LiveBackup (a framework to create bootable live-ISO's from installed Linux systems)

About:

LiveBackup is a framework to create live-cd's from installed Linux systems. It supports different hardware detection systems and provides user configuration separated from backup images. Please visit the project page for more details.

License

LiveBackup is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details. A copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License is included in the LiveBackup doc directory LICENCE.txt. If you did not receive this copy, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA.

Motivation

Configuring a Linux system to meet all your personal needs is a time consuming task. Once you are satisfied you may save your work as a Backup. The framework of LiveBackup gives you several ways to use your backup as a live system bootable from CD/DVD drives. Three example scenarios are:

Run your system on the same PC-hardware, now using a DVD instead of the hard disk. Connecting to Internet now is absolute save. If you want to access/store files you still can mount your hard disk.
You can easily share your configuration work with others. This is especially useful for notebook hardware.
You can run your personalized Linux on all hardware which is supported by recent hardware detection systems.

Features

Your Linux system can be stored in a compressed archive. Supported formats are squashfs, compressed cloop image (using isofs or ext2) or a simple file copy of the directory structure. To recover files you simple mount your archive.
Your backup is bootable as a live system. You can run it on native hardware (where your original system is installed) or on other PC's using hardware detection.
LiveBackup supports selection between different kernel versions. If you run the Live-System on the native Hardware you may want to use your customized kernel. If you start your system on other hardware you better use one of the provided generic Linux kernels.
Hardware detection is modularized and runs from initrd. There is no need to install special packages to use it. Different hardware identification system are supported (libkuzu, libdiscover).
It is possible to configure/modify the live system without any need to change the backup archive. This is the main task you probably have to do once when you create your LiveBackup.
LiveBackup contains support for different storage media like CD, DVD, USB-sticks or network drives
It provides a directory structure which helps you to maintain different system images which you may support on a Live-DVD.
It provides a development environment for creating your LiveBackup. This includes logging and a shell prompt after system setup. You can check your setup before the sysV init boot procedure starts.
Testing of your ISO images prior to burning works using a PC emulation like qemu (http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/).

How booting of a LiveBackup ISO image works

The boot manager (grub) starts and provides a rich set of options. User selects which backup image he wants to run and if the system needs hardware detection.
The Linux kernel starts and launches the /linuxrc script in the init ram disk for the following tasks

mount the backup image
create ram disks and setup the directory structure to have all necessary files writable. The current version supports choices to use the overlay filesystem unionfs or to setup the device mapper snapshot target. Using one of these techniques provides full write support to the filesystem.
user configuration to modify the backup image where it is necessary.
optionally run hardware detection

The Linux kernel continues with the standard system boot sequence (/sbin/init).

FAQ

1. Whats different to other Live-CD's (KNOPPIX, ..) ?

A: LiveBackup is not a distribution, it is a more general approach to create Live Cd's based on any distribution. KNOPPIX hardware detection can be used but it is separated from the Linux distribution. The user does not need to install special packages before doing the backup.

2. Can you use it for remastering ?

A: You get your own personal live-backup with your applications. Besides, the framework can also be used for remastering any other (live) distribution.

Links to related projects and information

http://www.linux-live.org/

http://ibuild.livecd.net/

http://www.fsl.cs.sunysb.edu/project-unionfs.html

http://www.frozentech.com/