[solved] distributed install (Tex Live info also)

Typically, the details I need to operate within Linux are difficult to find on the Net, yet what I don't need seems written again and again nearly everywhere on the Net. I often must acknowledge to myself later that, what I couldn't find at the time was too simple for anyone to even bother typing.

Recent example. For years, I've wanted to backup my data directory quickly, so I could have a cron backup script to automate it. "Quickly" to me also meant "dd" (data destroyer, lol) instead of "rsync" or "cp". In turn, "dd" meant "unmounted" --- I don't want "live acquisition" for a directory as important as "/home". But I could not grasp how a separate, unmountable, partition for "/home" would work exactly.

The allocations for each partition seemed easy: I used...

$ du -ch

... to determine usage, and formulated a plan for splitting-up the drive: 10G swap, 30G install, the rest to /home. But I couldn't figure out how to do it. How would applications find the partition containing the data files? Dual booters run into that problem, for example.

fstab - the key

One day, I was struggling with the problem and I finally recalled a Linux basic: everything is a network, everything is a file. For example, how does a worker in Building A access his home directory on a server in Building B? Of course! fstab would simply mount it. Fstab was the solution and it was so simple it's little wonder no one had bothered to explain this in their distributed install instructions.

new Arch install

Solution in hand, the new install had 3 pieces: "/home", "/", and "swap" (some add a separate boot partition also). Using cfdisk, I sized each partition as noted above. Then...

# mkswap /dev/sda3
# swapon /dev/sda3
# mount -rw -t ext3 /dev/sda1 /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/home
# mount -rw -t ext3 /dev/sda2 /mnt/home
# genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

...and all was good. The rest of the install was normal. Knowing the mounting commands and their order were the key. The root directory had to be mounted first, then other directories, such as /home.

I also put the TexLive distro (4.5G) into /home, since it's so large. I don't use the Arch repo version, since the full install is more complete. To install, create a directory called, eg., "/home/foo/latex" and, using command "D" during the install, supply the directory information. TL will create the necessary environment within your userspace, no root required. You will just have to update your PATH variables subsequently (see below).

$ cd /home/foo/latex/install-tl-20150525/
$ ./install-tl
command: D
/home/foo/latex/2015

After install, TexLive provides a reminder about paths.

Add /home/foo/latex/texlive/2015/texmf-dist/doc/info to INFOPATH.
Add /home/foo/latex/texlive/2015/texmf-dist/doc/man to MANPATH
(if not dynamically found).

Most importantly, add /home/foo/latex/texlive/2015/bin/x86_64-linux
to your PATH for current and future sessions.

Welcome to TeX Live!

You can test the PATH by attempting to compile,say,a small test TEX file with $ pdflatex test.tex". If the command isn't found, then bash needs the PATHs. You could 1) make a small executable to add paths in /etc/profile.d./ or, 2) add:

$ nano .bashrc
export PATH=/home/foo/latex/texlive/2015/bin/x86_64-linux:$PATH
export INFOPATH=/home/foo/latex/texlive/2013/texmf-dist/doc/info:$INFOPATH
export MANPATH=/home/foo/latex/texlive/2015/texmf-dist/doc/man:$MANPATH

Exit the X session and logout of the user (eg, "foo"), then log back in. The bash paths should be updated and TexLive normally available from non-X terminal, xterm, geany, etc.

backups

Simple now.The format of "dd":

dd if=[source] of=[target] bs=[byte size]

Essentially, "dd" goes from a device to a file. The easiest large file is probably an ISO. One other thing, "dd" copies the entire device, including the empty areas -- it's a copy -- so the target device has to be as large as the source, unless one compresses.
Steps: assume here that home directory /dev/sda2 is to be backed up to a usb drive, /dev/sdb1.

• boot-up into CLI
• determine the block/byte size of /dev/sda2 (typically 4k these days), by writing an extremely small file, far below the size of a full block (for example a file only containing the number "1"), and then checking its disk usage (du):

  $ echo 1 > test
  $ du -h test
    4.0 Kb   test
  

• Verify the file system format, eg Reiser, ext3, etc. You can use "lsblk -fs /dev/sda2" or "file -sL /dev/sd*".
• # umount /dev/sda2 (no writing to the partition; we want a clean backup)
• attach the usb drive (/dev/sdb)
• dd if=[source] of=[target] bs=[byte size]
• # dd if=/dev/sda2 of=/dev/sdb1/20150210.iso bs=4k conv=sync,noerror
• profit.

Profit unless you inverted your source and target drive names ("i" and "o" are next to each other on the keyboard) -- in which case dd wrote from the back-up drive to your HDD, destroying your HDD data.