[arch-releng] updates to releng scripts for new dm_snapshot archiso

[C Anthony Risinger]

On Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Thomas Bächler <thomas at archlinux.org> wrote:
>
> Btw, with these ISOs, you can do this:
> 1) Copy the /arch folder from any of the ISOs to the root of any USB
> drive (stick must be vfat, ext2/3/4 or btrfs)
> 2) Run 'extlinux -i $PATH_TO_USB/arch/boot/syslinux/'
> 3) Run 'sed 's|ARCH_201108|filesystemlabeloftheusb|' -i
> $PATH_TO_USB/arch/boot/syslinux/*.cfg
> 4) Install MBR to the USB and mark the partition active
>
> After these steps, you have a bootable USB without overwriting your
> whole USB with dd. Just did that to my USB drive again, so I have an
> up-to-date Arch system on it.

nice ... very cool!  tried this last night to fix a btrfs prob i was having.

maybe it was obvious (i didn't spend much time investigating), but
once inside, is there simple access to the boot partition?  IOW, if i
put the /arch directory on a USB stick with a single partition, how
can i get access to the rest of the partition/FS and it's free space?
would 2 partitions be the only clear way ATM?  since the boot
partition is already mounted and im assuming the loopback images
mounted over the top i'd think the original partition would need to be
--bind mounted ... i know btrfs can be mounted multiple times but i
dont know about ext* (i put mine on ext4 ... i mean i WAS fixing a
btrfs problem after all :-).  i could possibly reach in thru
/proc/1/cwd but that's a bit hacky ...

... it would be super cool if there was a way to make updates
persistent, eg. an overlay file that existed on the remainder of the
original FS or something that the init process could detect (or a
passed param).  i *know* i did this with ubuntu at one time, but i
cant remember the tool that produced said USB image ...

-- 

C Anthony