04-02-2021, 01:32 AM
For the past few days, I've been working on an alternative boot method for openauto pro that will allow for automatic recovery in case of corruption, and wanted to gauge interest before I dump too much time into it. Right now, it's a very tedious manual process crafting the boot drive, and extremely complicated, but I believe I can make it easier with a USB installer.
The idea behind this boot system is that certain things can be replaced independent of one another. System-specific images are built from the openauto pro img files that bluewave studios releases, plus your personal modifications and default settings. To do this, the system finds an openauto pro image and boots into it, allowing you to make changes. The next time the system boots, the existing image is compressed into a sqsh file, and a data partition is created. The new sqsh image is used as the base of the system, and is immutable. To get write-ability back, the data partition is layered on top of this image to provide a merged filesystem (sort of like layers in photoshop) using overlayfs. The system will function like normal, with the notable exception that in the event of corruption, you can reboot into recovery mode and restore from your snapshot, also having the option to migrate your home folder, as long as your openauto preferences have not been corrupted.
I imagine that using this system, updates will also be a breeze. If you package your system modifications in a specific format, they can be applied automatically to each update. I can provide a system install/upgrade disk that you can flash to a USB drive (this should make it easier, since I imagine most of you already have external USB for your phones), drag an openauto image onto it, and plug into the system. From there, it could detect the upgrade disk and ask to upgrade. It will preserve as much as it can from your home directory, and reboot, immediately setting to work compressing the new image and applying your modifications. Once this is all done, it will overwrite the old image with the new one, and the system will resume function.
Would anyone else be interested in a system like this?
The idea behind this boot system is that certain things can be replaced independent of one another. System-specific images are built from the openauto pro img files that bluewave studios releases, plus your personal modifications and default settings. To do this, the system finds an openauto pro image and boots into it, allowing you to make changes. The next time the system boots, the existing image is compressed into a sqsh file, and a data partition is created. The new sqsh image is used as the base of the system, and is immutable. To get write-ability back, the data partition is layered on top of this image to provide a merged filesystem (sort of like layers in photoshop) using overlayfs. The system will function like normal, with the notable exception that in the event of corruption, you can reboot into recovery mode and restore from your snapshot, also having the option to migrate your home folder, as long as your openauto preferences have not been corrupted.
I imagine that using this system, updates will also be a breeze. If you package your system modifications in a specific format, they can be applied automatically to each update. I can provide a system install/upgrade disk that you can flash to a USB drive (this should make it easier, since I imagine most of you already have external USB for your phones), drag an openauto image onto it, and plug into the system. From there, it could detect the upgrade disk and ask to upgrade. It will preserve as much as it can from your home directory, and reboot, immediately setting to work compressing the new image and applying your modifications. Once this is all done, it will overwrite the old image with the new one, and the system will resume function.
Would anyone else be interested in a system like this?