: thanks, cool i met you ...
martin_krung: uncompress finished ..
___helper___: another 20mins I'd have left the country
___helper___: OK, now "mount -o loop ".. & then copy to a working directory
martin_krung: so im copy the content to ..
guest: you in an airport or something?
___helper___: not yet
guest: ah, so you mean 20 min till you leave for the airport?
martin_krung: where are you going to ?
___helper___: Atlanta
martin_krung: how long does it take ?
___helper___: teach these rednecks to speck English
___helper___: 9hr flight
martin_krung: no, really ?
___helper___: is the copy done yet ?
guest: helper: redneck?
guest: helper: the southerners are the rednecks...
martin_krung: rednecks = party in the back - business in the front ..
guest: and the english were red coats
martin_krung: i mean their hairstyle ..
___helper___: Carefull -It's only been 250yrs since you guys were officially granted independence
martin_krung: so i copied the stuff, whats next .. chroot ?
martin_krung: it works ..
___helper___: mount --bind /tmp /mnt/MODDIR
martin_krung: o i forgot ..
___helper___: I also mount --bind /root /mnt/MODDIR/root
___helper___: it's not important, as these can be cleared out afterwards
martin_krung: i dont get it, no chroot before mount --bind ?
___helper___: not yet
___helper___: if you chroot first, any mount --binds will be relative to your new _root_ dir
martin_krung: i did mount --bind /tmp /mnt/MODDIR
___helper___: mount --bind /tmp /mnt/MODDIR/tmp
___helper___: not /mnt/MODDIR
martin_krung: but i cant mount --bind /root /mnt/MODDIR/root because the /mnt/MODDIR is empty now
martin_krung: ok i get it ..
___helper___: ok - umount /mnt/MODDIR first
___helper___: my fault - I forgot the MODDIR/tmp ....
martin_krung: ok i did it with tmp and root ..
___helper___: now cd /mnt/MODDIR
martin_krung: ok
___helper___: quickly check /mnt/MODDIR/etc/apt/sources.list
martin_krung: ok there are some sources ..
___helper___: check to see that the deb entries refer to real servers (no # at the start of the line)
martin_krung: ok they do ..
___helper___: NOW chroot /mnt/MODDIR
martin_krung: ok
___helper___: Quick, switch to another console - I forgot something...
martin_krung: now apt-get update ..
martin_krung: i have another one open ..
___helper___: mount --bind /dev /mnt/MODDIR/dev
___helper___: and back to the chrooted console
martin_krung: ok
martin_krung: i did it ..
___helper___: mount -t proc proc /proc
martin_krung: did ..
martin_krung: apt-get now ??
___helper___: apt-get update
martin_krung: i do .. ok i see how it works ..
martin_krung: now the normal debian style ..
___helper___: yup
martin_krung: a question
___helper___: shoot
martin_krung: do you know - if i want to install some documents on the cd, how to do that ...
___helper___: in the module ?
martin_krung: my goal is, you start up the morphix - it boots into icewm with the galeon open ... there is my project ..
___helper___: from another console, just copy them to somewhere in the chrooted tree
martin_krung: is it possible to start the x in the chrooted environment ?
___helper___: yes
martin_krung: ok ..
martin_krung: how do i make that the galeon is open on startup ??
___helper___: but you'll need to make sure etc/X11/XFConfig-4 exists
martin_krung: is there a config file for the desktop
martin_krung: ok i copied it from my installed debian .. etc/X11/XFConfig-4
___helper___: icewm configs are in etc/X11/icewm
___helper___: getting an application to auto-run under icewm... You'd need to ask someone else
___helper___: Is there nothing in the icewm docs or icewm home page ??
martin_krung: do you know, is it possible to burn the documents uncopressed on the cd-rom and than read it with morphix - eg galeon on the morphix the documents on the
same cd rom ?
___helper___: The CD *should* be mounted at /cdrom
martin_krung: he helper - you helped me a lot . the mount --bind thing is cool .. i didnt know that ...
martin_krung: ok so i can just load it from /cdrom .. thats cool
___helper___: need to wrap this up - I need to get stuff ready for the morning...
martin_krung: ok - im tiered ..
martin_krung: im going to bed
___helper___: Once you've finished adding/removing packages
martin_krung: thanks a loot - nice to meet you ..
___helper___: umount all the directories you used --bind on
___helper___: (after exiting the chroot)
martin_krung: now right now, im added and removed enough packages today
martin_krung: sure also the proc .. i already remaster knoppix - but i am to lazy to uninstall all packages so i better use morphix ..
___helper___: OK - clean up /mnt/root and delete any *.old files in /var
martin_krung: ok ok .old files in var - will anyway keep this chat ..
___helper___: and.. /mnt/MODDIR/var/lib/apt/lists
___helper___: remove any files here also - But leave the partial directory
___helper___: It saves space when you compress the file again
martin_krung: i have to shut down all my computers ... there are too noisy i cant sleep ..
___helper___: Did you come across a module-builder.pl script on the web ??
martin_krung: i didn't. whats this ?
___helper___: If so, use this to generate the final LightGUI.mod
martin_krung: ok i will looking for it
___helper___: it should be on the xs4all.nl server under the scripts directory
martin_krung: is morphix based on knoppix 3.1 .. or already on 3.2 ?
___helper___: That should keep you busy for a while - Any more questions, ask master
___helper___: Morphix uses many features from 3.2
___helper___: it is starting to fork a little with some of the scripts...
___helper___: Anyway, I got to go now
master: cya helper
martin_krung: today, as started lightGui from the cd rom - it didnt find the right resolution for my screen - it was flimmering
master: have fun in the states :D
martin_krung: last question ..
___helper___: ??
martin_krung: but knoppix found it , why ..
___helper___: master added a feature (we call it a bug)
master: you were going tomorrow, weren't you?
master: yeah, it's a feature : )
martin_krung: if you it use the same script - so its more a bug
___helper___: 1600x1400 resolution !
master: 1600x1200 : P
martin_krung: how to change it back to 1024x ..
___helper___: how's counting
___helper___: who
martin_krung: per default - i mean
martin_krung: ok good night ... good flight .
___helper___: master can answer this one better than me..
master: heh, true, anyway good luck over there :)
master: can't change it, have to edit it by hand
martin_krung: of course, where is the config file ?
master: /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
___helper___: I'll try to join in on irc... see you all later.
master: kay, have fun :)
<-- helper has quit ("using sirc version 2.211+KSIRC/1.1")
martin_krung: i did allready, but i couldent restart the X afterwards ...
master: startx - morph
martin_krung: ok i tried /usr/bin/icewm
martin_krung: do you know, there are some poeple who tray to make the knoppix stuff to debian packages
master: yups
martin_krung: # apt-get install knoppix-base
martin_krung: burning .. your system on a live cd
master: problem is that it won't work, imho
martin_krung: they try it .. there are people with experience ..
guest: allo master
master: hmm, well, i guess the modular way is better : )
master: hey guest :)
martin_krung: here they discuss over it:http://mailman.linuxtag.org/pipermail/debian-knoppix/2003-March/002141.html
guest: master: morphix is on distrowatch
master: guest:i know :)
master: kewl huh
guest: yep
master: martin_krung: i'm on the list :)
martin_krung: i think its a good idea, no remastering anymore - you can build your live cd from scratch