SFS file issues / concerns (Not-Quite Solved...yet)

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slavvo67
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SFS file issues / concerns (Not-Quite Solved...yet)

#1 Post by slavvo67 »

I noticed there are more and more .sfs files being created instead of .pet packages. I recall having an issue where I forgot to unmount an .sfs file and it ended up as a permanent fixture to my puppy, which wasn't my intention.

I am very reluctant to use .sfs files due to this "bad" experience. I don't believe that they end up in the Puppy Package Manager for easy uninstall, either.

Is my opinion wrong about this file type? If there's an .sfs. that I want, I convert it to .pet before installing.
Last edited by slavvo67 on Sun 04 May 2014, 17:04, edited 1 time in total.

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mikeb
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#2 Post by mikeb »

The sfs is just a read only archive.
The sfs loader script is the one adding it to your boot menu... it does seem to have a confusing array of options and it appears that in them is the option to make an sfs addition permanent.

No sfs is permanent but in this case you would have to remove it from the boot config or simply delete/move the sfs.
The idea of using an sfs is to not make permanent changes so this behaviour does seem to be at odds with that.

Mike

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Flash
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Re: SFS file issues / concerns

#3 Post by Flash »

slavvo67 wrote:If there's an .sfs. that I want, I convert it to .pet before installing.
How?

slavvo67
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#4 Post by slavvo67 »

Flash:

I believe that I use right click tools ... convert sfs to pet. Don570's Right Click Tools pet is arguably the best user-friendly utility for Puppy. Yes, I know there are many...

Mikeb:

If I recall correctly, it was the Heroes .sfs file on 3 Headed Dog. I think what happened is that the file was too big for my save file and I did not unmount, so it somehow decided to stay installed via my hard drive. Possible?

My next step is to revisit my 3HD and see how I can remove. Maybe it's time to write another script. Maybe shutdown should automatically unmount SFS files? Just a thought... :D
Last edited by slavvo67 on Sun 04 May 2014, 05:15, edited 1 time in total.

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RSH
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#5 Post by RSH »

If I recall correctly, it was the Heroes .sfs file on 3 Headed Dog. I think what happened is that the file was too big for my save file and I did not unmount, so it somehow decided to stay installed via my hard drive. Possible?
No, I don't think so.

An SFS file can not be too big for a save file, because it is mounted into a completely different layer as the save file is mounted. It could only be too big for your memory.

Usually SFS files are loaded by shinobar's sfs_load in puppy. This application acts like the BootManager configure bootup. SFS files loaded by sfs_load will be handled as they would have been added by the BootManager configure bootup. So up to 6 SFS files loaded usually will reappear at each new boot up.

Just unload the SFS file by sfs_load and it should be gone at next boot.

SFS files are pretty cool...
[b][url=http://lazy-puppy.weebly.com]LazY Puppy[/url][/b]
[b][url=http://rshs-dna.weebly.com]RSH's DNA[/url][/b]
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=91422][b]SARA B.[/b][/url]

slavvo67
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#6 Post by slavvo67 »

Hi RSH:

Once you shutdown and reboot, I don't believe you can click the .sfs and have the unmount option appear. I could be very wrong with that statement and I'll need to check. I'll have to boot up the old 3HD and find out (if I still have the save file).

Thank you all for chiming in. Still not sure where I stand on SFS so additional comments would be welcome!

Best,

Slavvo67

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RSH
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#7 Post by RSH »

Use SFS-Load from the menu System or Setup.
[b][url=http://lazy-puppy.weebly.com]LazY Puppy[/url][/b]
[b][url=http://rshs-dna.weebly.com]RSH's DNA[/url][/b]
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=91422][b]SARA B.[/b][/url]

slavvo67
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#8 Post by slavvo67 »

Ahhh, another utility that I didn't know existed. If I can find the 3HD item, I'll give it a try. :roll:

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mikeb
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#9 Post by mikeb »

Perhaps sfs load is just messing you around... the sfs itself is innocent and I never have problems like this but then again I dont like scripts that cause problems as I am a weirdo :D

mike

slavvo67
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#10 Post by slavvo67 »

Flash:

I confirmed the Right Click Utility has a convert SFS to PET utility (right on top). Keeps it easy and simple.

Best,

Slavvo67

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mikeb
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#11 Post by mikeb »

No.... make it over complicated then find a workaround buried somewhere which sorts of defeats the object...thats the puppy way :D

ice cream has arrived... :)

mike

slavvo67
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#12 Post by slavvo67 »

mikeb:

LMAO! Sometimes, you're right. I have Puppy running on 3 different computers and I really care about the direction or thousand directions that it moves in.

I'll send you my personal rants about puppy, offline. Sometimes, I'm knocked on the floor - amazed with some puppies and applications and other times, I'm just disappointed and frustrated to no end. Like marriage.. LOL Except you can't marry a puppy in most states or countries. :shock:

Flash: On a slightly different note, thank you for all your administrator work. I'm one of those people that always appreciates the work that goes on behind the scenes, as well. - Thanks

Take care and thanks for the insight.

Slavvo67

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#13 Post by mikeb »

A love/hate relationship.... perhaps we need counseling or therapy, or v-alium....

mike

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#14 Post by 8-bit »

I have a 3.2gig pupsave file in Lupu 520.
I had kernel source, devx, gimp, libre office, streamtuner, qt4, and assultcube loaded with Load SFS.
MY free Pupsave file space showed as around 900 megs.
After using Load SFS to remove assultcube, kernel source, and devx, my Pupsave free space dropped to 636megs.
As to what caused the drop in free space, I am still at a loss to explain.
The reason I went to unload some of the SFS files is that booting slowed down a lot with setting up the file system for the SFS files being loaded.
After removal, boot speed seemed to improve greatly.
But now, I am wondering if the SFSes got fully unloaded and what was left behind.
In the case of the game SFS, I imagine some configuration files might have been left.
But with a drop in pupsave free space of over 200 megs, I have some checking to do. And I am not going to increase my pupsave file space now.
I was taking its size to the extreme with the PC having 4gigs of memory.

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#15 Post by mikeb »

Hmm 8-bit that does sound odd.

Are you running from a flash stick.... only thing that came to mind was that the sfs were loaded to ram and the tmpfs for the pup_rw layered was adjusted and in removing it was readjusted.
Thats just a guess as I have not examined sfs load closely as I use my own script for the job.

If you are not using a flash stick (or a save partition?) then I guess its a case of observe using df- h in a terminal to determine exactly what is happening since the taskbar icon has its own way of determining 'free space'

If a sfs is loaded to ram it should be in the /initrd folder somewhere.../initrd/mnt perhaps.

mike

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#16 Post by slavvo67 »

Ahhhhh, so I'm not crazy!! I just haven't been able to recreate the issue, yet. I'm going to remove the "solved" and see if we can't get more insight here.

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#17 Post by mikeb »

Other thoughts are sfs loader has some hacks to overcome puppies reverse layering .... that could be another possibility if it does something in reverse when removing.

In a normal world adding and removing should not change anything.

mike

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#18 Post by slavvo67 »

Mikeb:

What sort of scripts are you using? You wouldn't happen to have one that searches for all mounted SFS files and does an "auto-unmount" would you? If not, I might just have to slap one together and have it execute for me at shutdown or something.

Slavvo67

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#19 Post by mikeb »

Code: Select all

echo "Remove added modules"
ls -1 /initrd | grep -E '.sfs|.lzm' | while read I ; do 
	busybox mount -t aufs -o remount,del:/initrd/$I unionfs / 
	busybox umount /initrd/$I
done
this is what I have in my rc.shutdown to unload added modules... but in your case the detection would be something like grep pup_ and hide the failure to unmount the core layers.

Not sure if this would help your problem as I do this to ensure a clean shutdown if running in ram but sfs are mounted from the hard drive due to limited space (in ram)

mike

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#20 Post by solo »

I do recognize the unexplainable fluctuations in free space when installing or uninstalling. Sometimes, uninstalling a small package with the Puppy Package manager suddenly yields a lot more free space than I would expect to receive.

But I do not recall spectacular unexplainable differences where it concerns SFS files.

I do have to say, I do not use SFS-Load (on the fly) at all. I strictly load or unload SFS files through the Bootmanager SFS loader. This does mean I have to reboot every time I load or unload an SFS, but I am not bothered by that.

My pup save file is 504 MB, of which 251 mb is free. But I have Firefox, Inkscape, LibreOffice, Gimp, NVidea drivers and a nice game all loaded as SFS files. By exchanging SFS files in the Bootmanager, I can choose to load devx, java, Blender, Avidemux, Wine, or other games.

Oh I like SFS files a lot! :)

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