Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Remastersys is one of the mysterious programs Ubuntu users may know of but rarely try, and this is unfortunate since it’s a program with a lot to offer. The official website, http://geekconnections.org/remastersys/, is the only place to get valid information, and I advise all to go there. Tony Brijeski is the developer, and claims his program is “A unique Backup-to-Live-Media Tool for Debian and Ubuntu” (from the website). Be wary of other websites that offer instructions and downloads that are usually outdated. Stick with the developer in this case as menus and choices have changed over time. Do not confuse this with APTonCD, another program that is designed to backup applications, not the OS with applications. Remastersys backs up everything. What is required? Ubuntu, or a variant using the base Ubuntu code. All desktop styles are invited to the party too. That’s easy enough.
Remastersys est l'un des programmes mystérieux dont les utilisateurs d'Ubuntu ont peut-être entendu parler mais n'essayent que rarement, ce qui est regrettable car c'est un programme qui a beaucoup à offrir.
Le site officiel, http://geekconnections.org/remastersys/, est le seul endroit pour obtenir des informations valables, et je conseille à tous d'y aller. Tony Brijeski est le développeur, et affirme que son programme est « Un outil unique pour Debian et Ubuntu permettant de passer d'une sauvegarde à une vraie installation » (sur son site).
Méfiez-vous des autres sites web qui offrent des instructions et des téléchargements qui sont généralement dépassés. Restez fidèle au site du développeur car les menus et les choix ont changé au fil du temps.
Ne confondez pas avec APTonCD, un autre programme qui est conçu pour sauvegarder les applications, et non pas le système avec les applications. Remastersys sauvegarde tout.
Qu'est-ce qui est nécessaire ? Ubuntu, ou une variante utilisant le code de base Ubuntu. Tous les styles de bureau sont invités à la fête aussi. C'est assez facile.
Unless you have a top end OS package like openArtist, chances are you’ll have to install remastersys. Go to the website mentioned above, and follow the instructions (you’ll have to add a software source to Synaptic). Before you happily click on the new menu entry, do some preliminary work. Please do not ignore this information! Use Ubuntu Tweak or Computer Janitor to clean your system of garbage files, unneeded cache items, and discontinued kernels. My last cleanup operation cleaned out over 1GB. Now it’s time to brush up on your elementary percentages. Remastersys can create a final file of no more than 4GB (this is a limit of the genisoimage protocol in Ubuntu), but this is misleading because that’s the limitation of the final compressed file, not the size of your occupied hard drive.
À moins que vous n'ayez un paquet vraiment au dessus du système, comme openArtist, il y a des chances pour que vous deviez installer remastersys. Allez sur le site mentionné ci-dessus, et suivez les instructions (il vous faudra ajouter une source logicielle dans Synaptic).
Avant de cliquer avec bonheur sur la nouvelle entrée de menu, faites un travail préliminaire. S'il vous plaît n'ignorez pas cette information !
Utilisez Ubuntu Tweak ou Computer Janitor pour nettoyer votre système de fichiers des fichiers et des éléments du cache inutiles, ainsi que des versions périmées du noyau. Ma dernière opération de nettoyage a libéré plus de 1 Go.
Maintenant il est temps de rafraîchir vos pourcentages élémentaires.
Remastersys peut créer un fichier final de moins de 4 Go (qui est une limite du protocole genisoimage dans Ubuntu), mais cela est trompeur parce que c'est la taille du fichier final compressé, pas la taille occupée sur votre disque dur.
Open Disk Usage Analyzer (DUA) on the main menu, and review the numbers. Figure one is total hard drive space, and the second is OS occupied space. For example, you may have a 250GB hard drive with only 4GB occupied. Remastersys takes the second figure and compresses it to a much smaller file, usually down to 33-50% of original size. This is where the math gets a little fuzzy. Some files are already compressed and can’t be squeezed further. MP3 files are about as small as they’re going to get, so you’ll have to remove them or pay the consequences. How so? If you have 8GB on the hard drive, but 3GB of that are music files, only the 5GB balance will be reduced. That could put you over the 4GB compressed file limit. Take it from a person who has made this mistake. Move multimedia files off the hard drive to an external drive. This might explain why Ubuntu variations come with few, if any, such files.
In short, keep your hard drive space to no more than 8GB, since anything above that is pushing the limits (my personal best is 12GB but that was really on the limit). And how big is 8GB? The average Ubuntu installation takes up about 4GB, so you’ve got plenty of wiggle room for programs, files, etc. ArtistX with 2,500 included packages and programs is still under 4GB compressed, even though it balloons to nearly 12GB once installed (and they used remastersys to create the download file on their website). Housecleaning still isn’t done quite yet. Shut down internet and Bluetooth connections, if any. Stop playing music files, and plug in your laptop if it’s on battery power. Disconnect external hard or thumb drives, and remove that SD card you forgot about. Get rid of the CD or DVD in the drive, if any. Finally, disable any screensavers that may pop up after a period of disuse. Why all this work before you even open the program? DUA is a great program, but often overlooks anything past the hard drive. External drives and cards are easy enough to forget, and your compressed math figure could be incorrect as a result.
In addition, remastersys is going to take over your computer for the better part of a half hour, so plan on some idle time. Anything that can interrupt the project, such as a screensaver popping up, can cause termination (although it rarely does). Now you can open remastersys. You should get this standard warning: It is necessary to close all other windows and unmount any network shares while running Remastersys Backup. Please do so now and then click OK when you are ready to continue. Essentially, make sure you have nothing running in the background. Simple enough, and clicking okay will take you to the first menu.
Do not click on anything in the main menu until you read below! The main menu is straightforward but does have entries that merit closer definition. You will see Backup, Dist, Modify, Clean, Info, and Quit, along with a couple of other headings, but included explanations may seem cryptic - so here’s a common sense, plain English, listing: • Backup – Clones everything, warts and all (including those files I advised to get rid of earlier – now you know why). • Dist – Allows you to make a copy for distribution to friends by stripping personal info and related data. Essentially, it backs up your programs, but not your data. • Modify – Allows users to modify settings and exclude files. More on this below. • Clean – Cleans out temp files from previous Remastersys attempts. Read below. • Info – All about the program - as if you didn’t already know. • Quit – Self explanatory.
I purposely left out Distcdfs and Distiso, two entries that make little sense given Dist offered above (if you must know, one creates a CD file system, and the other creates an .iso image, but Dist alone does most of this without having to fool with these). Previous versions did not have these two headings, so don’t worry if they’re not there on your version. At this point, users can make a mistake by clicking on Backup or Dist! Clicking either starts the process immediately without modification or intervention. Keep reading before taking any action! Default is Backup but you can use the tab keys, cursor, or your mouse, to jump to any other category. Clicking okay activates the heading you have highlighted. Clean is strictly for previous remastersys users, and allows for prior attempts to be removed so they don’t add to the new clone.
The only problem with Clean is that it specializes in temp files, and might not touch an existing clone you created earlier. In these cases, you may have to visit the remastersys folder to manually remove it (right click the file and move it to trash). The next command, Modify, is the one that should be clicked first! Of all the options, the one most useful is Modify, because it branches out to a sub-menu consisting of: • Username – Defaults to “custom”, but clicking on this allows changes. • Title – Same as above, but usually self-titles as “Custom Live CD” - even if it is DVD size. • Filename – Defaults to custom.iso. Leave well enough alone here since you’re after an .iso image. • Working Directory – Defaults to the Remastersys folder, but users can change this to Desktop for ease of finding it later. • Files to Exclude – Allows files to be removed from the mix, but read below before going here. • Go back to main menu – A.k.a. quit.
Modify does have a flaw from a user standpoint, and that’s in the Files to Exclude heading. The box that opens does not point to any file folders - or even offer to. Users are expected to cut and paste, or manually enter file-paths (leaving a space in between for each entry). Make a typo and you’ve got problems. Hmmm, maybe moving files to a flash drive doesn’t sound so bad now, does it? It’s Modify that often confuses the most. Don’t be spooked into thinking you’ve just butchered the OS. The only modification is to the final product, not the active OS. Once you’ve got this settled, click on okay, go back to the main window, and click either Backup or Dist to start the process. Backup is for personal use, while Dist is a copy stripped of personal data so you can give copies to friends or post online. As a matter of preference, I almost always opt for Dist. That way, if a disc gets in the wrong hands, my user-ID and password aren’t compromised.
Once you’re sure, click on okay, and sit back for a while. Depending upon the size to be compressed you’ve got about 15 to 30 minutes to kill. Monitor the pop up window that appears! Down at the bottom you’ll see a notification of final file size. If it’s more than 4GB, click to close the window to stop operations! This is an unfortunate snafu in remastersys. It blindly follows your command even if the final file is too large for completion. Of course, you do get a little nasty pop-up box stating the final file was too large, but you don’t get it until the bitter end! Back to square one, and this is where Clean comes into action. Click on it to see if any residual temp files are hanging around. Consider putting more files on external drives or storage, and look for other programs to dump. Once the pop up window shows the final file will not exceed 4GB, you’re home free.
If all goes well you should see: our custom .iso and custom.iso.md5 files are ready in /home/remastersys/remastersys. It is recommended to test in a virtual machine or on a rewritable cd/dvd to ensure it works as desired. Click on OK to return to the main menu. If the size was right you’ll have the .iso file sitting in the Remastersys folder (or the location you picked). You have two realistic options: • Burn an .iso image CD or DVD. As stupid as it may sound, make sure you use an .iso burner. Burning a video or data disc isn’t going to work. • Virtualbox - if you plan to use the clone as a secondary, not main, OS on another computer; however, you still have to burn a disc, use a flash drive, or transmit across the network to transport the file.
Another potential option is UNetbootin and a flash drive, but that procedure has been hit or miss for me. Don’t know if it’s the file, or a bug in the program (either UNetbootin or remastersys), but UNetbootin often can’t find the image file - even when I park it on the desktop. It did work occasionally, but I eventually found it easier to just burn a DVD and be done with it. Those itching to test the final product - without burning a DVD or moving the physical file - can open Virtualbox and load the OS for review, but it may seem odd to have a copy of your current running OS next to the original (still running, too). To boot to the image file on CD/DVD or flash drive, reset your BIOS to boot from the media used, and you should see a menu at boot giving you several options:
• Start Custom Live CD in Graphical Mode – essentially Ubuntu live mode. • Start Custom Live CD in Safe Graphical Mode – mainly for computers that won’t boot otherwise. • Install Custom Live CD – complete installation. • Check the CD/DVD for defects – if it’s defective, will you get this far? Maybe! • Memory Test • Boot the First Hard Disk
I always recommend live mode before any installation - only because no two computers are the same. Drivers and codecs are bound to be missing, and this may be the time you suddenly realize you should have removed those compromising pictures from that folder. By the way, that compressed file in the remastersys folder is not going away anytime soon. It’ll stay there until you remove it, and failing to do so and using remastersys again will result in that file possibly being included in your second attempt. Oops! In other words, burn your discs, and then delete the iso once satisfied. Anybody who has ever used Windows-based cloning programs can attest to the fact that remastersys is one of the easiest programs to use, and one of the quickest once the initial tricks and roadblocks are conquered.
As for a rating: • Ease of use. Once past the initial jitters, it’s a good program. Some online information is downright incorrect if not hazardous - but this is not a fault of the program. Dinged a diamond for a rather Spartan website although I did find it amusing that the program is visually appealing compared to the website. • Operations. Dropped a mark for a command-line file-exclusion process that is twitchy, and a propensity to create non-existent files if the final file size is too large (it should halt the process, and warn users before starting). • Overall rating. There just isn’t anything much else out there for Ubuntu and variants in this area, but this program works just as well as much more expensive Windows and OS X software. Just needs a little polish to be excellent.