Squashfs-ed knoppix

[kl522]

As you have noticed, I tried out the idea of squashfs. Eversince, I have been using it without a single problem. There is actually no downside, but there are a few ( perhaps not very significant ) upsides. For summary, they are :-

1. stock kernel module (vs patched module ).
2. less virtual memory required.
3. slightly better compression.

To create the compress image, this is what I use :-

mksquashfs /mnt/knx/source/KNOPPIX /mnt/knx/master/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX.sq -b 262144 -noappend

For comparison, this is what I use for cloop image :-

mkisofs -R -U -V "KNOPPIX.net filesystem" -publisher "KNOPPIX www.knoppix.net" \
-hide-rr-moved -cache-inodes -pad /mnt/knx/source/KNOPPIX \
 | nice -5 /usr/bin/create_compressed_fs - 262144 > /mnt/knx/master/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX

You notice that for both cases, I don't sort the files according to 'frequent use', but that does not mean it is not important. I just don't bother to do it.

Last but not least, I have modified the initrd.gz to mount squashfs accordingly :-

indknoppix(){
 local dev
 for dev in "$@"; do
  [ -b "$dev" ] || continue
  message -n -e "\r${CRE}${BLUE}${SEARCHINGFOR} $DISTRO in: ${MAGENTA}$dev${NORMAL}   "
  trymount "$dev" /mnt-system >/dev/null 2>&1 || continue
  if [ -r /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/KNOPPIX -o -r /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/KNOPPIX.sq ]; then
   message -e "\r${CRE}${GREEN}$DISTRO ${FOUNDAT}: ${MAGENTA}$dev${NORMAL}       "
   return 0
  fi
  umount /mnt-system
 done
 return 1
}
....
mountknoppix(){
 local k dev dir count=0 RC=0
 [ -b /dev/cloop ] || mknod m 644 /dev/cloop b 240 0
 [ -f /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/modules/squashfs.ko ] && \
   insmod /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/modules/squashfs.ko
 [ -d /sys/module/cloop ] || insmod /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/modules/cloop.ko preload=32 || return 2
 [ -d /sys/module/aufs ]  || insmod /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/modules/aufs.ko || return 3
 if checkbootparam squashfs && [ -f /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/[Kk][Nn][Oo][Pp][Pp][Ii][Xx].[Ss][Qq] ]
 then 
   mount -o loop=/dev/loop1 /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/[Kk][Nn][Oo][Pp][Pp][Ii][Xx].sq /KNOPPIX
 elif [ -f /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/[Kk][Nn][Oo][Pp][Pp][Ii][Xx].[Ss][Qq] -a \
   ! -f /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/[Kk][Nn][Oo][Pp][Pp][Ii][Xx] ]
 then
   mount -o loop=/dev/loop1 /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/[Kk][Nn][Oo][Pp][Pp][Ii][Xx].sq /KNOPPIX
 else
 for k in /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/[Kk][Nn][Oo][Pp][Pp][Ii][Xx] \
          /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/[Kk][Nn][Oo][Pp][Pp][Ii][Xx][0-9]; do
  .....

I retained the cloop booting capability for comparison purposes. When both images are present, I use a cheatcode to select the preferred one. It was kind of elaborate but now I can safely say, it is unnecessary to retain the cloop image at all.

Have fun.