Michael Higgins wrote:

So, I finally got the OK to nuke another Dell winbox. My dream is to:

* Partition the restore partition (3.6 GB) for any small linux
installation


* make that partition active, bootable, with grub installed

* reboot and ssh into that linux machine to finish by toasting NTFS
partition and making it my gentoo system '/' as per usual...

Can this be done without physical access to the machine which is
currently running windows XP? I am administrator and get 'there' via
RDP.


It is possible: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml#doc_chap5

But not really recommended because if you do something wrong (wrong grub
config, SSH misconfiguration, etc.) you'll need to go there and get
physical access.


Also, instead of installing a downloaded tarball, you can just clone the
existing Gentoo installation into the new partition and boot from it.
This usually means:


'cp -a' your existing / to your target / (except /dev, /sys and /proc).
If you mounted your target / as /root/target, you do:


cp -a /usr /root/hd
(repeat this for all directories in your current / *EXCEPT* /dev, /proc,
/sys and /lost+found)


mkdir /root/hd/dev
mkdir /root/hd/proc
mkdir /root/hd/sys
mknod /root/hd/dev/console c 5 1
mknod /root/hd/null c 1 3
touch /root/hd/dev/.keep
touch /root/hd/proc/.keep
touch /root/hd/sys/.keep

Now chroot into it:

mount -t proc none /root/mnt/proc
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
chroot /root/hd /bin/bash

Now edit /etc/fstab to use the new partitions, edit /boot/grub/grub.conf
and reinstall grub:


grub
root (hd0,0) <-- sustitute with what you really have/want
setup
quit

Now change your SSH config to allow for root login! (Or add a normal
user if you don't want that.) In any case, check your SSH config.


You're ready. Leave the chroot and unmount:

exit
umount /root/hd/dev
umount /root/hd/proc

If you've set up grub correctly while in the chroot, you can now reboot
and the new system should come up. If not, I hope it's not a long drive
or walk to get physical access :P


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Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
'cp -a' your existing / to your target / (except /dev, /sys and /proc).
If you mounted your target / as /root/target


/root/hd, but I'm sure you were able to figure out the typo in your own

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Nikos Chantziaras wrote:

mount -t proc none /root/mnt/proc
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev


Bah, too much copy&paste without paying attention (it's early and no
coffee yet :P) Should of course be:


mount -t proc none /root/hd/proc
mount -o bind /dev /root/hd/dev

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On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:43:33 +0300, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:

> 'cp -a' your existing / to your target / (except /dev, /sys and /proc).
> If you mounted your target / as /root/target, you do:
>
> cp -a /usr /root/hd
> (repeat this for all directories in your current /
> *EXCEPT* /dev, /proc, /sys and /lost+found)
>
> mkdir /root/hd/dev
> mkdir /root/hd/proc
> mkdir /root/hd/sys

Or replace all this with one command

cp -al / /root/hd

or, my preference

rsync -ax / /root/hd/



--
Neil Bothwick

SUBLIMINALsendmoneyTAGLINE

Neil Bothwick wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:43:33 +0300, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:

'cp -a' your existing / to your target / (except /dev, /sys and /proc).
If you mounted your target / as /root/target, you do:


cp -a /usr /root/hd
(repeat this for all directories in your current /
*EXCEPT* /dev, /proc, /sys and /lost+found)

mkdir /root/hd/dev
mkdir /root/hd/proc
mkdir /root/hd/sys


Or replace all this with one command

cp -al / /root/hd


I assume you meant 'cp -ax' :P

That's indeed faster than typing everything by hand and I forgot about it ;P



or, my preference

rsync -ax / /root/hd/


Well, /root/hd is empty so there's nothing to win with rsync other than
it being slower than cp. But it does the job too, anyway.


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On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:42:20 +0300, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:

> I assume you meant 'cp -ax' :P

I did, it's tar that uses -l for this.

> > rsync -ax / /root/hd/
>
> Well, /root/hd is empty so there's nothing to win with rsync other than
> it being slower than cp. But it does the job too, anyway.

It preserves directory time stamps, which cp does not. It's not slower
because the destination is empty so the initial file scan takes no longer
than with cp. Oh, and you can stop and restart it.


--
Neil Bothwick

Do not underestimate the power of the Force.

On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:52:20 +0100
Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:

> On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:42:20 +0300, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
>
> > I assume you meant 'cp -ax' :P
>
> I did, it's tar that uses -l for this.
>
> > > rsync -ax / /root/hd/
> >
> > Well, /root/hd is empty so there's nothing to win with rsync other
> > than it being slower than cp. But it does the job too, anyway.
>
> It preserves directory time stamps, which cp does not. It's not slower
> because the destination is empty so the initial file scan takes no
> longer than with cp. Oh, and you can stop and restart it.
>
>

OK Guys, thanks for the tips. I'll be trying later this week, just in
case Saturday means a trip to the physical location.

Cheers,

--
| /| | | ~ ~
| / | |---| `|` ?
| |ichael | |iggins ^ /
michael.higgins[at]evolone[dot]org
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