Porteus/Arch aka Sensei (Porteus w/pacman package manager)

[stifiling]

Here's the modded Porteus with Arch Linux's pacman package manager. It's pretty much a clone of the puppy linux fork Sensei I put together here.

the iso size can be shrunken more with a little effort. the included apps are:
Audacious Audio Player
SMPlayer Media Player
Wicd Network Manager
Seamonkey Browser
Geany Text Editor
Galculator
Gparted Partition Editor
LXTask Task Manager
Pidgin Chat Client
Thunar File Manager
XFCE Terminal
Viewnior Image Viewer
Adobe Flash
Retrovol Mixer
XFCE Screenshooter
Obshutdown
Filemnt
Udisks2 Volume Monitor
Grub4dos
Set date and time
PacmanExpress GUI package manager

all of these apps are inside the 04-apps.xzm, with the goal being a default and ready to use OS. Of course these apps might not be someone's preferred favorites....so simply delete 04-apps.xzm, and make another one with 'your' favorites, or install any app you want with pacman...saving your changes inside a .dat save file. I like to be able to completely remove apps or unwanted stuff from my linux where it's "COMPLETELY" gone. aufs linuxes as we know just hides/white outs the files, which works very well, but i prefer it to be completely gone and not just whited out. Deleting the 04-apps.xzm will leave you with simply xfce desktop and xfce panel, and nothing else. giving you the freedom to ctl-alt-backspace to exit X.....and install any text editor, terminal, etc. from a tty prompt. I've also pulled the /usr/include files out of the iso, which would be in the dev.xzm file. also removed the /usr/share/locale files which would be in a locale.xzm....done to keep the iso size to a minimal.

It's done this way to be able to simply make an 03-lxde.xzm or 03-razor.xzm...and use it in place of the 03-xfce.xzm. still being able to make use of the 04-apps.xzm, if you choose to continue using that choice of apps.

There's a couple other changes i have in here as well. there's a file /etc/daemons....where you would list the name of your start up daemons such as wicd, messagebus, alsa, samba, etc. the daemon scripts are sometimes in the /etc/rc.d folder on some linuxes....but i have the /etc/daemons file to read from the folder /etc/init.d. Also theres a file /etc/modules....which is there for if any modules are needed to be loaded at start. b43 or vboxdrv for example....just type b43 and vboxdrv, one under the other, in the /etc/modules file, and they will be auto loaded every time the system boots. some of these changes and mods are done by adjustments i've made to the file /etc/rc.d/rc.4, so you may want to take a look at that file to get an idea of what I have going on in there.

XFCE (default) on 64-bit


Cinnamon Desktop on 64-bit


GNOME 3 on 64-bit


2.1 v2
Porteus/Arch v2
porteusarch21v2-32.iso 147 MB
md5sum = 11265d596d71e42ccf6554bb18bb5c30

Extra Apps
005-extraapps.xzm 95 MB
md5sum = ed55afaa38f1044c8c4423e89a764474

Openbox/Tint2
003-openbox.xzm 11 MB
md5sum = 3ce6b68806bf6094edd9d1f4db4465a5



3.0
Porteus/Arch 32-bit
Sensei-v3.0-i486.iso 150 MB
mirror
md5sum = 7bb9f2b7f6e0d7a7680e5ef8f1eabca5

Extra Apps
005-extraapps.xzm 106 MB
md5sum = 03e7e9a54dc9c414e28a27ac85eb771c

Locales if using extraapps (also install 'pacman -S --force locales-xfce30')
008-locales+extra.xzm 20 MB
md5sum = 9e1a92c7d8cc5bcaf9a5d861e9828119

Locales default/if not using extraapps (also install 'pacman -S locales-xfce30')
008-locales.xzm 11 MB
md5sum = df3ea7005651bb5223a67b467c62f7c3



Porteus/Arch 64-bit
Sensei-v3.0-x86_64.iso177 MB
md5sum = 22ac45cbfc5b94c0d65c624cf3cb74bd

Extra Apps
005-extraapps64.xzm 125 MB
md5sum = 3b4d21ad098eca58cd946e5eaab8bcc9

Cinnamon Desktop
003-cinnamon64.xzm 125 MB
md5sum = 9e49f2a8508050703fb5832b7c5f709c

GNOME 3
003-gnome64.xzm 132 MB
md5sum = c8cdf56fbfd05a6e186e23b6eef75900

Base-Devel if using extraapps (also install 'pacman -S --force devx64-xfce30 or devx64-cinnamon30 or devx64-gnome30')
006-devx+extra64.xzm 107 MB
md5sum = 87fba59265870cda26c7bf351c7e6d4b

Base-Devel default/if not using extraapps (also install 'pacman -S devx64-xfce30')
006-devx64.xzm 103 MB
md5sum = 22a1d2c9a74110e66f42f4e74dd90073

Kernel Source
007-kernelsrc64.xzm 93 MB
md5sum = d15eb4dacfc198b4362eb32a87bca864

[stifiling]

well....it's been downloaded it few times......................................................is it working ok?

[fanthom]

yes - booted fine although deps resolution is not perfect (probably slackware-arch conflict?). this is what i got when i tried to install kaffeine:

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Total Installed Size:   271.87 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] 
(46/46) checking keys in keyring                   [######################] 100%
(46/46) checking package integrity                 [######################] 100%
(46/46) loading package files                      [######################] 100%
(46/46) checking for file conflicts                [######################] 100%
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
libutempter: /usr/lib/libutempter.so exists in filesystem
libutempter: /usr/lib/libutempter.so.0 exists in filesystem
libutempter: /usr/lib/utempter/utempter exists in filesystem
sysfsutils: /usr/bin/dlist_test exists in filesystem
sysfsutils: /usr/bin/get_device exists in filesystem
sysfsutils: /usr/bin/get_driver exists in filesystem
sysfsutils: /usr/bin/get_module exists in filesystem
sysfsutils: /usr/bin/systool exists in filesystem
sysfsutils: /usr/lib/libsysfs.so exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

==>Done

think you should probably go with 'arch only' userland and avoid slackware bits.

[stifiling]

fanthom...thanks for trying it and pointing out those file conflicts. I've been trying to resolve them as i encounter them. but in case of file conflicts you can still get the package installed by installing it with:

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pacman -S --force kaffeine

that will overwrite the old slackware libs that i haven't fully cleaned out, with the correct arch linux ones.

[francois]

The system boots on toshiba utralbook z930. However, the mousepad of the laptop does not work. I am unable to test further.

Edit: The mechanical power button does not work either.

Francois' adjustments to porteus-arch with the xfce environment:
(as I want to keep my porteus-arch experience within this thread, here are my adjustments for my installation):
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=114&t=5083

[ncmprhnsbl]

@francois .. i encountered this touchpad problem..heres the fix:
exit xfce (ctrlspacebackspace)
pacman -Sy
pacman -S xf86-input-synaptics
then... startx

@stifling. nice work certainly the arch repositories are much attractive even when frozen
i guess systemd is present(for dep res) but not active?
so far, i have, installed to ext4 partition on usb (by manually copying and running Porteus.installer....com(from running Sensei/Porteus)) 64bit...
added some apps and config, did a save changes to dir (uncompressed)(by manually copying /mnt/live/memory(sic) ..rebooted with changes read from dir ...all good ..except the whole partition the save dir is on gets tied up in the loop...and cant be accessed. not normal.
next.. different mksquashfs version.
broken dir2xzm (fix: insert <-comp xz> in line 35) *error* *mksquashfs: Did you forget to specify -comp*
which also fixes save-changes, which i then used to make some 'changes.xzm' rebooted- all good.

heres my failed package, installed fine but wont run:

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(1/6) installing blas                              [#####################] 100%
(2/6) installing lapack                            [#####################] 100%
(3/6) installing python2-numpy                     [#####################] 100%
Optional dependencies for python2-numpy
    python-nose: testsuite
(4/6) installing protobuf                          [#####################] 100%
(5/6) installing python2-protobuf                  [#####################] 100%
(6/6) installing mypaint                           [#####################] 100%
root@porteus:~# mypaint

We are not correctly installed or compiled!
script: "/usr/local/sbin/mypaint"

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/sbin/mypaint", line 170, in <module>
    datapath, extradata, confpath, localepath, localepath_brushlib = get_paths()
  File "/usr/local/sbin/mypaint", line 111, in get_paths
    from lib import mypaintlib
ImportError: No module named lib

might this be because /lib is now a symlink to /usr/lib in arch, but not here?

[stifiling]

Thanks for finding those fixes. If there's interest in this layout, i wouldn't mind making the necessary adjuments to improve it. Other than the fixes you guys have mentioned, some others being uploading the dev.xzm with yaourt in it for building from the AUR, the locale.xzm for other languages, and also...finding ways to shrink the iso size. I admit myself presently, it's a lil larger than i'd like. some ways that i had shunk the iso size before was by using the network manager Frisbee instead of Wicd, and stripped some of the unnecessary parts (according to my calculations) from smbclient. There's other ways to shrink the iso size as well, can't think of some of the others atm

As far as /lib...being a symlink to /usr/lib......i haven't tried it on porteus, but when i did try it, which was on puppy linux...the system wouldn't boot. for one reason or another, a couple of the files from the package 'glibc', which installs by default to the folder /usr/lib....must be in the 'folder' /lib. 'Sounds' as though it would work if /lib was a symlink to /usr/lib....but once again, for some reason....it didn't. /lib had to be it's own 'folder' with the glibc files in it.

Here's a screenshot of the mypaint app running on the 64 bit. I had the exact same error running it with 'mypaint' but when running it as '/usr/bin/mypaint' it worked.

[francois]

@ncmprhnsbl:
It worked fine.

Thanks.

[stifiling]

It worked fine.

was the xf86-input-synaptics pkg....the issue with the mechanical power button as well?

[francois]

I have tried to install xscreensaver. There is a problem:

Code: Select all

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
(17/17) checking keys in keyring                   [######################] 100%
(17/17) checking package integrity                 [######################] 100%
(17/17) loading package files                      [######################] 100%
(17/17) checking for file conflicts                [######################] 100%
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
perl-uri: /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/URI.pm exists in filesystem
...

Any advice to resolve the problem?

Edit: Resolved with --force specifier for pacman.

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root@porteus:~# pacman -S --force xscreensaver

[francois]

It worked fine.

was the xf86-input-synaptics pkg....the issue with the mechanical power button as well?

Sorry, I did not see your comment.

1) xf86-input-synaptics package was the remedy to the laptop mousepad dysfunction.

2) Porteus-arch will not shutdown using the mechanical button.

[stifiling]

Porteus-arch will not shutdown using the mechanical button.

The toshiba portege z930? when you say mechanical button, u're referring to the power button at the top left of the machine? Does it work in the original porteus? I'm wondering if there's a module not being loaded. If u're determined to find a fix for it....the first thing i would do is... in a system that it works on, run 'lsmod', copy that list to a txt file. and then boot back into this system, and see if all those modules are loaded. if there are any that aren't, do 'modprobe modulename' in a terminal...and see if it then works.

if that solves it, you can type the modulename into the file /etc/modules and it should auto load on every boot.

[francois]

Shut down thru the mechanical button upper left does work on porteus to shut down any system.

In my first mention of this shut down button, I was just trying to mention what did and did not worked. That function is not essential for me. But I appreciate very much the strategy that you propose to get it functioning.

From what I understand, porteus-arch could function both thru porteus modules or packages provided by pacman. Isn't it or I am wrong?

Concerning package management thru pacman, is the pacman -S --force strategy a robust one or could it break the system?

[stifiling]

From what I understand, porteus-arch could function both thru porteus modules or packages provided by pacman. Isn't it or I am wrong?

Concerning package management thru pacman, is the pacman -S --force strategy a robust one or could it break the system?

No, the original porteus .xzm modules created by the community, are not compatible with this porteus-arch. if you happen to try one and it works, you just happened to get lucky that time. this is another reason why 'pacman -S --force' is safe. if your package won't install it's because one of the slackware files from the original porteus is already present. so technically, it's more broke before you use the '--force' than it is afterwards. using the '--force' is helping to completely fix the system by overwriting the previous slackware files, wit the correct arch linux ones.

those file conflicts shouldn't be there, and as you all report them, i'll correct them and they won't be there any longer for the next user in an updated upload.

You can make your own .xzm modules and this is the way i've been doing it. It's really better to start from an absolute new installation, rather than one that u already have halfway set up, just to be certain all of the dependecies makes it inside the .xzm module instead of already being preinstalled inside of the .dat save file. So assuming this is a new installation, and you want to make a gimp.xzm, you do:

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pacman -Sw gimp

(I like to put all my most frequently used apps inside the same xzm module, one big module and that can be done in this step by doing something similar to 'pacman -Sw gimp wine libreoffice xbmc' etc.)
gimp and all it's dependecies will be inside of the folder /var/cache/pacman/pkg
let's assume /mnt/sda1 is a linux ext2/3/4 partition. you have to use a linux partition if it's a ntfs or fat partition it will change the file permissions.

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mkdir -p /mnt/sda1/gimp/var/lib/pacman/local

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pacman -Uddr /mnt/sda1/gimp /var/cache/pacman/pkg/*.pkg.tar.xz

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mksquashfs /mnt/sda1/gimp /mnt/sda1/gimp.xzm -comp xz -b 524288 -Xbcj x86

after those steps, you should have your ready to use gimp.xzm module visible in the location /mnt/sda1
you can delete the /mnt/sda1/gimp folder

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rm -rf /mnt/sda1/gimp

to load the module you can move the newly created /mnt/sda1/gimp.xzm module to your base folder with your other modules and reboot. loading it with the built in porteus module loader isn't working presently.

[francois]

those file conflicts shouldn't be there, and as you all report them, i'll correct them and they won't be there any longer for the next user in an updated upload.

From this thread, I understand that you are willing to develop a porteus-archlinux clone. I am happy to read that. I hope you do not count on archlinux experts only.

I think that there is some interest on the forum. I imagine that people will be more available as soon as porteus 2.1 will be out, and that a little rest period after minor adjustment will have passed by. I know that brokenman with its PPM (porteus package manager had the interest to port archlinux packages to porteus).

From this last post, I understand that I should create modules as in porteus stock ALWAYS FRESH mode. That is, with the basic system that could be downloaded, that I install package after package, series of packages with pacman, transform them into porteus-archlinux modules and get rid of the traces of these packages in the folder structure.

1) if a package has to be forced to be installed, you would appreciate that we report that it had to be forced.
*Here, would you like the output of the pacman -S the-package-to-be installed?
** Yet I had to force xorg-xscreensaver, kdegame-kigo, kdegame-kmahjong, domination (game).
2) does it makes any difference for you if I work thru many packages at once, or if I work package by package? (i.e. separately, gimp, openoffice, xscreensaver, ...)