The Adeskbar origin menu is no longer there:

We take the original CD /etc/xdg/menus content folder. For this, we mount the original squash (with another cd device or copying the iso and mounting the squash file):

mount /dev/sr1 /cdrom
mount /cdrom/casper/filesystem.squashfs /cdrom
rm /etc/xdg/menus/*
cp /cdrom/etc/xdg/menus/* /etc/xdg/menus

Let's restart Adeskbar.

We retrieve it's pid with:

ps -aux

The Adeskbar process will be seen as follows:

root 1551..... /usr/bin/python /usr/share/adeskbar/main.py

We kill the Adeskbar process with the kill command, pid 1551 in the example:

Kill 1551

Then we restart it :

adeskbar &

We retrieve our menu:

We copy the content of menu folder in the squashfs folder (in our example squashfs-root) in our working partition.

We observe additionnal entries such as «help», « Nitrogen ». We delete them in the /usr/share/Applications folder. We kill Adeskbar as before to check the result and do the same deletion in the squash wortking folder.

Then, we have to regenerate the squashFS and iso to check the result.

When the CD boots, we don't have the splash screen and have the following messages:

/scripts/init-premounts/plymouth: line 38: /sbin/plymouthd: not found
/scripts/init-premounts/plymouth: line 38: /bin/plymouth: not found

The system starts, but the splash progress bar remains active:

plymouth quit

Except for that, the system seems to work correctly.

After looking for the problem on Internet, the issue comes form the Plymouth default folder. The old path was /lib, instead of /usr/share now.

We had a difficulty in the chroot, we had to execute chmod 1777 /tmp before to be able to execute apt-get update.

We reinstall plymouth to have the files to the right place.

apt-get install --reinstall plymouth plymouth-themes

We move the RedoBackup plymouth files:

mv /lib/plymouth/themes/redo-logo /usr/share/plymouth/themes
rm /lib/plymouth -rf

Next, we edit the /usr/share/plymouth/themes/redo-logo/redo-logo.plymouth file to correct the paths.

Next we do the followings operations:

update-alternatives --install /usr/share/plymouth/themes/default.plymouth default.plymouth /usr/share/plymouth/themes/redo-logo/redo-logo.plymouth 100
update-alternatives --config default.plymouth

The last command is used to select the default splash screen. We select the corresponding RedoBackup splash screen.

We regenerate initrd :

update-initramfs -u

After leaving the chroot, we regenerate the CD after integrating the new initrd.

After booting, the splash screen is working.

The previously removed icons in the applications menu came back, we remove them again. We also had to remove the icons in the /etc/skel/.local/share/applications for the disk analyzer.

We can see display modification. The dialog box icons no longer have round vertices.

Bad display :

Normal display:

The lxappearance command gives a different result between the original CD and ours.

Source CD:

Current CD:

As we see, the source CD use the « bluebird » theme not present in our CD themes list.

So, we copy the /usr/share/themes/bluebird folder from the original CD. A click on right button and Reconfigure enables the correct display. We regenerate the squashFS and the CD.

With our French translation, we saw ghost partitions named « Unknown » :

In our version, we don't have the problem. If you don't have the problem, just go to the next section: progress bar malfunctionProgress bar malfunction.

RedoBackup uses external programs such as partclone, fsarchiver (we will see that in the deb package creation for RedoBackup.deb package creation for RedoBackup part).

Let's see the result displayed by the command:

fsarchiver probe

ubuntu@PC-test:~# sudo fsarchiver probe

[======DISK======] [=============NAME==============] [====SIZE====] [MAJ] [MIN]
[sda       ] [VBOX HARDDISK         ] [  20.00 GB] [ 8] [ 0]
[sdb       ] [VBOX HARDDISK         ] [   8.00 GB] [ 8] [ 16]
[sr0       ] [CD-ROM             ] [  739.24 MO] [ 11] [ 0]
[sr1       ] [CD-ROM             ] [  326.21 MO] [ 11] [ 1]

[=====DEVICE=====] [==FILESYS==] [======LABEL======] [====SIZE====] [MAJ] [MIN]
[ram0      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 0]
[ram1      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 1]
[ram2      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 2]
[ram3      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 3]
[ram4      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 4]
[ram5      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 5]
[ram6      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 6]
[ram7      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 7]
[ram8      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 8]
[ram9      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 9]
[ram10      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 10]
[ram11      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 11]
[ram12      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 12]
[ram13      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 13]
[ram14      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 14]
[ram15      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 15]
[loop0      ] [squashfs  ] [<unknown>    ] [  694.65 GB] [ 7] [ 0]
[sda1      ] [ext3    ] [<unknown>    ] [  20.00 GB] [ 8] [ 1]
[sdb1      ] [vfat    ] [<unknown>    ] [   8.00 GB] [ 8] [ 17]

We notice than the ghost disks are RAMDISK.

2-9-1-1. Redobackup code analysis and modification▲

# Get each partition's details
   next if $line =~ m/^\n/;
   next if $line =~ m/^loop/;
   next if $line =~ m/^ramzswap/;
   next if $line =~ m/^dm-/;

next if $line =~ m/^ram/;

In our French translation, the Redobackup progress bar didn't work. If you do not have the problem, go to the next sectionCleaning and lightening.

We launch a backup and notice that the progress bar is stuck:

The backup works, but the RedoBackup progress bar doesn't work. If we launch the original script, we have the same problem. So, it's not due to our modifications.

Deleting the /usr/share/locale/fr_FR/LC_MESSAGES/partclone.mo file solved the problem.

Analysing redobackup script, we noticed the using of partclone.log to update the progress bar. After tests, we isolated the problem from the partclone translation file (the French one, we don't know if it's specific to the French translation).

To make the distribuition lighter, we propose to replace the Chromium browser with Midori, which is much smaller. You can keep the original if you prefer. If you replace it, don't forget to replace the /etc/xdg/openbox/menus.xml accordingly.

Midori add a new separate entry, named Internet :

In chroot mode, we start deleting old kernels:

dpkg -l|grep ii|grep linux-image* #list of installed kernel packages
apt-get purge [name of package to remove]

The same method is used to list packages and remove unused:

dpkg -l|grep ii|more

These are the packages that we uninstalled:

• aspell*;
• colord*;
• curftpfs;
• dns-root-data;
• enchant;
• gksu;
• grub*;
• lockfile-progs;
• logrotate;
• usbmuxd;
• wamerican;
• wodim;
• yelp.

We will use the bleachbit tool allowing a system deep cleaning and the superfluous languages. We start by installing it:

apt-get install bleachbit

Then we launch it:

bleachbit

Bleachbit opens a preference window in which it is possible to select languages to keep. By default the deletion of all languages except which is in use is proposed, as well as English. After closing this window, we're in the main windows offering file deletion choice. We check all options and launch the cleaning.

Once the operations are completed, we delete the software and it's configuration files since it will be useless in the final image:

apt-get purge bleachbit
apt-get autoremove
apt-get clean
rm -rf ~/.config/bleachbit

Once we exited the chroot mode, before burning a CD again, we clean the following folders:

• tmp;
• var/log;
• var/tmp;
• var/run;
• run;
• usr/src/*;
• usr/include;
• usr/share/doc/*;
• usr/share/help/*;
• usr/share/help-langpack/*;
• usr/share/locale/* except en;
• usr/share/locale-langpack/*;
• usr/share/man/*.

Now we have a 433 Mb ISO file.

First, we have tried to generate a ISO with a 64 bits and a 32 bits included kernels able to boot in UEFI/Legacy mode. Applications will stay in 32 bits, a 64-bit OS being able to run 32-bit code.

The tests resulted in a solution Legacy/UEFI SecureBoot compatible with a 32-bit kernel. So, we will only use a 32-bit one, since a 64-bit system is able to boot a 32-bit OS.

In case of Legacy boot mode with a BIOS, the kernel will be booted via Isolinux. In case of UEFI boot, Grub will make the job, like an Ubuntu Live DVD. The user will not have to choose.

We copy the EFI folder from the “Ubuntu-Desktop-Amd64” DVD, this one is Secureboot compatible. Then we activate the UEFI support on our virtual machine. When we boot, we have this grub prompt:

Deactivate UEFI will reset to standard isolinux display.

When copying the Ubuntu Live DVD EFI folder and activating UEFI, the grub interface boots. The Grub shell will appear because it doesn't find the configuration file. We test entering the following commands:

linux /vmlinuz boot=casper
initrd /initrd.img
boot

We integrate the Ubuntu ISO boot folder hoping to have the necessary settings. The original grub.cfg file will be the basisfor our GRUB menu.

On CD regenerated, we had to modify menu by pressing the key “e” to correct the kernel and initrd names, then validate with F10. In our French case, adding locale=fr_FR enabled us to have a French interface, but the keyboard stayed in QWERTY (as opposed to AZERTY, the keyboard layout used for French). To solve this, we added the setxkbmap fr command to the /etc/xdg/openbox/autostart file (SquashFS rebuild required). You can use this principle to your situation, if you don't want to use English.

We tried to display the background picture adding the following command in grub.cfg :

GRUB_BACKGROUND=/isolinux/bg_redo.png

This doesn't work. It seems this option is not compatible with Grub used version, the Ubuntu Desktop amd64 DVD not displaying picture in UEFI mode, while there is one in non UEFI mode.

After a few tests, A CD like ours doesn't boot in SecureBoot, while VMWare is compatible after adding the following line to the .vmx file:

firmware = "efi"

After some research, we found the following script allowing ISO BIOS and UEFI compatible burning (script to execute from the folder containing datas):

xorriso -as mkisofs -b isolinux/isolinux.bin --no-emul-boot --boot-info-table --boot-load-size 4 -c isolinux/boot.cat --isohybrid-mbr isolinux/isohdpfx.bin --eltorito-alt-boot -e boot/grub/efi.img --no-emul-boot --isohybrid-gpt-basdat -o /mnt/test.iso -r .

The isohdpfx.bin file was retrieved in /usr/lib/ISOLINUX after package installation via apt-get. The efi.img file being present after boot/grub folder copy as seen before.

We'll also add the .deb file to the root. It's generation will be seen in the next chapter.

Once the package is created, we try to install it with the following command:

sudo dpkg -i redobackup.deb

This will return a dependency error. It's normal, you must run the following command to solve it:

sudo apt-get install -f

To overcome this, a community package submission is required. However, it's acceptation is unlikely, the project is no more evolving. It would be possible to create your own repository.

After the installation, the RedoBackup script is in /sbin folder. We make a backup/restore test. The result is ok.

Ubuntu Xenial will be the destination version of our project. The system doesn't succeed to install the following packages:

• beep;
• fsarchiver;
• partclone.

To solve this problem, we needed to add the universe repository in the /etc/apt/sources.list file and do a apt-get update for installing the packages above.

Once installed, RedoBackup doesn't start. An error appears in the console:

can't locate Glib.pm in @INC...

Solved by:

apt-get install libglib-perl

Next, another error:

can't locate Gtk2.pm in @INC...

Solved by:

apt-get install libgtk2-perl

Once these packages are installed, the backup/restore tests run successfully.

So we'll need to add this packages in the list of required dependencies.

3-3-3-1. Ghost partition in selection▲

ubuntu@PC-test:~# sudo fsarchiver probe

[======DISK======] [=============NAME==============] [====SIZE====] [MAJ] [MIN]
[sda       ] [VBOX HARDDISK         ] [  20.00 GB] [ 8] [ 0]
[sdb       ] [VBOX HARDDISK         ] [   8.00 GB] [ 8] [ 16]
[sr0       ] [CD-ROM             ] [  739.24 MO] [ 11] [ 0]
[sr1       ] [CD-ROM             ] [  326.21 MO] [ 11] [ 1]

[=====DEVICE=====] [==FILESYS==] [======LABEL======] [====SIZE====] [MAJ] [MIN]
[ram0      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 0]
[ram1      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 1]
[ram2      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 2]
[ram3      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 3]
[ram4      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 4]
[ram5      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 5]
[ram6      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 6]
[ram7      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 7]
[ram8      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 8]
[ram9      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 9]
[ram10      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 10]
[ram11      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 11]
[ram12      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 12]
[ram13      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 13]
[ram14      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 14]
[ram15      ] [<unknown> ] [<unknown>    ] [  64.00 MB] [ 1] [ 15]
[loop0      ] [squashfs  ] [<unknown>    ] [  694.65 GB] [ 7] [ 0]
[sda1      ] [ext3    ] [<unknown>    ] [  20.00 GB] [ 8] [ 1]
[sdb1      ] [vfat    ] [<unknown>    ] [   8.00 GB] [ 8] [ 17]

# Get each partition's details
   next if $line =~ m/^\n/;
   next if $line =~ m/^loop/;
   next if $line =~ m/^ramzswap/;
   next if $line =~ m/^dm-/;

next if $line =~ m/^ram/;

We will make tests on three different versions, with different Window managers:

• Linux Mint Cinnamon;
• Linux Mint MATE;
• Linux Mate xfce.

All results are correct.

We used a net install to install our minimal Ubuntu.

During installation, we will uncheck everything to have a minimal installation.

After installation, after first boot, we have this screen:.

We start changing root password, the root account is disabled by default under Ubuntu.

sudo passwd root

Once password updated, we log in root.

We update the package list:

apt-get update

And upgrade distribution:

apt-get upgrade

Next, we install the minimal graphical interface OpenBox:

apt-get install openbox

We try to launch the graphical interface:

startx

It doesn't work, we have no X server:

apt-get install xorg

Then , startx call works and we have a grey screen:

The interface is operational, if we cllick the right mouse button, we have access to the OpenBox menu:

We install the essential: RedoBackup. Once the .deb is retrieved (with a USB flashkey for example), installation runs without difficulties, and we have a good surprise, backup & restore icons are OK.

Here's the rest of the installation commands:

dpkg -i redobackup.deb
apt-get install -f

We install the main tools present in the original CD:

apt-get install leafpad pcmanfm gparted gpicview testdisk system-config-lvm

We modify the /etc/xdg/openbox/menu.xml to put the main applications in the contextual menu.

Before:

After:

We replaced Baobab with gdmap, lighter:

apt-get install gdmap

We don't install Chromium but Midori, which is lighter, instead.

apt-get install midori

We replaced the web browser entry in the contextual menu.

We will make various adjustments, necessary or useful for our live CD/USB.

4-1-4-1. Dock adding▲

apt-get install cairo-dock

cairo-dock

Sorry, could'nt find the corresponding description file. Consider dragging and dropping the launcher from the application menu

4-1-4-2. Application launch & file configuration▲

apt-get install slim

#default_user  simone

#auto_login  no

echo $PATH>chemin.txt

default_path

cat chemin.txt >>/etc/slim.conf

/sbin/redobackup &

cairo-dock &

sleep 15 && cairo-dock &

4-1-4-3. Various settings for applications & distribution▲

apt-get install feh

feh -bg-scale /usr/share/redo/redo_blue.png &

4-1-4-4. Distribution cleaning▲

dpkg -l|more

apt-get purge [package name]

apt-get install deborphan
apt-get purge $(deborphan)
apt-get purge deborphan
apt autoremove

rm -rf /var/log/*.log

rm -r /var/crash/*

rm -rf ~/.thumbnails/normal/*

rm -rf /tmp/*

rm -rf /usr/share/wallpapers/*

rm -rf ~/.local/share/Trash/*

We start to define environment variables which you can customize. The user doesn't need to be modified.

export CONSTRUCTION=/mnt/construction
export CD=/mnt/cd

We prepare working folders:

mkdir -p "$CD"/casper

We copy the files of our installed distribution, excluding some files and folders via rsync command:

 rsync -av --one-file-system --exclude=/dev/* \
--exclude=/tmp/* --exclude=/home/* --exclude=/var/tmp/* --exclude=/boot/grub/* --exclude=/root/* \
--exclude=/var/spool/* --exclude=/media/* \
--exclude=/etc/fstab --exclude=/etc/mtab \
--exclude="$CONSTRUCTION" --exclude="$D" / /"$CONSTRUCTION"

chroot is a technique allowing to place yourself in another filesystem and use the calling operating system resources. We can work in this other file system as in the calling one.

We start to mount some special folders in our new file system from the chroot content folder. The mount points /proc, /sys et dev/pts, must be remount in the chroot folder. (The -bind option allows to not modify /etc/fstab file):

cd $CONSTRUCTION
mount --bind /proc proc
mount --bind /sys sys
mount -t devpts none dev/pts

mkdir "$CONSTRUCTION"/dev/pts

We go in our chroot folder:

chroot "$CONSTRUCTION"

We install essential package for live image built, after updated package list.

apt-get update
apt-get install casper lupin-casper

We ensure a complete system cleaning:

apt-get clean

Cleaning log files with:

find /var/log -regex '.*?[0-9].*?' -exec rm -v {} \;

Reset of existing logs:

find /var/log -type f | while read file
do
    cat /dev/null | tee $file
done

Then we leave chroot:

exit

And we unmount folders mounted in chroot:

umount dev/pts sys proc

We copy the kernel and 'initramfs (also called initrd) in the iso casper folder:

mv "$CONSTRUCTION"/boot/vmlinuz-$(uname -r) "$CD"/casper/vmlinuz
mv "$CONSTRUCTION"/boot/initrd.img-$(uname -r) "$CD"/casper/initrd.img

We install the needed tools:

apt-get install xorriso squashfs-tools

Then we build the compressed image:

mksquashfs "$CONSTRUCTION" "$CD"/casper/filesystem.squashfs

We simply can retrieve bootloader files on the original ISO. We copy the install and isolinux folders. We put them in our $CD folder. We make sure the /isolinux/isolinux.cfg entries have correct names going to our /casper folder: vmlinuz et initrd.img. In relation to the original entries, we had to change extension of initrd file, original compression being lz.

We install the image ISO construction tool:

apt-get install genisoimage

Then we launch this construction with:

genisoimage -o "live-redo.iso" -r -J --no-emul-boot --boot-load-size 4 --boot-info-table -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat "$CD"

In this command, you can replace « live-redo.iso » with any other ISO image you want.

GPT (GUID Partition Table) replaces MBR (Master Boot Record) in UEFI BIOS. GPT allows creation of up to 2,2 TB and have up to 128 partitions instead of 4 with MBR. There is an MBR at the beginning of GPT table for backward compatibility. Using UEFI implies using a GPT table instead of MBR.

SecureBoot is an UEFI option allowing signature control before to boot a kernel or a EFI program. The numeric signatures are stored in the motherboard firmware.

Microsoft enforces SecureBoot presence to be Windows Compatible stamp.

“Windows Hardware Compatibility Program Requirements” extract:

Windows 8 and later WHCP requires that systems implement UEFI native boot as the firmware boot mode and Secure Boot as the default out-of-box configuration.

This involve all new computer with Windows 8/10 preinstalled will have activated secureboot.

The Microsoft SecureBoot masterkey was unveiled by mistake.

If you want to use Linux on UEFI with secureboot machine, you have the following solutions;

• deactivate SecureBoot;
• use a Linux distribution that has purchased a Microsoft key such as Redhat or Ubuntu ;
• use the Linux Foundation solution;
• use Shim;
• use our own method as see in 2.12.3SecureBoot support chapter.

Our distribution being based on Ubuntu, it will be easier to make it SecureBoot compatible.

Our CD doesn't boot in UEFI (with or without SecureBoot), and the presence of the isolinux and boot/grub folders leads us to assume boot is running differently according to BIOS or UEFI boot.

By searching information about DVD UEFI compatibility on Internet, we found the following script, allowing burning a UEFI/BIOS hybrid DVD:

xorriso -as mkisofs --isohybrid-mbr isolinux/isohdpfx.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -b isolinux/isolinux.bin --no-emul-boot --boot-load-size 4 --boot-info-table --eltorito-alt-boot -e boot/grub/efi.img -no-emul-boot -isohybrid-gpt-basdat -o nom_cd.iso .

We have understood that the generated CD with this script is a hybrid CD containing a MBR partition and a GPT one. Then, we copy boot and EFI folders from Ubuntu live CD in our preparation folder. We also retrieve casper/vmlinuz.efi.

We modify our isolinux/isolinux.cfg file to replace vmlinuz with vmlinuz.efi.

Our isolinux folder doesn't have a isohdpfx.bin file, the problem is solved installing isolinux and copying it:

sudo apt-get install isolinux
sudo cp /usr/lib/ISOLINUX/isohdpfx.bin /mnt/iso/isolinux

After these changes, and new burning, the CD is booting in BIOS and UEFI mode in a virtual machine, but doesn't seem to work with SecureBoot.

Next, we tried to modify an existing Live.

For this, we used the isomaster tool allowing existing ISO modification:

The top part is corresponding to your filesystem content, the bottom is corresponding to the ISO content.

We replace the casper/filesystem.squashfs ISO file with ours. We remove the filesystem.size and filesysstem.squashfs.gpg files.

We replace the isolinux/isolinux.cfg configuration file, and change boot/grub/grub.cfg and loopback.cfg files to match our configuration.