Keep your savefile slim and healthy

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8Geee
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#141 Post by 8Geee »

Well pupmode 13 allows Puppy Event Manager to be zeroed in the first tab and set to say 30 (minutes) of inactivity in the last tab. You will get a SAVE Button on the desktop for manual saves. Personally its OK for me, YRMV.

Onto Slim savefiles... Make sure your internet is disconnected and eth0/wlan is off at shutdown. I notice a savefile creep if puppy shuts down with a browser open and internet connection available. This using FF browsers (27 here) and varies greatly by its configuration. Putting the browser in root and configuring all storages/caches is the acid test. Also FF browsers have a startup cache in root/.cache that does grow over time. Just delete, and it will come back at default size. HTH
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gychang
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#142 Post by gychang »

DaveS wrote:When you move /create a file or folder at /mnt/home (or anywhere else for that matter), you can drag it back to /root and from the pop-up menu select to make a symlink. This way, Puppy will THINK the file/directory is in /root when it is actually at /mnt/home.
I am not clear on this.

1. I have a large file (AFile.doc) in /root/my-documents folder
2. I drag it to /mnt/home and make an absolute link
3. AFile.doc will exist in /root/my-documents folder but can access thru /mnt/home/my-documents link folder, right?
4. save file will save the original large AFile, right?

it seems more economical to make the directory in /mnt/home/my-documents and link (absolute) to /root/my-documents, that way the save file will only save the link, again right?

thanks,

ebisu
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#143 Post by ebisu »

Right, but that is what DaveS proposed. You should read his statement again.

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gychang
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#144 Post by gychang »

gychang wrote:
DaveS wrote:When you move /create a file or folder at /mnt/home (or anywhere else for that matter), you can drag it back to /root and from the pop-up menu select to make a symlink. This way, Puppy will THINK the file/directory is in /root when it is actually at /mnt/home.
I am not clear on this.

1. I have a large file (AFile.doc) in /root/my-documents folder
2. I drag it to /mnt/home and make an absolute link
3. AFile.doc will exist in /root/my-documents folder but can access thru /mnt/home/my-documents link folder, right?
4. save file will save the original large AFile, right?

it seems more economical to make the directory in /mnt/home/my-documents and link (absolute) to /root/my-documents, that way the save file will only save the link, again right?

thanks,
should be a relative link....

TTW
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#145 Post by TTW »

greengeek wrote:
mikeb wrote: ( a save sfs for persistent changes loaded to ram)
Do you mean that you have an sfs which contains specific personal and/or configuration information, and that you just overlay that over the main sfs? Could that contain things like wifi password and connection scripts?
I am very interested in this and can't find a definitive how to.

If I understand correctly then I can do away with my constantly growing savefile and instead create an sfs file to contain my persistent personalised settings, E.g. how my desktop looks, wifi connection, email login, browser bookmarks.

Is that right? If so then how do I do that?

Do I just copy all those configuration files into one directory and make a squash file? If I do then how will puppy know to use those files on boot up?

Where do I then store the subsequent SQS file?

Sorry if this has been covered before.

TTW

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mikeb
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#146 Post by mikeb »

No definitive how tos around though I and others have made posts with some details.

In my case the save is an sfs which gets loaded and copied to pup_rw... so saves all changes like a pup_save does.

You might prefer making an sfs of default settings only...... using current puppies one of them might work using the adrv.sfs ....iirc thats th eonly one that layers on top of other sfs which is essential to be used for saved settings.

If you save file keeps growing its still worth taking steps to limit that regardless of the save method in use.....there are plenty of tips here and in the rest of the forum.

Alternative B is if you cannot keep yer save small then go for a save folder instead...then you get the whole partition to play with.....

mike

TTW
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#147 Post by TTW »

mikeb wrote:No definitive how tos around though I and others have made posts with some details.

In my case the save is an sfs which gets loaded and copied to pup_rw... so saves all changes like a pup_save does.

You might prefer making an sfs of default settings only...... using current puppies one of them might work using the adrv.sfs ....iirc thats th eonly one that layers on top of other sfs which is essential to be used for saved settings.

If you save file keeps growing its still worth taking steps to limit that regardless of the save method in use.....there are plenty of tips here and in the rest of the forum.

Alternative B is if you cannot keep yer save small then go for a save folder instead...then you get the whole partition to play with.....

mike
Thanks Mike
It's an interesting concept. My Saluki instal has an adrive so that may be worth investigating.
I think the savefile bloat is mainly due to Firefox and email. I know I should really have these as SFS files that just load on boot without any saving of previous sessions I just haven't got round to deinstalling FF and setting it up in that way.

I am also lazy and leave files on the desktop which then goes into the savefile instead of filing them nicely away to a hard drive somewhere.

Time for a clean up methinks.

TTW

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mikeb
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#148 Post by mikeb »

Well taming firefox is possible...zero cache, no urlclassifiers, no history etc etc.... or delete the profile each boot or stick it elsewhere but to me thats messy and I like bookmarks.

adrv...well doable though a bit fixed...I prefer a transparent save system as a no brainer....plus ram is there so why not use it :) You also get the choice not to save so can be used in a config only way.

sfs instead of pets does save space..the latest browsers are ridiculously big and of course that applies with every update.

The save sfs to ram i have been using since around 2008 so a bit past a concept :D

mike

TTW
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#149 Post by TTW »

mikeb wrote:
The save sfs to ram i have been using since around 2008 so a bit past a concept :D

mike
Sorry didn't mean to imply it was only a concept, just that it's a new one to me. I actually like the idea but not sure I have the technical skills to put it into practice, does it involve writing scripts to make it work? Not really sure where to start as I have never made an sfs file before, wouldn't know where to store it (presume the same directory as I boot from) and wouldn't know what to put in it either, although I guess this can be a work in progress over a period of time.

TTW

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mikeb
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#150 Post by mikeb »

Thats ok...actually concept referred to the adrv as apposed to my working sfs save.

Hmm well there was a thread or 2 on the adrv approach but this forum is not the easiest to research from...but perhaps the adrv term might be a good start.

mksquashfs /path/to/folder/ /path/to/file.sfs

is the basic syntax to make an sfs.

For example you could use that to make an sfs of /initrs/pup_rw which is where all the changes are.

You can exclude directories by adding -e proc initrd for example.

For my approach...yes some alterations to the init script and rc.shutdown...(I also use it for slax) you may not like to get into that but the adrv approach uses what puppy has...I believe you name the file appropriately though don't quote me I don't have this stuff as I can simply load any sfs present automatically for an easy life :) and have the save sfs method available so all this becomes mute.

But its all variations on a theme which might give you what you want.

I am sure someone IS using the adrv method and might pop in here.

mike

OverDrive
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I found this little Gem

#151 Post by OverDrive »

I searched a few times several years ago about the size of icon-themes.cache.

Mine was like 22 meg and taking up a lot of my savefile.

Never found anything back then but I decided to search again as it starting to really be the biggest file in my slim savefile.

Sure enough I hit paydirt when Geoffry posted this in a reply last year.

Here is the link: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=97944

Here is the paydirt snippet:
I now remember why I added
Code:
gtk-update-icon-cache -f -i /usr/share/icons/hicolor


petget updates the icon cache where the SFS loader didn't in early versions, this has been fixed so adding this will be of no benefit.

While on the subject of icon cache, I used the "-i" option,
Quote:
-i, --index-only Don't include image data in the cache

this keeps the size of the hicolor/icon-theme.cache from becoming bloated

icon-theme.cache with gtk-update-icon-cache -f /usr/share/icons/hicolor 37.6 MB (37,607,348 Bytes)

icon-theme.cache with gtk-update-icon-cache -f -i /usr/share/icons/hicolor 97.7 kB (97,708 Bytes)

I thank vovchik for pointing this out to me.
WHAM !! Shrunk a 22meg file down to 8k! :D

Hope this helps others.

OverDrive
Instant Puppy Fan!!!

kuman

Saving the Puppy file in Lucid version 5.2.8

#152 Post by kuman »

There's a way to avoid saving it after every session w/o losing the new data from it?

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mikeslr
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Lupu 5.2.8 + PupSaveConfig

#153 Post by mikeslr »

Hi kuman

Your post is a little confusing. I think what you want to do is the following:

(1) move the my-documents folder out of /root and symlink it back. I suggest you move it to the same partition on which Lupu is located as that partition is automatically mounted on bootup. Puppy and the applications running under it will still "see" my-documents folder as being in /root and offer to save-to or open-from that folder without your having to browse to it. The data created by applications, however, will not be in your SaveFile. The data will have been written by your applications to the drive/partition on which /my-documents is now physically located.

(2) Install Shinobar's PupSaveConfig, http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 081#457081. It functions slightly different than the similarly named one by Barry K, which was used in Lupu.

(3) Apply the first two instructions on this post: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 326#662326. Remember to Save on Shutdown/reboot. Try it a couple of times to see if its working. To test, put a file in /root -- any file, text or jpg-- shut down, don't Save and see if it's there when you boot up. If it didn't shutdown without Saving, apply jpep's third step. I have a dim recollection of having to use it in Lupu. I prefer not writing to Etc if I can avoid it. The test will show if its necessary,

Once you can shutdown without Saving, you'll only want to Save when you've (1) changed some setting; (2) installed a new application or (3) want an SFS to load at boot, or no longer want it to.

mikesLr

Sailor Enceladus
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Re: Saving the Puppy file in Lucid version 5.2.8

#154 Post by Sailor Enceladus »

kuman wrote:There's a way to avoid saving it after every session w/o losing the new data from it?
If you like the manual approach, I think /initrd/pup_rw is the folder what you want, but I don't have lucid.

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friendofjane
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#155 Post by friendofjane »

Hi,

I hope it is ok that I put my question here.

If it's not the right place, I apologize and please tell me where the question has to be.

My question is how to save the save folder so I can restore my stystem ist in the case of a problem?

For years I used Puppy Precise 5.7.1 on a usb stick and I handled a save file. More than once the copy of the save file saved my system when I had experimented something what destroyed the OS. I booted on the copy of the save file and I got my system back.

Can I do the same thing with the save folder?

As you can see, I have Ubuntu Tahr64 6.0.5 on usb stick and I like the save folder. The OS now boots more quickly and I don't have to bother any more about the size of the save file.

But on my first install, I did something wrong with the save folder (I don't remember now what), then the system was gone (it didn't boot any more). Perhaps I copied the save folder into another folder, but I'm not shure.

So is it possible to have a copy of the save folder which allows to restore a clean state of the system in the case of a problem, and if its possible, how I can do that?

Can I organize in a way that I have the choice to boot on one of multiple save folders?

Thank you.
Distro: Ubuntu Tahr 64 6.0.5 on usb stick

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corvus
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#156 Post by corvus »

Personally once I have my puppy personalized and saved in a savefolder I start puppy with pfix=ram once started right click on the savefolder and choose Packit, I use the tar.xz compression.
Once you created the compressed folder save it elsewhere and if your savefolder becomes corrupt simply boot with pfix=ram delete your actual savefolder and restore it decompressing the previously created file in its place.
friendofjane wrote: Can I organize in a way that I have the choice to boot on one of multiple save folders?
As I know, you can give a suffix to your savefolder, for example: "tahr64save-mario", creating multiple savefolder with various suffixes, during boot you will be asked which one to choose.
I hope I explained myself well.
[b]We are waves of the same sea, leaves of the same tree, flowers of the same garden.[/b]

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friendofjane
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#157 Post by friendofjane »

Thank you for your answser.
Personally once I have my puppy personalized and saved in a savefolder I start puppy with pfix=ram once started right click on the savefolder and choose Packit, I use the tar.xz compression.
Ok. How do you start with pfix=ram?
In my home folder I found a file, extlinux.conf with the following lines:

Code: Select all

default puppy
display boot.msg
prompt 1
timeout 50

F1 boot.msg
F2 help.msg
F3 help2.msg

label puppy
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=usbflash pfix=copy
Do I have to edit this file and replace pfix=copy with pfix=ram?

Could I also pack and compress the save folder with my personalized puppy, without booting with pfix=ram?
As I know, you can give a suffix to your savefolder, for example: "tahr64save-mario", creating multiple savefolder with various suffixes, during boot you will be asked which one to choose.
So I should create an empty folder tahr64-save-mario2 for example, choose this folder at boot and personalize the system with this folder? Did I understand right?
Distro: Ubuntu Tahr 64 6.0.5 on usb stick

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corvus
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#158 Post by corvus »

friendofjane wrote:Do I have to edit this file and replace pfix=copy with pfix=ram?
Yes, if you want, by adding the following lines:
label puppy without savefolder
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=usbflash pfix=ram
I do it during the bootsplash when asked to change the boot string by pressing the TAB key, changing pfix=copy in pfix=ram.
friendofjane wrote:Could I also pack and compress the save folder with my personalized puppy, without booting with pfix=ram?
It's not a good idea, I did it but when I used the backup to restore my savefolder a message was displayed like puppy was not shutdown correctly.
friendofjane wrote:So I should create an empty folder tahr64-save-mario2 for example, choose this folder at boot and personalize the system with this folder? Did I understand right?
I do not know if this method can work, when I need to create a new savefolder I do starting with pfix=ram and during the first shutdown procedure when asked "Would you like to customise the name of the tahr64save?" I enter a suffix.
[b]We are waves of the same sea, leaves of the same tree, flowers of the same garden.[/b]

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friendofjane
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#159 Post by friendofjane »

Ok. Thank you, I think I understand better now.
Distro: Ubuntu Tahr 64 6.0.5 on usb stick

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elephante_of_randomness
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10 print hello world. new install, old machine.

#160 Post by elephante_of_randomness »

was very frustrated with a series of not particularly functional bodhi install processes. this cheap old machine i purchased to replace a dead cheap old machine, which was running bunsen crunchbang joyfully for as long as it did. then nothing.

so far so good. every install is a process. but since i started with an ubuntu distro on an eepc a bunch of years ago, i've been only too pleased to put in the necessary work. been installing and tweaking.

hello world, as they say.
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