[HOWTO] Find your way around in the Porteus File Structure

[Ahau]

This post has been moved to the main site, here. Feel free to continue discussing it, ask questions, or make suggestions for improvements on this thread.

[fanthom]

great, great and great job

just 3 corrections:
"When the system boots up, all of the modules are extracted and injected into a live filesystem."
modules are not extracted (it would take a long time and eat up the memory) - the are simply mounted to live fs (same as you mount ISO or .dat image)

"/porteus/optional will hold .xzm modules that you don't want added during startup."
i would add: unless a "load=" cheatcode is used. (or something like that)

"these changes are applied to your live filesystem at startup, after all of the modules and your rootcopy files are loaded."
wrong order, should be: modules -> changes -> rootcopy (rootcopy files overrides everything).

once again: good job! :

[Ahau]

Many thanks, fanthom!

One more question - when are files from magic folders applied? do they override rootcopy? I left them out of the howto, as I felt it was getting to be overwhelming for the reader.

[fanthom]

"when are files from magic folders applied? do they override rootcopy?"
yes - live system is created at the "initrd stage" by linuxrc. the only exception is "magic folders" feature which binds folders later in the boot process (in rc.S).

[Ahau]

The original post has been edited to make the corrections suggested by fanthom, as well as some other minor changes, and the addition of a conclusion paragraph that reads like an ad campaign.

[brokenman]

Excellent work. If i ever write a book .... I want you to write it.

[Ed_P]

This post has been moved to the main site, here.

Link broken.

[Ahau]

updated the link in the original post. Thanks!

[tonyyyy]

This is helpful and clear

Very different, but maybe easier to find the logic in Porteus than in the equivalent Ubuntu or windows file structures, which I am a bit more familiar with.

As you said....''With so many different locations for the files that are used to build the live system, it's easy to get confused at first. But as you continue using and experimenting with Porteus, you will come to understand the beauty of this system and its flexibility. Programs can be added and removed as quickly and easily as moving a file into the right folder''