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| wiki:persistence_for_dummies [2012/06/13 13:20] – [Executive summary] nomer | wiki:persistence_for_dummies [2013/09/28 03:48] (current) – georgp24 |
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| When you boot Tinycorelinux (tcl) for the first time, such as from CD, the default mode of operation is "cloud mode", meaning all extensions are downloaded from the web for each session. (//Extensions can be apps such as a browser, or hardware drivers, modules, firmware or shared libraries. The extensions are compressed and packaged in files with .tcz extension.//) They are not permanently stored anywhere unless you specifically instruct tcl to do so. Same with settings changes you make - these are not permanently stored by default. | When you boot Tinycorelinux (tcl) for the first time, such as from CD, the default mode of operation is "cloud mode", meaning all extensions are downloaded from the web for each session. (//Extensions can be apps such as a browser, or hardware drivers, modules, firmware or shared libraries. The extensions are compressed and packaged in files with .tcz extension.//) They are not permanently stored anywhere unless you specifically instruct tcl to do so. Same with settings changes you make - these are not permanently stored by default. |
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| One way of understanding tcl is it consists of just 2 files, one file containing all the Linux kernel stuff and the other the tcl-specific stuff. At each boot, these 2 files are unpacked and loaded into your PC's memory (RAM). So at each boot, it boils down to a fresh (lightning fast) install. Goodbye, system rot! | One way of understanding tcl is it consists of just 2 files, one file called vmlinuz containing all the Linux kernel stuff and the other the tcl-specific stuff, named core.gz. At each boot, these 2 files are unpacked and loaded into your PC's memory (RAM). So at each boot, it boils down to a fresh (lightning fast) install. Goodbye, system rot! |
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| Likewise with extensions, these are each [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_device|loop mounted]] into a temporary location (///tmp/tcloop//), and linked into the main Linux file system, at each boot. So //everything// is installed at every boot. No corruption, ever! Uninstalling apps is rendered completely obsolete - just delete the packed app file, (//xxx.tcz//), and goodbye! No more useless left-behind files cluttering up the OS, ever! Upgrading to newer versions becomes dead simple - replace the older tcz package with the newer one. This is truly a new, unique concept. | Likewise with extensions, these are each [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_device|loop mounted]] into a temporary location (///tmp/tcloop//), and linked into the main Linux file system, at each boot. So //everything// is installed at every boot. No corruption, ever! Uninstalling apps is rendered completely obsolete - just delete the packed app file, (//xxx.tcz//), and goodbye! No more useless left-behind files cluttering up the OS, ever! Upgrading to newer versions becomes dead simple - replace the older tcz package with the newer one. This is truly a new, unique concept. |
| ===By specifying permanent directories for /home and /opt=== | ===By specifying permanent directories for /home and /opt=== |
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| Another way of saving your stuff, is to tell tcl to use permanent directories for ''/opt'' and ''/home'' located on a storage medium. This is also done via boot codes, viz "''opt=sda1''" and "''home=sda1''". These boot codes tell tcl not to create and restore ''/home'' and ''/opt'' at boot time from ''mydata.tgz'' as it would otherwise do, but rather to take these directories on the specified permanent storage medium and mount them into the linux file system instead. | Another way of saving your stuff, is to tell tcl to use permanent directories for ''/opt'' and ''/home'' located on a storage medium. This is also done via boot codes, with "''opt=sda1''" and "''home=sda1''". These boot codes tell tcl not to create and restore ''/home'' and ''/opt'' at boot time from ''mydata.tgz'' as it would otherwise do, but rather to take these directories on the specified permanent storage medium and mount them into the linux file system instead. |
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| If they don't already exist in the specified locations, they will be freshly created there and populated with all the default files. The effect is that these two directories are now located on permanent storage, and anything you change and save there via the normal way is therefore saved immediately, permanently. Since they now exist on permanent storage, you no longer have to backup everything, so you can edit ''.filetool.lst'' and remove these entries from the list to prevent them from being backed up into mydata every time. | If they don't already exist in the specified locations, they will be freshly created there and populated with all the default files. The effect is that these two directories are now located on permanent storage, and anything you change and save there via the normal way is therefore saved immediately, permanently. Since they now exist on permanent storage, you no longer have to backup everything, so you can edit ''.filetool.lst'' and remove these entries from the list to prevent them from being backed up into mydata every time. |
