[gobolinux-devel] Re: Comments on Unmanaged and third party modules

[Jonas Karlsson]

On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:37:53 +0200, Jonatan Liljedahl <lijon at kymatica.com>  
wrote:

> Jonas Karlsson wrote:
>> On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 16:56:54 +0200, Jonatan Liljedahl  
>> <lijon at kymatica.com>  wrote:
>>
>>> Jonas Karlsson wrote:
>>>
>>>> 2006/8/1, Hisham Muhammad <hisham.hm at gmail.com>:
>>>
>>> ...
>>>
>>>>> > How about, if using UnionSandbox, mounting /System/Variable to
>>>>> > ${target}/Resources/Unmanaged/System/Variable?
>>>>>
>>>>> Listing the stuff you want to be in /S/V in the UnmanagedFiles file
>>>>> should get you the same result.
>>>>>
>>>> This was an idea since some programs want to install files into a /var
>>>> location. If I point it to R/Unmanaged (to have it create the files
>>>> correctly) the program might want to write to that directory while
>>>> running.
>>>> How would one configure a program so it writes to /S/Variable during
>>>> runtime, but the files get installed into R/Unmanaged?
>>>
>>>
>>> Isn't this exactly what unionfs can solve?
>>>
>> Yes, unionsandbox solves this, but should we count (demand) that  
>> everyone  has unionfs available?
>
> It would be best if there where a working solution for fibosandbox too,  
> but is that possible?

Yes and no. With the introduction of unmanaged files one can install  
everything that have to be outside of the programs folder there. If you  
missed it: in short unmanaged files are installed into  
/Programs/Foo/x.y/Resources/Unmanaged/[System/Kernel/Modules,/Programs/HTTPD/Current/modules,etc]  
and are copied to their place in the filesystem at installation. The  
process is protected by a list specified in  
/Programs/Foo/x.y/Resources/UnmanagedFiles, which holds which files are  
allowed to be copied. With unionsandbox this work like a charm with  
everything written outside the sandbox moved into Unmanaged, but for  
fibosandbox one have to configure the application to install the files  
into the above mentioned path, which can cause programs try to use that  
file during runtime.
If one knows where the files will be installed (outside of the sandbox)  
one can create links that points to subdirectories in Unmanaged to force  
the files there, but that isn't a pretty solution.

> I've not followed the development on gobolinux for a couple of months

Aha, I did wonder where you went. I kind of missed all the discussion  
about fitting Rox into GoboLinux. :)

> so I'm not sure what the current status of fibo vs unionfs are... I  
> remember we talked about moving to a whole new layout, with programs  
> thinking that they are installing in /System/Links while they actually  
> are redirected to /Programs/Name/Version, and that /System/Links would  
> be renamed to /System/Index and that all the dirs "Executables, Shared,  
> Libraries, Headers" should be replaced with the "real" names: bin,  
> shared, lib, include, to exactly mirror the layout underneath the  
> /Programs...
>
I think this was put on ice, due to some more important issues. To be  
honest, I kind of missed that discussion...

> What are the problems demanding on unionfs? Isn't unionfs available for  
> the supported kernels?
>
Yes, it is. But until 013 is out and we have a release with unionfs in it,  
I don't think we should be dependant on unionfs.

> Ironically, I haven't got the unionsandbox to work on this box, but that  
>   could be because this system is a messy mixture between 011, 012 and  
> 013... =) Could anyone give me a hint on how to try out the  
> unionsandbox? I don't even remember how to enable it.
>
You have to have unionfs support in the kernel. If you have copmiled  
unionfs as a module, don't forget to load it. :)

-- 
/Jonas

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