How to create an appx file for a Porteus install to WSL

[Ed_P]

The title basically says it all. We download ISOs, how do we convert an ISO file to be an Appx file?

[beny]

hi Ed_P only snap on ubuntu have something useful for this task but snap need systemd so you have to have an ubuntu system running

[Ed_P]

Thanks beny. I'm surprised there is no Porteus dir2appx command. And surprised I can't find documentation on what's in one other than the OS's files themselves. I think there is a files folder but don't know what the format of the lines in it is. There are appx files on Windows' WSL Store, I may have to download one to analyze.

[beny]

The Appx format is proprietary to Microsoft so I don't think Porteus can have software like this,but you can always hope

[Ed_P]

I think you're right. But just saw some useful app links here: video downloaders I wonder if WSL will work with one of them.

[i3slkiller]

So, I installed Windows 10 on vmware (because it's only hypervisor which supports nested vm on my pc) and WSL2 on it, and I got figuring how to start porteus on it, as a result I am sharing a quickly written way to get it "working".

build kernel

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activate 05-devel.xzm
wget https://github.com/microsoft/WSL2-Linux-Kernel/archive/linux-msft-wsl-5.15.153.1/WSL2-Linux-Kernel-linux-msft-wsl-5.15.153.1.tar.gz
tar -xf WSL2-Linux-Kernel-linux-msft-wsl-5.15.153.1.tar.gz
git clone https://github.com/sfjro/aufs-standalone.git
git -C aufs-standalone checkout aufs5.15.41
cd WSL2-Linux-Kernel-linux-msft-wsl-5.15.153.1
patch -p1 < ../aufs-standalone/aufs5-kbuild.patch
patch -p1 < ../aufs-standalone/aufs5-base.patch
patch -p1 < ../aufs-standalone/aufs5-mmap.patch
patch -p1 < ../aufs-standalone/aufs5-standalone.patch
cp -r ../aufs-standalone/{Documentation,fs} .
cp ../aufs-standalone/include/uapi/linux/aufs_type.h include/uapi/linux
patch -p1 < ../aufs-standalone/vfs-ino.patch
patch -p1 < ../aufs-standalone/tmpfs-idr.patch
cp arch/x86/configs/config-wsl .config
cat << EOF > patch
--- arch/x86/configs/config-wsl	2024-04-23 19:27:59.000000000 +0200
+++ /mnt/vbox/tmp/.config	2024-05-21 19:16:30.573137835 +0200
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 #
 # Automatically generated file; DO NOT EDIT.
-# Linux/x86 5.15.146.1 Kernel Configuration
+# Linux/x86 5.15.153.1 Kernel Configuration
 #
-CONFIG_CC_VERSION_TEXT="gcc (Ubuntu 11.4.0-2ubuntu1~20.04) 11.4.0"
+CONFIG_CC_VERSION_TEXT="gcc (GCC) 11.2.0"
 CONFIG_CC_IS_GCC=y
-CONFIG_GCC_VERSION=110400
+CONFIG_GCC_VERSION=110200
 CONFIG_CLANG_VERSION=0
 CONFIG_AS_IS_GNU=y
-CONFIG_AS_VERSION=23400
+CONFIG_AS_VERSION=23700
 CONFIG_LD_IS_BFD=y
-CONFIG_LD_VERSION=23400
+CONFIG_LD_VERSION=23700
 CONFIG_LLD_VERSION=0
 CONFIG_CC_CAN_LINK=y
 CONFIG_CC_CAN_LINK_STATIC=y
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 CONFIG_CC_HAS_ASM_GOTO_TIED_OUTPUT=y
 CONFIG_CC_HAS_ASM_INLINE=y
 CONFIG_CC_HAS_NO_PROFILE_FN_ATTR=y
-CONFIG_PAHOLE_VERSION=121
+CONFIG_PAHOLE_VERSION=0
 CONFIG_IRQ_WORK=y
 CONFIG_BUILDTIME_TABLE_SORT=y
 CONFIG_THREAD_INFO_IN_TASK=y
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 CONFIG_INIT_ENV_ARG_LIMIT=32
 # CONFIG_COMPILE_TEST is not set
 # CONFIG_WERROR is not set
-CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-microsoft-standard-WSL2"
+CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-aufs-WSL2"
 # CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO is not set
 CONFIG_BUILD_SALT=""
 CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_GZIP=y
@@ -462,7 +462,6 @@
 CONFIG_HAVE_LIVEPATCH=y
 # end of Processor type and features

-CONFIG_CC_HAS_SLS=y
 CONFIG_CC_HAS_RETURN_THUNK=y
 CONFIG_SPECULATION_MITIGATIONS=y
 CONFIG_PAGE_TABLE_ISOLATION=y
@@ -472,7 +471,6 @@
 CONFIG_CPU_IBPB_ENTRY=y
 CONFIG_CPU_IBRS_ENTRY=y
 CONFIG_CPU_SRSO=y
-# CONFIG_SLS is not set
 # CONFIG_GDS_FORCE_MITIGATION is not set
 CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_ADD_PAGES=y
 CONFIG_ARCH_MHP_MEMMAP_ON_MEMORY_ENABLE=y
@@ -749,6 +747,10 @@
 # end of GCOV-based kernel profiling

 CONFIG_HAVE_GCC_PLUGINS=y
+CONFIG_GCC_PLUGINS=y
+# CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_CYC_COMPLEXITY is not set
+# CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_LATENT_ENTROPY is not set
+# CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_RANDSTRUCT is not set
 # end of General architecture-dependent options

 CONFIG_RT_MUTEXES=y
@@ -1363,7 +1365,6 @@
 #
 # Queueing/Scheduling
 #
-# CONFIG_NET_SCH_CBQ is not set
 # CONFIG_NET_SCH_HTB is not set
 # CONFIG_NET_SCH_HFSC is not set
 # CONFIG_NET_SCH_PRIO is not set
@@ -1377,7 +1378,6 @@
 # CONFIG_NET_SCH_ETF is not set
 # CONFIG_NET_SCH_TAPRIO is not set
 # CONFIG_NET_SCH_GRED is not set
-# CONFIG_NET_SCH_DSMARK is not set
 # CONFIG_NET_SCH_NETEM is not set
 # CONFIG_NET_SCH_DRR is not set
 # CONFIG_NET_SCH_MQPRIO is not set
@@ -2445,7 +2445,6 @@
 # CONFIG_MFD_SM501 is not set
 # CONFIG_MFD_SKY81452 is not set
 # CONFIG_MFD_SYSCON is not set
-# CONFIG_MFD_TI_AM335X_TSCADC is not set
 # CONFIG_MFD_LP3943 is not set
 # CONFIG_MFD_LP8788 is not set
 # CONFIG_MFD_TI_LMU is not set
@@ -3390,6 +3389,26 @@
 CONFIG_EROFS_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
 CONFIG_EROFS_FS_SECURITY=y
 CONFIG_EROFS_FS_ZIP=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_FS=y
+# CONFIG_AUFS_BRANCH_MAX_127 is not set
+# CONFIG_AUFS_BRANCH_MAX_511 is not set
+# CONFIG_AUFS_BRANCH_MAX_1023 is not set
+CONFIG_AUFS_BRANCH_MAX_32767=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_SBILIST=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_HNOTIFY=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_HFSNOTIFY=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_EXPORT=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_INO_T_64=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_XATTR=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_FHSM=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_RDU=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_DIRREN=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_SHWH=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_BR_RAMFS=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_BR_FUSE=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_POLL=y
+CONFIG_AUFS_BDEV_LOOP=y
+# CONFIG_AUFS_DEBUG is not set
 CONFIG_NETWORK_FILESYSTEMS=y
 CONFIG_NFS_FS=y
 CONFIG_NFS_V2=y
@@ -3549,6 +3568,10 @@
 # Memory initialization
 #
 CONFIG_INIT_STACK_NONE=y
+# CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_STRUCTLEAK_USER is not set
+# CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_STRUCTLEAK_BYREF is not set
+# CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_STRUCTLEAK_BYREF_ALL is not set
+# CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_STACKLEAK is not set
 # CONFIG_INIT_ON_ALLOC_DEFAULT_ON is not set
 # CONFIG_INIT_ON_FREE_DEFAULT_ON is not set
 CONFIG_CC_HAS_ZERO_CALL_USED_REGS=y
@@ -3926,9 +3949,7 @@
 CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_DWARF_TOOLCHAIN_DEFAULT=y
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_DWARF4 is not set
 # CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_DWARF5 is not set
-CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF=y
-CONFIG_PAHOLE_HAS_SPLIT_BTF=y
-CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF_MODULES=y
+# CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF is not set
 # CONFIG_GDB_SCRIPTS is not set
 CONFIG_FRAME_WARN=1024
 # CONFIG_STRIP_ASM_SYMS is not set
EOF
patch .config < patch
make -j4

move arch/x86/boot/bzImage to windows pc


clone repo

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git clone https://gitlab.com/i3slkiller/porteus-wsl2
cd porteus-wsl2

convert base modules (001,002,003) to zstd* and put them in porteus/base
optionally create porteus/modules and porteus/modules folders and put additional modules here (must be also zstd*)

create tar package

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tar --owner=0 --group=0 -cf ../wsl2/rootfs.tar --exclude='.git*' --exclude='.empty' .

move rootfs.tar to windows pc


* - on xz modules spams dmesg with squashfs error messages and throws input/output error


on windows
move bzImage to C:\Users\user
create C:\Users\user\.wslconfig file with these contents

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[wsl2]
kernel=C:\\Users\\user\\bzImage

restart windows
open command prompt

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> mkdir C:\wsl2
> wsl --import porteus C:\wsl2\porteus Z:\wsl2\rootfs.tar --version 2
> wsl -d porteus
# /linuxrc
porteus# su -l

** - modules to activate must be outside union

[Ed_P]

Interesting. Thank you i3slkiller.

I have WSL in my Windows 11 system so I need to skip a step or two. May take a few days to test depending on rl matters.

[rych]

What is this useful for? Is it (just) a Linux CLI environment running on Windows, and you're adding Porteus into the WSL list of supported Linux flavors ... then what?

[i3slkiller]

Rather only for satisfy my curiosity about whether it is possible; apart from very far-fetched reasons like building/checking modules when cannot install normal hypervisor (like VirtualBox or VMware) nor boot Porteus, I don't see the point of it.

[Ed_P]

nor boot Porteus, I don't see the point of it.

I was thinking I could run Porteus in WSL like the ISO but now not so sure. WSL I thought was a Linux kernel so an app of Porteus's base modules would run Porteus. You guys think WSL is only for CLI functions? That could be useful I guess for Porteus scripts I guess. What about scripts that load Porteus modules, that too far out too?

[i3slkiller]

WSL I thought was a Linux kernel

More specifically, WSL2 is a virtual machine, on which as far as I know multiple running distros shares the same linux kernel.

You guys think WSL is only for CLI functions?

At least in WSL2, you can also use graphical apps (look at the screenshot on #6).

What about scripts that load Porteus modules

activate, deactivate - works.

Regarding modules there are caveats:
- modules must be zstd-compressed, because (on at least kernel which I built) there are squashfs errors on xz modules (exactly the same modules works without that errors on Porteus)
- modules(xzm files) you want to activate must not be in aufs union (also on at least kernel which I built)

Don't forget to update WSL (wsl --update).

[Ed_P]

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C:\Users\Ed>wsl --update
Checking for updates.
The most recent version of Windows Subsystem for Linux is already installed.

C:\Users\Ed>wsl --version
WSL version: 2.1.5.0
Kernel version: 5.15.146.1-2
WSLg version: 1.0.60
MSRDC version: 1.2.5105
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp
Windows version: 10.0.22631.3593

C:\Users\Ed>wsl --list --online
The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
Install using 'wsl.exe --install <Distro>'.

NAME                                   FRIENDLY NAME
Ubuntu                                 Ubuntu
Debian                                 Debian GNU/Linux
kali-linux                             Kali Linux Rolling
Ubuntu-18.04                           Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu-20.04                           Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu-22.04                           Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Ubuntu-24.04                           Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
OracleLinux_7_9                        Oracle Linux 7.9
OracleLinux_8_7                        Oracle Linux 8.7
OracleLinux_9_1                        Oracle Linux 9.1
openSUSE-Leap-15.5                     openSUSE Leap 15.5
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-Server-15-SP4    SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP5           SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP5
openSUSE-Tumbleweed                    openSUSE Tumbleweed

C:\Users\Ed>

The wsl --list --online output is why I was hoping we could do the same for Porteus.

BTW My Windows OS is version 11, surprised to see the WSL version shows Windows 10.