Multi-boot for 7020 - need alpha testers

[noggie]

Hi,

Is there any couragous soul out there that's ready for some alpha-testing of a multi-boot solution for the 7020?

This is a re-packaging of my coming release for the 7000, adapted to the 7020. I want the two releases to be as similar as possible, but I don't have a real 7020 to test on, so I can't be 100% sure that it actually works on the 7020. I can only test it so far myself by pretending that my 7000 is a 7020, but the final proof that it works must be done by somebody with access to a real machine.

To wet your appetite, the solution contains:

• a boot menu to select which image to start, displayed on the TV and controlled by the remote control
• a WEB-interface to install/remove/backup/restore images
• images can be stored on USB/HDD/CF/NFS/CIFS
• support for 7020 images but also 7000 images

I've done quite a bit of testing myself, but my test environment is somewhat peculiar. I've got the 7000 version (yet to be released) on my own machine. Using this, I boot a 7020 image from USB. Then I've installed this package on the 7020 image, and used it to install other images. I got rid of a lot of small bugs this way, but there could of course be more that will only surface on a real 7020.

Please, do not distribute this to other places until someone has confirmed that it does actually work.

Source code included.

Installation: Ftp the ipk to /tmp and (using telnet or ssh) do "ipkg install miniroot7020_0.1_powerpc.ipk" from /tmp. Your box should reboot, and when comiing back up, display the boot menu. The boot menu will allow you to:

• set your IP address
• go to WEB mode for image installation etc.
• boot from FLASH

When you have installed other images, the boot menu will of course also allow you to boot these images.

The first time you start the boot menu, either:

1. boot flash image to see if that works, or
2. set up your IP address and then go to WEB mode for installation of more images

There's a 5 second initial timeout on the boot menu. If the remote control hasn't been used 5 seconds after the boot menu was displayed, the default image will be booted. The default image is initially flash, but this is changable from the WEB interface.

It can be un-installed by "ipkg remove miniroot7020".

If you get it going with no major problems (I hope, and rather think you will) there are a couple of things I would in particular like see test reports on:

• rebooting/restarting/shutdown etc. Does it work as expected? I've been testing on 7000 with FP 1.04, so I have some problems of my own that makes it it bit difficult for me see if the problems I have are caused by the DMM kernel module or the software itself
• running images from HDD. I've been testing on CF, which is quite similar, but not the same, as HDD. Would be nice to have it confirmed that it does actually work OK from HDD. Most of my own testing has been on USB.
• using different browsers for the WEB interface. I've been mostly testing with "Mozilla" on Linux-PC. Although the HTML should be simple and standard, you never know what different browsers react to...

And yeah, I know that the included technical description is bad. In fact, it's not finished yet. I don't believe it should be critical for alpha-testing.

Final note (personal opinion): It may be strange for me to say this, but there ought to be a very limited "marked" for multi-boot on 7020. Basically, the images should be doing like Gemini (way to go!!), and co-operate with the original image instead of replacing it. Then the reason for running multi-boot would mostly fall away. Therer's still a couple of ligitimate cases for multi-boot, though:

• testing new images from DMM
• development work
• really radical new images (not just new enigma and new pictures)

I just hope that making multi-boot available for the 7020 won't encourage image-builders to continue the old and outdated practise that was an unfortunate necessecity on the 7000.

[hazem]

thanks noggie
I'll test ot and feedback a full report

my question please:will the img on the external flash use the kernel of the internal flash img [as in case of 7000] , or ot will completely boot from the ext. flash and use only the first stage loader of the dreambox flash ?

thanks

[noggie]

Originally Posted by hazem

thanks noggie
I'll test ot and feedback a full report

my question please:will the img on the external flash use the kernel of the internal flash img [as in case of 7000] , or ot will completely boot from the ext. flash and use only the first stage loader of the dreambox flash ?

thanks

Thanks hazem, much appreciated. Especially looking forward to the report of what worked and what didn't.

The kernel will be loaded from internal flash (boot partition). The software works by installing itself as /etc/init (the old one is saved as /etc/originit) The original one will be called back into action if you decide to boot from flash after all, otherwise the /sbin/init from the selected external image will be started.

If you're familiar with the last version of miniroot on the 7000, the code for mounting an external image and starting it up is more or less unchanged. But on the 7020, the root file system in flash is writable, and also large enough, so that the miniroot stuff can co-exist with the original image in flash. The big improvement is on the user-interface side, with on-screen image selection and the WEB interface to manage image installation/backup etc.

The unpacked image on external memory does however contain the boot partition (from the image), so with the writable boot partition on the 7020, it should be easy enough to copy it across if you so wish.

I quite agree that it would be even better to take it all the way from the bootmanager, but it's unthinkable for me to develop something like that with no 7020 to run and test it on.

P.S. I've had one report (on PM) saying that it "worked well for alpha".

P.P.S. It's all a bit new, so I'm not sure that everybody knows this, but the "ipk" files are basically just "ar" archives that can be easily unpacked for inspection, either on Linux-PC or on the dreambox itself. Do an "ar x filename.ipk", and then unpack the "data.tar.gz" file for all the installed files. The "control.tar.gz" contains the package description and install/remove scripts, while the "debian-binary" is just a flag.

[DKNY2000]

Installing images (especially 7020 images) takes a long time !!! how long it's take i'm watting more than 15 m for Installing images

[noggie]

Originally Posted by DKNY2000

Installing images (especially 7020 images) takes a long time !!! how long it's take i'm watting more than 15 m for Installing images

I take it that it installed OK? And you were still able to boot from flash? If that's the case, I consider it a partial success That's the part I can't test at all, myself.

About your problem: I take it it's still not finished after 15 minutes? True, installation is slow, but 15min sounds a bit much. Did your browser give you any output from the installation? What media did you install on? Using what for the temporary space?

[zoppa]

Great job noggie!

I have latest DMM beta in flash and Gemini mod. First I tried to install the ipk when Gemini was running. That didnt work. So I booted DMM and install was fine!
The boot menu and webif work fine. I can still boot my original Image (and mod).

Then I installed Hydra image on hdd (without changing my partioning; one big ext3). Install was fine but the image doesnt boot from boot menu. Maybe I should have selected more kernel modules for this Image?

And, is it ok now to spread your great work?

[zoppa]

I partitioned and formated my 128 MB stick with USB scheme. Only one big partition was created. Then installed Hydra on stick.
It works! )

You are my hero!

[noggie]

Originally Posted by zoppa

Great job noggie!

I have latest DMM beta in flash and Gemini mod. First I tried to install the ipk when Gemini was running. That didnt work. So I booted DMM and install was fine!
The boot menu and webif work fine. I can still boot my original Image (and mod).

Then I installed Hydra image on hdd (without changing my partioning; one big ext3). Install was fine but the image doesnt boot from boot menu. Maybe I should have selected more kernel modules for this Image?

And, is it ok now to spread your great work?

Great! That calms down my stomach quite a bit. It's almost OK that it doesn't work (you get what you pay for ) but I don't like the feeling of maybe fu..ing up somebody else's machine.

Did you get any error messages when installing when running gemini? I haven't tried gemini myself yet, so this is something I also can do some more testing on, but if you do have an error message, I'd like to know.

You can select where you want to load the modules from, the flash image or the additional image. If you choose to not load modules before the image starts, the needed modules will be started from the image. But it shouldn't matter for the 7020, so far I think everything has been released on 2.6.9.

Can I ask you a favour? Could you please delete the hydra image on hdd, and re-install it? And post (or PM to me) the entire output when installing the image? I know there are some bugs where the installation continues, even though some vital step actually fails. I'd like to see if that is the case here, and if so, exacly what failed. HDD is another one of those cases that I never tested myself, since I don't have the hardware.

It's still early days, and even if the picture is still not clear, there seems to be some bug in image installation. So I would still prefer to keep distribution from one point, where the users can read what to expect and know that it's far from perfect. The more help I get in tracing down the bugs, the sooner I can make another release that will be better.

[zoppa]

No error message. ipkg was not coming back, so I killed the 2 ipkg processes.

I removed the hydra with webif an that was ok. I try insstalling again and send you the log as pm.

Ok. Lets test some more and stay on this board.

[Epmak]

Originally Posted by noggie

The kernel will be loaded from internal flash (boot partition). The software works by installing itself as /etc/init (the old one is saved as /etc/originit) The original one will be called back into action if you decide to boot from flash after all, otherwise the /sbin/init from the selected external image will be started.

What do you think about changeability of kernel?

Let kernel partition is updated with kernel required by selected image.
Of course that possibility should be optional.

I have following proposal:

First of all let suppose that internal flash have following partitions:
a-partition: current kernel (read-only)
b-partition: image selector+image uploader+copy of first partition with default kernel (read-only)
c-partition: image selector data partition (writable). This partition contains some data required for image selector (like nfs connection information) plus file that contains current status of image.
Lets name it image_status.

I see following logic for /sbin/init (it looks little bit complicated. I wrote it from scratch. But I suppose that you will have general idea):
0) if image_status='REBOOT' then go to step 10
1) if image_status='FINISHED' then go to step 2 else go to step 5
2) show image selector and get required image
3) if kernel required by selected image is already in flash then go to step 10 else go to step 7
5) write default kernel (from b-partition) to current kernel (a-partition)
6) image_status:='FINISHED' and go to step 9
7) write required kernel from image to current kernel (a-partition)
8) image_status:='REBOOT'
9) reboot and go to step 0
10) image_status:='RUNING'
11) start that image
12) when image finished then image_status:='FINISHED'

So I see following advantages of such approch
1) automatic fail-over in case of image problems
2) image will be run with required (and tested with and developed for) kernel version

Disadvantages:
1) serial cable will be required in case of problem with kernel (althougth it is difficult to imagine why it may happen)

What do you think about it?