Dsl & Unionfs

> It seems that the "unionfs" cheat doesn't go along with neither "home=hda2"
> nor "restore=hda2". Booting hangs/stops right before X start. I got some
> errors before, "hdd: packet command error...", "Invalid device hda2" and
> "modprobe: FATAL: Error inserting apm..." Can post in detail, if it makes
> sense. Mounting hda2 later on works, in fact I try so in bootlocal.sh.

We don't rely on unionfs for such things.

DSL has had the ability to add software dynamically and automatically at boot long before there was unionfs. Tyring to merge back changes could still result in system corruption over time. It would then be desirous of package management. And you could still overwhelm the resouces of the target machine.

Our philiosply is different. We believe in a total separation of static type application and using a backup restore for only your personal files typically in home and some in opt. That is so say, we don't backup additional applications.

Instead the additional applications, or in DSL speak, extensions are copied to a persistent store. For exmaple an pendrive, the extensions, as root, are copied into the writeable mount point /cdrom. Then upon a reboot all the extenions will automatically load and appear as a normal much larger system. Or another option is to make a mydsl directory on a disk partition, (or pendrive) and the system automatically scan for this and loads all extensions there. A third option, is save the extensions on a hard drive partition and use the boot option mydsl=hdb3 for example.. A fourth way is very similar to the third way and that is to make a directory name of your choice on a storage device and then use the boot option mydsl=hdXN/mydirname

The advantage of this method is that the base OS is never touched. You can always boot to a pristine OS by booting with the options

dsl base norestore

If an extension is troublesome you can easliy remove it.

It is simple to upgrade when a new release comes out.

All of this does not require unionfs.

roberts