PackIt-1.22 - a flexible Archiving/Compressing GUI

[musher0]

Hello Argolance.

Try good old zip for this kind of task? It has never failed me.
As in:

Code: Select all

cd /mnt/sdX
zip -9ry /mnt/sdX/sdY-disk.zip /mnt/sdY/*

Where:
-9 => maximum compression
-r => recurse (i.e. grab all directories and sub-directories)
-y => store symlinks as symlinks

Please also note the use of two separate partitions for this kind of task:
One should store the contents of partition sdY on partition sdX.

If you need more information about the capacities of zip for a task like
this, you can type

Code: Select all

zip -h2 | more

in a console. In this doc, you will learn how to zip special types of files
(e.g. "pipes"), etc., if you need to do so.

But zip will compress ".mozilla" and similar hidden directories as usual,
no need to indicate a special parameter.

IHTH. BFN.

[Argolance]

Bonjour,
Thank you for replying.
I didn't make a compressed file from the entire partition, only of its contents. I usually do this kind of task manually, using a right click menu entry "Dir2tgz" and this has never failed. This time, I did it from a live USB key session to have access to the partition and be able to format it with gparted. It was for me the opportunity to test Packit: I was not convinced, far from it!
Là, ça fait mal!!!

Cordialement.

[SFR]

Today, I had to reformat a partition from ext3 to ext4. I made a compressed file (tar.xz) of its contents using Packit from a live session (stretch 7.5). When I wanted to restore the backed up files/directories, I unfortunately found that the hidden folders had not been copied/taken into account (.mozilla, .wine, .thunderbird, .filezilla, etc...) and I unfortunately lost all the data that was there.
I write this message to warn users of this very annoying issue and prevent the same thing from happening to them...

Thanks for reporting this issue and sorry for the lost data...
However, I can't reproduce it, even in Stretch.
Are you able to reproduce it again, preferably on some small set of dirs/files?
If so, I'd appreciate a step-by-step procedure.

Also, what tool did you use to inspect/unpack the archive?

Try good old zip for this kind of task? It has never failed me.

Just keep in mind that although ZIP preserves RWX permissions, it won't preserve ownership nor SUID/SGID/Sticky bits.
Of course it may be negligible, depending on situation.

Greetings!

[SFR]

I didn't make a compressed file from the entire partition, only of its contents. I usually do this kind of task manually, using a right click menu entry "Dir2tgz" and this has never failed.

Are you saying that you were right-clicking on each dir, separately, and PackIt it one by one?
If so, right-clicking a hidden dir (e.g. .mozilla) and using PackIt on it will produce a hidden archive (e.g. .mozilla.tar.xz), unless you specify the archive name yourself.
Perhaps that was the case?

Greetings!

[Argolance]

Are you saying that you were right-clicking on each dir, separately, and PackIt it one by one?

No, I selected all the files/directories of the partition, then used the "Open With" right click menu to build a tar.xz file with Packit to another partition (windows NTFS) , selected "3" (medium) as compressing value. Then, when my partition was formatted to ext4 I moved the compressed file to my new ext4 partition and just clicked on it to uncompress it back directly to the partition.
I usually configure ROX to show hidden files, may be, while selecting all files of a partition without this setting would be the reason of this issue?

[SFR]

I usually configure ROX to show hidden files, may be, while selecting all files of a partition without this setting would be the reason of this issue?

That could be it, indeed.
If showing hidden files is not enabled and you use CTRL+A, only non-hidden stuff gets selected and that's all what goes to PackIt...

Greetings!

[Argolance]

If showing hidden files is not enabled and you use CTRL+A, only non-hidden stuff gets selected and that's all what goes to PackIt...

I think a warning should be added somewhere in the application to preserve the user who would ignore or forget this, as it was the case for me! But still, just because they are not displayed doesn't mean that these files/folders don't exist: it remains a big problem...
Thank you.

Cheers!

[SFR]

Version 1.16:

- make (un)install scripts compatibile with Fatdog build system
- added zstd support
- added sha256 checksum

First post updated.

Greetings!

[SFR]

Version 1.17:

- removed compress and freeze support
- added 'Block size' option to mksquashfs
- various fixes and improvements

First post updated.

Greetings!

[musher0]

Many thanks, SFR!

[SFR]

Version 1.18:

- can create zstd compressed SFSes (requires squashfs-tools v4.4 built with zstd)
- fixed typo in one extension

First post updated.

Greetings!

[SFR]

Version 1.19:

- mksquashfs: added option to not compress (-noI -noId -noD -noF -noX)
- fixed disabling mksquashfs's "block size" combobox after choosing '(none)'

First post updated.

Greetings!

[mistfire]

Hello

Can you please add zst compression in packit?

https://github.com/facebook/zstd

[SFR]

Hey Mistfire

Support for zstd is already there, since v1.16.
Can also create zstd compressed SFSes (since v1.18, req. squashfs-tools v4.4+).

Greetings!

[Revolverve]

SFR
having recently been acquainted that UExtract handle appimage, would it be possible that packit create them too?
if not already the case!
testing it simply...
-made a squashfs from an extracted appimage
-renaming it,give it executable rights
=no go and no surprise..Exec format error
but an appimage is just an executable squashfs!

This is where i took my inspiration..
Freecad wiki;appimage
From the link:
Repackaging AppImages
If you've modified the code, and now want to re-package the AppImage with your latest changes, use the appimagetool-x86_64 tool on the extracted file system.
cd ..
wget "https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageKit ... 4.AppImage"
chmod +x appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage
./appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage squashfs-root
__________
could be useful feature if doable..
Thanks ,have a great one.

[SFR]

Hey Revolverve

PackIt is a GUI for archiving/compressing random stuff, so creating an executable AppImages is kinda out of its scope, just like creating pet, deb, rpm, flatpack, snap, etc. packages.

The thing is that AppImage is not "just" an executable SFS, it's an SFS (used to be an ISO, before that) with prepended i686/x86_64 binary that handles mounting and executing the payload.
Also, the input content must meet specific criteria (.desktop file, AppRun launcher, etc.) - you can't just create an AppImage from anything you want.
Well, technically you could, but it would be just an SFS with useless binary attached to it.

Have a great one, too &
Greetings!

[Revolverve]

SFR
ok,thanks for the useful info!
Will shoot to your UExtract topic for the next questions.
I enjoy your work!
Thank you again.

[Smithy]

Hi SFR, just wondering with V1.9, is there an easy way to make a LZ4.sfs?
And there is a new block size option, what would be optimal, 4k?
I wanted to experiment with a few sqooshing up formats, only ever used GZIP and XZ so far.

[SFR]

Hey Smithy,

Hi SFR, just wondering with V1.9, is there an easy way to make a LZ4.sfs?

Yes, LZ4 should be available on the drop-down list below the mksquashfs radio button.
But it shows only if squashfs-tools in your distro support LZ4.

And there is a new block size option, what would be optimal, 4k?

Depends on what is your priority.
If you prefer performance over compression ratio, go low and if the opposite, go high.

Greetings!

[zagreb999]

to create lz4 in
tazpuppy i use

liblz4-1_0.0~r122-2_i386.deb

liblz4-tool_0.0~r122-2_i386.deb

squashfs-tools_4.3-3+deb9u1_i386.deb