[maemo-developers] Modifying the Root Filesystem [NOKIA 770]

[From: Frantisek Dufka]

ludovic arnold wrote:

> I think use rsync (cf /Frantisek Dufka/ 
> <http://arcknowledge.com/cgi-bin/namazu.cgi?query=%2Bfrom%3Adufkaf%40seznam.cz&idxname=gmane.comp.handhelds.maemo.devel&sort=date%3Alate> 
> ) :
> 
> # rsync -e ssh -avHx --delete n770:/ rootfs/

While the basic idea is good there are two issues with this.

1. syncing / of live system cause reboot loop because of /dev/ mount 
point. It contains hidden /dev/entries needed early on boot before /dev 
is remounted. rsync simply skips it because of -x and leaves empty /dev 
which causes the loop. Solution is to remount rootfs to different place 
and synchronize it from there

2. using rsync seems to have problems see the mystery here
https://maemo.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=838
solution is to use tar which preserves filesystem layout including 
ordering of files (rsync sorts them and also creates temporary files 
which inflates directory size)

The best is probably to read this
http://maemo.org/maemowiki/HowTo_EASILY_Boot_From_MMC_card

mkfs.jffs2 binary for arm is inside bootmenu initfs flasher, sumtool is 
  not there because it is optional. It speeds up mounting but enlarges 
the image a bit so it is not very useful for initfs which is small and 
almost full. I'll add sumtool to the archive too just in case. It is 
useful when making flashable/recoverable backups of root filesystem 
directly on the device.

Frantisek