[OSGeoLive] Disk space and gvSig upgrade

[James Klassen]

For what it's worth, I have done some searching and it looks like there may
be a couple ways around the 4GB file size limit.

One possibility appears to be putting the squashfs file on a second
partition (either directly or in a ext2 filesystem). This would be
problematic for actual optical disks, but should work on USB devices.

It also looks like there is a way to make files larger than 4GB on iso9660
filesystems with some limits on non-Linux compatibility (but this is
probably not an issue if only Linux needs to read the squashfs file). I am
not sure if this would break the iso-hybrid compatibility with USB images.

Just throwing these out there as possibilities to start thinking about how
we might get past the 4GB limit. I obviously haven't had a chance to test
anything yet.

On Mon, Jul 2, 2018, 10:36 James Klassen <jklassen at sharedgeo.org> wrote:

> Right... I think I knew that once upon a time.
>
> On Mon, Jul 2, 2018, 10:29 Angelos Tzotsos <gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> The hard limit for the live system is 4.2GB. The reason is not the iso
>> size, but the way the live system works: it is based on a FAT file system,
>> where maximum file size is 4GB. Everything we add is stored on a virtual
>> file system built on a squashfs file (compressed file system used by ubuntu
>> for the live system). If we add too much in the customization, the
>> squashfs goes over 4GB and cannot be stored in the USB, causing a fatal
>> error.
>>
>> In order to move away from this limit, we would need to stop distributing
>> a live system and only produce a VM version.
>> Another option would be to distribute a light live version in iso format
>> (excluding big projects from it) and a full version (VM only) that could go
>> over 4GB in size.
>>
>> Best,
>> Angelos
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 5:47 PM, Basques, Bob (CI-StPaul) <
>> bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us> wrote:
>>
>>> Jim,
>>>
>>> Good points all, and this seems be in line with other list conversations
>>> related to setting up video tutorials for OSGeo stack items.
>>>
>>> bobb
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jul 2, 2018, at 9:01 AM, James Klassen <jklassen at sharedgeo.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I can't make the meeting, but I have been wondering for awhile if the
>>> target should be moved to a 8GB USB stick (or DL DVD).
>>>
>>> I am not sure if this holds World wide, but locally 4GB and 8GB USB
>>> sticks are essentially the same price and 8GB sticks are much easier to
>>> find.  Again locally, from 4GB to 32GB the bigger price difference is USB2
>>> vs USB3 rather than based on the capacity.
>>>
>>> There is certainly benefit in the discipline gained by being forced to
>>> be efficient with software size.  And I know as someone who has been
>>> involved in making Live USBs for several conferences that even slight
>>> increases in cost with limited budgets means less copies can be given out.
>>> But given at least my local observations, I no longer see the gain in
>>> limiting ourselves to 4GB and I worry if we are forced to exclude
>>> projects that provide good examples of the rich selection of the FLOSS
>>> geospatial ecosystem based on what may well be an outdated limit.
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jul 2, 2018, 07:23 Angelos Tzotsos <gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> We have received a pull request from gvSig to upgrade version from 2.2
>>>> to 2.4
>>>> As can be seen here https://github.com/OSGeo/OSGeoLive/pull/206#
>>>> issuecomment-401786071 this will double the installation size of gvSig.
>>>>
>>>> Lets discuss this tonight, so we can make a decision.
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>> Angelos
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Angelos Tzotsos, PhD
>>>> OSGeo Charter Member
>>>> http://users.ntua.gr/tzotsos
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> osgeolive mailing list
>>>> osgeolive at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/osgeolive
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> osgeolive mailing list
>>> osgeolive at lists.osgeo.org
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/osgeolive
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "In the end, everything is a gag."- Charlie Chaplin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Angelos Tzotsos, PhD
>> OSGeo Charter Member
>> http://users.ntua.gr/tzotsos
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/osgeolive/attachments/20180702/22dc4d97/attachment-0001.html>