[uClibc] Readonly root filesystem a la Pebble

Doyle, Patrick WPD at dtccom.com
Mon May 9 18:59:40 UTC 2005


Thank you for your reply.

The approach used by Pebble Linux was to take a basic Debian distribution
(with an ext2 root file system) and to tweak it such that the root fs could
be mounted readonly.  All of the bits that change occassionally, such as
/var/log/messages, root's .history file, /etc/random-seed, etc...) are
symbolic links to corresponding files in a volatile file system (such as a
ramfs or tmpfs).

Having looked at this a little more, I see that this is mostly (and I am
willing to be convinced "completely") done already.  Perhaps my question
could be rephrased as "is it possible to mount the root filesystem generated
by buildroot read-only and expect things to work?"  (Yes I know I can
determine this experimentally, but I would like to know if any design work
has been done to this end).

With regard to my ridiculous signature line, sorry about that, but there's
nothing I can do about it.  Personally, I think it's totally ridiculous even
for private emails, and when posting to public forums is nothing more than a
waste of bandwidth, but I lost that battle when these signature blocks were
forced upon us.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

--wpd

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sjhill at realitydiluted.com [mailto:sjhill at realitydiluted.com] 
> Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 2:24 PM
> To: Doyle, Patrick
> Cc: 'uclibc at uclibc.org'
> Subject: Re: [uClibc] Readonly root filesystem a la Pebble
> 
> 
> > I was wondering if anybody has done any work to create a 
> read only root
> > filesystem, such as that used in pebble, that can be 
> tweaked occasionally.
> > Basically, I would expect that it would be an ext2 
> filesystem with symbolic
> > links to volatile information pointing to files in /var.
> > 
> Please, use google next time. First, filesystems are a KERNEL level
> concern, not user space. Go look at ROMFS in the latest Linux kernel
> trees. It has no business here. Second, do not use confidentiality
> type verbage in your signature lines. They do not belong on open
> lists.
> 
> -Steve
> 


Patrick Doyle
DSP Design Engineer
(603) 546-2179

 

This communication is from DTC Communications, Inc. and is intended to be
confidential and solely for the use of the persons or entities addressed
above.  If you are not an intended recipient, be aware that the information
contained herein may be protected from unauthorized use by privilege or law,
and any copying, distribution, disclosure, or other use of this information
is prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please
contact the sender by return e-mail or telephone the above number
immediately and delete or destroy all copies.  Thank you for your
cooperation.

 





More information about the uClibc mailing list