you may use a rootfs overlay...
Your main rootfs will stay ro (and mount as /rom)...
You will have a modifiable system, crashless, and with original rootfs as rom (ReadOnly)...
May need some tweak to fit your needs, but personnally I get all my boards with this style of systems layers !
No more rootfs corruption, the worst situation get a auto repair and reboot...
@frollic : /etc/fstab is empty by default.
So, when I added the ro flag in cmdline, I also tried fstab 2 times. First with :
/dev/mmcblk0p2 / ext4 ro,noatime 0 1
Then with
/dev/root / ext4 ro,noatime 0 1
because /proc/mounts show /dev/root :
/dev/root / ext4 rw,noatime 0 0
@erdoukki : rootfs overlay is new for me. Can you explain more what you did and how ?
Thank you both for answering such a specific request.
can you in dmesg see something like this, containing the added ro param
Bootloader command line (ignored): console=ttyHSL1,115200n8 root=mtd:rootfs rootfstype=squashfs
[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M 8250.nr_uarts=1 snd_bcm2835.enable_compat_alsa=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_hdmi=1 bcm2708_fb.fbwidth=1824 bcm2708_fb.fbheight=984 bcm2708_fb.fbswap=1 vc_mem.mem_base=0x3ec00000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x40000000 console=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=squashfs,ext4 ro rootwait
And content of cmdline.txt :
console=serial0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=squashfs,ext4 ro rootwait
ok, so it's read, check ...
The wiki has recently changed, but it looks like here are some stuff : https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/additional-software/extroot_configuration
For me, I have a 4Gb eMMC, and I used firmware from OpenWrt which do not fill the eMMC...
So I use an extend (third) partition, to clone my rootfs on it...
here are from my notes some tweaks :
prepare the disk partitions :
opkg install fdisk
prepare the root partion :
fdisk /dev/mmcblk0
n
p
3
...
...
w
q
prepare the root file system :
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p3
clone the rootfs content to the new rootfs :
mkdir -p /tmp/cproot
mount --bind / /tmp/cproot
mkdir /tmp/mmcblk0p3
mount /dev/mmcblk0p3 /tmp/mmcblk0p3
tar -C /tmp/cproot -cvf - . | tar -C /tmp/mmcblk0p3 -xf -
umount /tmp/cproot
rmdir /tmp/cproot
umount /tmp/mmcblk0p3
rmdir /tmp/mmcblk0p3
install the block-mount (luci and uci)
opkg install block-mount
block detect
block info
add you're new partition for the rootfs
vi /etc/config/fstab
config mount
option enabled '1'
option enabled_fsck '1'
option target '/'
option device '/dev/mmcblk0p3'
then reboot and you'll get a ReadOnly rootfs in /rom and a Read Write rootfs on /
The both will be auto repaired in cased of crash, hard reset or switchoff...
verify your filesystems status with
mount
At Upgrade, you'll need to reinstall fdisk, kmod-fs-ext4, block-mount, if needed.
Then you'll have to clone again the new upgraded filesystems (/rom) to the third partition rootfs !
You may need to do this from recovery mode, or to disable /rootfs and clone it before re-enable it !
keep of configs while upgrading may confuse the system, and need some manual tweaks...
Hope this will help...
Thank you, this is a great option and I will give a try.
But as long as I don't need to modify the rootfs (custom build preconfigured), I will still hear from @frollic for a real readonly rootfs.
Hi there.
When I started this topic, I have updated my build with 21.02 r16278 (the ext4 failure happened with rc2).
Then I tested it with a powerplug which integrate a contactor with a "random" cycle.
It was working for more than 2 weeks without any problem and using ext4.
So : is there any chance I was facing an issue specific to rc2 ?
EDIT : Seems to happen if I cut the power during boot. I will do more tests.
Finally went for your solution, thank you for your help.
I am doing it a little bit different.
As my device is fully remote (no physical access), I need to keep it connected to a VPN server (because of CGNAT).
So I build my own image with vpn packages, block-mount and config files.
So, my extroot will always be mounted on /. Will it be possible to update it will in use ?
How do you format/prepare or reset you extroot ?
The firmware may only contain configs and needed package as kmod-fs-ext4 and block-mount, but how do you prepare the extroot partition ?
On the first boot, the 3rd partition does not exists. I create it, mount on temporary mount point then copy all files.
Okay, thanks...
So usual and default method.
Take care on the update method of opkg extras.
You need the news scripts that take care of the overlay status...
I do not tests them for now...
I will, I hope soon !
So I cannot answer YES for now !
Another possible issue;
If you upgrade your system, the partition map will (or may) change and the third partition may be broken and needing to be reset (re-prepare like first time)...
You also always need to sync (copy the real root content to your rootfs) after an upgrade !
Thank you
So, for the last 2 points :
Good point !
I will study this also... thanks for the advice...
No, we need to...
An upgrade of OpenWrt firmware will only modify the default rootfs, so we need to synchronise, to copy all files, of this new fresh rootfs to the extroot !
@vgaetera already done some evolution of his extras scripts in this way... but for overlay...
The hotplug may be used to do this sync also, I think, it is what I want to test soon !
What about this script (automated upgrade) ?
Yes, it is the one I mentioned upper.
I have not tested myself... yet.
If you define an overlay, as I have partially test in the topic Request for Best Practice for eMMC devices , instead of a full extroot... it may be more simple and fit our needs !
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