Porting customizations to kiosk 3.1

[rh102801]

I have some customizations that I would like to port to the new Kiosk version. The customizations are making use of the rootcopy directory which I understand is no longer used in the new version (3.1) and would like to know what the best way to port those would be.

My customizations are a local html file as my homepage (File:///tmp/website/mywebsite.html). If I understand correctly, in order to get that working on the new version, I would have to create an xzm file which would include the website html file along with any additional files needed. Is this correct? how would I go about determining the path to these files when specifying my homepage?

The second customization is NTP which involves changes to the rc.local, services, ntp.conf and rc.Firewall files, plus the addition of some libraries (I think that was all of them).

I believe I have to create the rc.Local as there isn't one by default in the 3.1 version but as far as the other files, would I just modify the xzm file where those files are contained if if any of them do not exist I would just create them?


Thanks

[fanthom]

If I understand correctly, in order to get that working on the new version, I would have to create an xzm file which would include the website html file along with any additional files needed. Is this correct?

yes - this is correct

how would I go about determining the path to these files when specifying my homepage?

the same way as in 3.0 release

I believe I have to create the rc.Local as there isn't one by default in the 3.1 version but as far as the other files, would I just modify the xzm file where those files are contained if if any of them do not exist I would just create them?

you could do better - you could gather ALL files from every xzm (001-core.xzm, 003-settings.xzm, etc..) which you modify in one xzm module named: xx-my_customizations.xzm.

explanation:
kiosk is based on aufs which means that has layered structure. files included in every activated module are mounted in one folder (/union) and creates virtual filesystem. if files are doubled in two or more modules then last one activated is visible in live filesystem and others are hidden.
modules are activated in alphabetical order that's why you should name your custom modules as 'xx-*' so it will be activated as the last one.

main advantage of this approach is that you can do kiosk upgrades easily:
download new ISO -> unpack it -> add your custom module -> create new ISO ->boot and check if your customizations are still working (sometimes upgrades may break your customizations).

some additional info can be find here:
http://porteus-kiosk.org/file-structure.html
http://porteus-kiosk.org/modules.html

[rh102801]

Excellent answer... I like the idea of having one xzm with all my changes as it makes it easier to keep up with them.
I'll give it a try and report back.

Thanks again