Ofgwrite

DaMacFunkin · Apr 24, 2016

I saw in the upgrade log for 4.1 004 there was a new version of ofgwrite, I was hoping this would support solo4k but sadly it doesn't seem to, is betacentauri working on this or is it not on his list of things to do?
Thanks.

twol · Apr 24, 2016

It supports ext4 was hoping it might work for the Wetek also

Guess I can ask him .... will do later

Have posted msg to him, will post response if someone doesn,t beat me to it!

DaMacFunkin · Apr 24, 2016

Top Man :thumbsup:

Andy_Hazza · Apr 24, 2016

Highly unlikely this will ever be implemented on the Vu+ Solo 4K as it currently stands. You can never live flash ext partition.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

birdman · Apr 24, 2016

Andy_Hazza said:
Highly unlikely this will ever be implemented on the Vu+ Solo 4K as it currently stands. You can never live flash ext partition.

Presumably that would be because you wouldn't have an ext4 partition on flash? So what is it on?
"All" you need is to create a minimal rootfs in memory, root-swivel (or something named like that) to use it, then restore the new image file system where the current one is and reboot. Well, I say "all".....

Andy_Hazza · Apr 25, 2016

birdman said:
Presumably that would be because you wouldn't have an ext4 partition on flash? So what is it on?
"All" you need is to create a minimal rootfs in memory, root-swivel (or something named like that) to use it, then restore the new image file system where the current one is and reboot. Well, I say "all".....

Yeah. I think Ideally could do with creating a small partition in flash (big enough for flash files) have this visible when e2 is running and if you transfer flash file to partition and reboot box automatically flash then if successful files get auto deleted then receiver reboots. Would probably need Vu to create a new bootloader or something you think?

Huevos · Apr 25, 2016

birdman said:
Presumably that would be because you wouldn't have an ext4 partition on flash? So what is it on?

The flash of a Solo 4K is EXT4.

twol · Apr 25, 2016

Well Betacentauri says ofgwrite now works with Solo 4K ... and he has tested it on the box .... but not Wetek

DaMacFunkin · Apr 25, 2016

So it just needs enabling? I tried it yesterday and it says this box is not yet supported.

twol · Apr 25, 2016

DaMacFunkin said:
So it just needs enabling? I tried it yesterday and it says this box is not yet supported.

Ofgwrite is updated in the OE-A but I guess needs the 4K bypass (at least) removed in ImageManager.py and I guess some special code for the 4K depending on the exact format of the partition(s). eg: I have additional code so that I can flash either of the Xtrend ET8500 images.

birdman · Apr 25, 2016

Huevos said:
The flash of a Solo 4K is EXT4.

Why would anyone put an ext4 file-system on flash? Seems an odd thing to do, given the characteristics of flash memory and the fact that various file-system exist specifically aimed at it.
Mind you - it's just occurred to me that I have a USB stick formatted as ext4....

2stein · Apr 25, 2016

maybe because the 4k no longer has nand but emmc flash.

andyblac · Apr 25, 2016

let me clarify this issue, OpenViX will sorry to say NEVER support live flashing of the Solo4K, here's why.

the Solo4K uses a EXT4 filesystem and as such it is not possible to FLASH a mounted ext4 filesystem, unlike other boxes that use a block type filesystem. The OFGWRITE tool IMO is wrong to even attempt this for the Solo4k, here why i think so and why openvix will not support this tool for the Solo4k.

firstly is does not perform a reflash, it is simply mounting the image file and then copying the files from the image overwriting the files in the flash, think of this way, it is like trying to reinstall windows over itself whilst windows is running.

IMO this could lead to all sorts of issues, as system libraries are still being accessed, the flash has not been cleaned. This could lead to bad blocks as the the filesystem is being overwrote whilst it is still being used.

So i am sorry to say OpenVix will never support live flashing of the Solo4k, whilst it uses a ext4 filesystem.

OpenViX will NOT take any chance that this tool 'could' cause harm to any users Solo4K boxes, so this is why we have taken this action.

Again we are sorry but we will NOT reconsider this at all.

birdman · Apr 25, 2016

andyblac said:
firstly is does not perform a reflash, it is simply mounting the image file and then copying the files from the image overwriting the files in the flash, think of this way, it is like trying to reinstall windows over itself whilst windows is running.

That depends on how it works. As I've noted - it is perfectly possible to create a usable root file-system in memory and perform a swivel-root to run on that. At that point the original root file-system can be totally unused, and unmountable.
This is (or was) how some Linux system booted in the first place.

andyblac · Apr 25, 2016

birdman said:
That depends on how it works. As I've noted - it is perfectly possible to create a usable root file-system in memory and perform a swivel-root to run on that. At that point the original root file-system can be totally unused, and unmountable.
This is (or was) how some Linux system booted in the first place.

from i can tell he is not reformating the root partition.

birdman · Apr 25, 2016

andyblac said:
from i can tell he is not reformating the root partition.

He doesn't have too. He just needs to get it out of use - which is possible.
(Although a reformat would be the simplest and quickest way to delete all current files on it.)

I've remembered what makes Linux boot this way. If your kernel needs a loadable module in order to boot (e.g. your root partition was on a SCSI disk and you had the SCSI code as loadable modules) then it had to boot up with a copy of those modules in an initramfs. That initramfs was the root disk at the start of boot up. After the kernel was running the real root partition was mounted (as something else) and then the initramfs root and the final root mount points were "swivelled". The initramfs was then shut down and the memory freed up.
I'm not saying this is what ofgwrite is doing - just that it is all possible with existing functionality.

Deedie · Apr 26, 2016

andyblac said:
let me clarify this issue, OpenViX will sorry to say NEVER support live flashing of the Solo4K, here's why.

the Solo4K uses a EXT4 filesystem and as such it is not possible to FLASH a mounted ext4 filesystem, unlike other boxes that use a block type filesystem. The OFGWRITE tool IMO is wrong to even attempt this for the Solo4k, here why i think so and why openvix will not support this tool for the Solo4k.

firstly is does not perform a reflash, it is simply mounting the image file and then copying the files from the image overwriting the files in the flash, think of this way, it is like trying to reinstall windows over itself whilst windows is running.

IMO this could lead to all sorts of issues, as system libraries are still being accessed, the flash has not been cleaned. This could lead to bad blocks as the the filesystem is being overwrote whilst it is still being used.

So i am sorry to say OpenVix will never support live flashing of the Solo4k, whilst it uses a ext4 filesystem.

OpenViX will NOT take any chance that this tool 'could' cause harm to any users Solo4K boxes, so this is why we have taken this action.

Again we are sorry but we will NOT reconsider this at all.

as much as I would like this feature on my 4k, its not that much of an issue for me.

I didn't even know it could be done, in all the years I had my original vu+ duo. I always flashed via usb, and only found out about this feature when I got the 4k lol

DaMacFunkin · Apr 26, 2016

It isn't that much of a problem at the moment, but What if after a bit of wear some boxes start to not recognise USB sticks like many VU+ boxes before.

Sicilian · Apr 26, 2016

DaMacFunkin said:
It isn't that much of a problem at the moment, but What if after a bit of wear some boxes start to not recognise USB sticks like many VU+ boxes before.

Such as? Only time I've found sticks not being recognised are the following scenarios:

A) not formatted correctly.
B) incorrect file structure.
C) cheap poor quality/clone usb sticks.
D) larger than 8gb, some boxes don't like anything larger than 8gb.
E) other usb devices connected at the same time.

Ofgwrite

Forum Supporter

Moderator

Forum Supporter

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Administrator

Moderator

Forum Supporter

Moderator

Moderator

ViX Beta Tester

Administrator ,

Moderator

Administrator ,

Moderator

Deedie

Guest

Forum Supporter

The Boss

Similar threads

OpenViX Feeds Status