Provide DTS image in ISO format

[TomaszAIR]

The problem you're addressing (if any)

Image in .iso format may be used with other projects like Ventoy.

Describe the solution you'd like

DTS image in .iso format.

Where is the value to a user, and who might that user be?

Describe alternatives you've considered

Additional context

[pietrushnic]

@TomaszAIR can you at least briefly explain what this involves? I think there is very basic knowledge needed to address this issue.

[macpijan]

It was just discussed in Matrix yesterday: https://matrix.to/#/!ICbAchiIMYuPJqxuuv:matrix.org/$YVY8yYhZd39XXjC7mp0hfrZf37MxoFc4i9wAAox0nCw?via=matrix.org&via=tux.pizza

[TomaszAIR]

Building DTS image in ISO format will be added in v1.1.1.

we will add:

• iso precompiled image
• short documentation section https://github.com/Dasharo/docs/pull/369/commits/5af9fa51aad481a0eaeb56861d95d936ccd207d4

We did not tested it a lot but running DTS via VentoyOS got some limitation that we mention in docs and https://github.com/Dasharo/meta-dts/pull/23#issuecomment-1432808700

[TomaszAIR]

To close this issue it should be better if we would investigate the RO rootfs that Ventoy uses and find a way to not limit DTS booted via VentoyOS. We could e.g. dump any logs etc to /tmp (e.g. now HCL report is dumped into root of file system) or check how provide some part of storage to be rw.

[DaniilKl]

Have been digging in this topic lately, here is what I have found:

Following workarounds may be used to ommit read-only restriction (Warning! these solution have been tested using Ventoy version 1.0.88 and meta-dts on tag 1.2.9 with added exFAT and NTFS fs support):

1) Using additional storage device. You can mount it while using DTS from Ventoy and write to it, example:

# lsblk -f
NAME                FSTYPE  FSVER LABEL       UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0               ext4                      75b101d3-ef04-477c-a889-952188e001ca  121.7M    66% /
sda                                                                                               
|-sda1              exfat         Ventoy      1955-0AF0                                           
| `-ventoy          iso9660       boot        2023-10-10-08-15-24-34                              
`-sda2              iso9660       boot        2023-10-10-08-15-24-34                              
sdb                 ext4          Test        83b0c3a6-4e73-4fc9-86ff-4fb4c8a105c0   12.5G     6% /tmp
mount | grep sdb
/dev/sdb on /mnt type ext4 (rw,relatime)

2) Save extra space on the storage device during Ventoy flash process. You will have some space at the end of the device, so, you will be able to create additional partition and mount it:

# lsblk -f
NAME                FSTYPE  FSVER LABEL       UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0               ext4                      75b101d3-ef04-477c-a889-952188e001ca  121.7M    66% /
sda                                                                                               
|-sda1              exfat         Ventoy      3178-68C1                                           
| |-ventoy          iso9660       boot        2023-10-10-08-15-24-34                              
| `-vtoy_persistent ext4          persistence f2a4888f-905a-47f5-be06-8f0c5bb02b18                
|-sda2              iso9660       boot        2023-10-10-08-15-24-34                              
`-sda3              ext4                      565d6b66-8789-47c9-a327-f81be8aa9753  906.2M     0% /tmp
# mount | grep sda3
/dev/sda3 on /tmp type ext4 (rw,relatime)

3) Using Ventoy persistence plugin. It allows you to create a file system in a file and mount it while using DTS via Ventoy:

# lsblk -f
NAME                FSTYPE  FSVER LABEL       UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0               ext4                      75b101d3-ef04-477c-a889-952188e001ca  121.7M    66% /
sda                                                                                               
|-sda1              exfat         Ventoy      1955-0AF0                                           
| |-ventoy          iso9660       boot        2023-10-10-08-15-24-34                              
| `-vtoy_persistent ext4          persistence f2a4888f-905a-47f5-be06-8f0c5bb02b18  906.1M     0% /mnt
`-sda2              iso9660       boot        2023-10-10-08-15-24-34
#mount | grep vtoy_persistent
/dev/mapper/vtoy_persistent on /tmp type ext4 (rw,relatime)

4) Shipping and loading rootfs.img from another storage device. So, you will have entire rootfs in read-write mode. Below is an example where rootfs.img is located in file which is added to Ventoy using the idea explained above: Ventoy persistence plugin:

# lsblk -f
NAME                FSTYPE  FSVER LABEL       UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0               ext4                      75b101d3-ef04-477c-a889-952188e001ca  121.5M    66% /
sda                                                                                               
|-sda1              exfat         Ventoy      3178-68C1                                           
| |-ventoy          iso9660       boot        2023-10-10-11-56-51-32                              
| `-vtoy_persistent ext4          persistence f2a4888f-905a-47f5-be06-8f0c5bb02b18                
|-sda2              iso9660       boot        2023-10-10-11-56-51-32                              
`-sda3              ext4                      565d6b66-8789-47c9-a327-f81be8aa9753       
# mount | grep ' / '
/run/media/dm-1/rootfs.img on / type ext4 (rw,relatime)

[pietrushnic]

@artur-rs @TomaszAIR what is our plan for next steps?

[artur-rs]

@pietrushnic plan is to get back to the decision from above research after 14.02, @TomaszAIR cc Should be a part of the v1.2.19

[macpijan]

Maybe my comment better fits here: https://github.com/Dasharo/dasharo-issues/issues/457#issuecomment-1994964115

[artur-rs]

Milestone updated - according to the changelog for v1.2.20, iso artifacts are temporarily removed from the releases: https://github.com/Dasharo/meta-dts/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md#v1220---2024-03-19