beta2 ongoing development

[mk01]

IMPORTANT:
although the xbian-package-* packages can be installed and work as standalone packages, for transitions as alpha5->beta1, beta1->beta2 xbian-update package installation is a must. even if dependencies between packages allow installation without it, the missing latest xbian-update can (will) cause non-functional package, or even whole installation or will mislead to false bug reports.

if "apt-get -s upgrade" holds any of xbian-* packages from auto install with apt-get upgrade operation, use "apt-get install xbian-package1 xbian-package2" command for those listed as hold. xbian-update is the only package which is restarting RPI automatically, so the installation can with no issues be run manually in more steps. just install the xbian-update package as last one.

anyone hardcore enough to jump on ongoing daily updates towards beta2 able to help with testing?

if yes, update /etc/apt/sources.list so that xbian repo out, and this repo in

Code:

deb http://ivka57.dyndns-ip.com wheezy main

Short how-to

the usual apt-get clean and apt-get update. already snapshot tools is present with standard config creating snapshot with EACH apt-get run (keeping last 10), then on each day creating 'daily' (keeping last 30) and once a week creating 'weekly' image (keeping last 50).

the life on this repo should not cause any disasters, I'm using it straight away on 'production' rpis.

and with working on the snapshots, ANY REAL disaster is reverted in seconds. even to save the first update, update xbian-package-config-shell only as first together with btrfs-tools. to update those, run:
1) apt-get clean
2) apt-get update
3) apt-get install --reinstall xbian-package-config-shell btrfs-tools



this will install the hooks creating snapshots and tool itself. then, create beta2 snapshot (we will use for test updates) with:

Code:

1) btrfs-auto-snapshot snapshot —name beta2 root

make backup of kernel.img and initramfs.gz at /boot to have the versions compatible with the currently running system (before beta2 snapshot).

Code:

1) cp /boot/kernel.img /boot/kernel.img.stable
2) cp /boot/initramfs.gz /boot/initramfs.gz.stable

change /boot/cmdline.txt and update the snapshot name used to boot system. change "subvol=root/@" to "subvol=root/@beta2". then reboot. system will boot from snapshot beta2 we created, with state exactly after we installed config-shell package and new btrfs-tools.

now install all the xbian- packages available to upgrade, including xbian-update. after reboot, you are on beta2 testing version.

if anything terrible should happen (or you wish to revert to beta1.1, "restore" procedure means:

Code:

1) change /boot/cmdline.txt and update the snapshot name used to boot system. change "subvol=root/@beta2" to "subvol=root/@"
2) copy the .stable file over the ones used to boot at /boot
2a) cp /boot/kernel.img.stable /boot/kernel.img
2b) cp /boot/initramfs.gz.stable /boot/initramfs.gz

update:
starting with xbian-update revision 10 (see /etc/xbian_revision), this is no more needed. /lib/modules is shared among snapshots and sub volumes, so lastly installed kernel will be with no issue available and working for other rootfs versions with full scope of available modules.
latest xbian-update 1.2 is converting the installation automatically (for shared /lib/modules dir). all new created snapshots from this one updated will automatically use the shared lib. for older snapshots, after boot-up, xbian-update can be always rerun.

(if system would be unbeatable, just plug the sdcard to any system including windows, and just do the changes at /boot files. no other steps are necessary)

if we get stable group of testers, development will massively speed up and failure rate of updates pushed to public will decrease.

let me know.

mk