Gentoo, non-recompiling-backup

M|[ke · n00b Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 16 Location: Sweden

Hello everyone!

This question surely already has been asked several times before, but i've still haven't find a an answer that make sense to me

I've just finished a gentoo stage 2 install and started thinking, is it possible to copy the entire gentoo install (/) and burn it on a cd?
And then if i at some point break my gentoo install, i could just reformat my /root-partition (booting from the LiveCD) and just copy the backed up system from the cd that i've created earlier?
And after a reboot everything should boot up just as before the crash since i did'nt make any changes to my boot partition, where the initrd and the bzImage lies? This would be really great if it works, since compliling/configuring the hole system again takes a while to accomplish. This way a reinstall should'nt take an entire weekend since everything already is buildt and configured to my system and needs.

regards

/Micke

Please move this question to another location if i did put in the wrong genré!

(ps. I dont have xfree, kde or anything like that installed at this point, just stage2, latest portage and a compiled kerne. In other words a complete linux install without graphical packages:D ds.)
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mahir · l33t Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 725 Location: London

thats what i have been asking for days!!

i think i found a sorta solution

furball

its a script-frontend for tar.

it does everything that u seem to want
however i dont have any space to play with it

it basicaly does a tar of whatever directories u want.

i have the sweetest gentoo setup right now
and installing muine .5 was risky
but it paid off

try the furball thing
and let us all know how it goes

power to all noobs!
(i was one 2 weeks ago)
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"wa ma tawfiqi illah billah"
Mahir Sayar

M|[ke · n00b Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 16 Location: Sweden

Hello Mahir

Thanks for the tip, im gonna give it a try as soon as possible !
You be the first to know if it works!

regards

/Micke
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M|[ke · n00b Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 16 Location: Sweden

Hi again!

I just tested furball, and everything goes alright except that it can't tar /bin/tar because its used by furball to make an the backup tar file

if i use my backup file as it is now, will it work without /bin/tar ??

/Micke
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mahir · l33t Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 725 Location: London

i remember reading in the documentino
it saying something about
does everything, as long as root isnt mounted
now
i'm confused as to how
you could do that with root not beign mounted

maybe emerging furball fromt he livecd?
and doing it that way
and/or

copy the furball file somewhere else and run it like that
[path]./furball
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"wa ma tawfiqi illah billah"
Mahir Sayar

M|[ke · n00b Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 16 Location: Sweden

Hmmm , okey..
The emerge command isn't avalible on the LiveCD so how do i emerge furball there ?

Could this be possible then?
i have Suse installed on my hdb, could i just mount my gentoo root partition there and just copy over all files from it to an Suse-partition ? And then just burn the folder in witch the copy of gentoo lies ? Then to make the "system restore" i'll just boot the LiveCD, mount the gentoo root partition and just copy over all the files from either the new made backup-cd or just by mounting the Suse-partition and copy the files from there.

/Micke
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mahir · l33t Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 725 Location: London

if ur gonna do that
u might wanna try the new catalyst program thing

it enabled u to create your OWN liveCD from ur installation

so u might be able to make a livecd from ur current install
i havent read much upon it
but it seems lively

_________________
"wa ma tawfiqi illah billah"
Mahir Sayar

M|[ke · n00b Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 16 Location: Sweden

Okey, Thanks

Im gonna give that a try right now !

Will post the results!

regards
/Micke
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pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

Moved from Installing Gentoo.
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psyqil · Advocate Joined: 26 May 2003 Posts: 2767

Hm. Two ideas:
1. From the live-cd, just download http://www.claws-and-paws.com/software/furball/furball-0.5.tgz and extract it to backup your gentoo
or
2. You have Suse on your hd? Install furball and forget about the live-cd...

M|[ke · n00b Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 16 Location: Sweden

Hi again !
Thanks for all ur good suggestions!

I found out that the easiest thing to get this done for me was to simply boot up Suse and mount my gentoo root partition, and just type: cp -a gentoo-root/* /to/location/. that way all files where copied, and then only thing i needed to do to get the copied system to boot was to change the fstab to point to the new location. Now im just gonna burn this to a CD and enjoy my spare time next time im having a crash

/Micke
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