sd4l-user — General discussion and support questions

Re: [SD4L-user] mkfs hangs when creating large container from HD partition

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hello Jonathan,

Jonathan Coles wrote:
 > I have tried several times to create a Scramdisk container on a hard 
drive partition (about 24Gb). After several minutes of mouse waggling, 
Scramdisk begins encrypting and formatting the partition. This continues 
until the progress bar is near 100%. Then, the Scramdisk application 
becomes unresponsive. If you cover it with another window and then give 
it the focus again, Scramdisk does not restore its window. Running "ps 
ax" reveals that mkfs and Scramdisk are still running, but are asleep.
 >
 > I am running Ubuntu 8.04 with kernel 2.6.24-19 and ScramDisk 1.3.0. 
Admittedly, this one was built for kernel 2.6.24-18, but container 
creation on flash memory cards and as .svl files works as it should.
 >
 > Thanks.

this could be a bug. However, in a quick test I failed to reproduce it.
If you can tell me what options you have chosen for the container -
especially the file system is relevant here - I'll try further to
reproduce and fix the problem.

Best regards
Ulrich

Re: [SD4L-user] Alternative to mouse waggling

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hello Jonathan,

Jonathan Coles wrote:
 > Hi guys,
 >
 > Creating a large Scramdisk container requires several minutes of 
mouse waggling. This is very tedious. Can we have an alternative? 
Surely, generating random numbers programmatically can't be that hard.
 >
 > Thanks.
 >

Scramdisk containers require a lot more random numbers than
Truecrypt containers. There is the possibility to change the
configuration to read all the random numbers from /dev/urandom.
But this will be less secure. If you none the less want to do so,
open Options/Configure in the GUI and change the value of the
random option in section sdcreate to /dev/urandom. After this
change and a restart of SD4L either GUI or the command line
program sdcreate will no longer bother you with tedious mouse
waggling.

Best regards
Ulrich

[SD4L-user] mkfs hangs when creating large container from HD partition

[Jonathan C. <jco...@ro...>]

I have tried several times to create a Scramdisk container on a hard 
drive partition (about 24Gb). After several minutes of mouse waggling, 
Scramdisk begins encrypting and formatting the partition. This continues 
until the progress bar is near 100%. Then, the Scramdisk application 
becomes unresponsive. If you cover it with another window and then give 
it the focus again, Scramdisk does not restore its window. Running "ps 
ax" reveals that mkfs and Scramdisk are still running, but are asleep.

I am running Ubuntu 8.04 with kernel 2.6.24-19 and ScramDisk 1.3.0. 
Admittedly, this one was built for kernel 2.6.24-18, but container 
creation on flash memory cards and as .svl files works as it should.

Thanks.

[SD4L-user] Alternative to mouse waggling

[Jonathan C. <jco...@ro...>]

Hi guys,

Creating a large Scramdisk container requires several minutes of mouse 
waggling. This is very tedious. Can we have an alternative?  Surely, 
generating random numbers programmatically can't be that hard.

Thanks.

Re: [SD4L-user] Fw: Re: reg scramdisk installation on REDHAT

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hi Mohammed,

Mohammed Cyclegar wrote:
> I still dont see the startup files in /etc/init.d.
>  
> Please advise
>  

the installation script first checked whether there
is a directory
/etc/init.d/boot.d
in that case it would have tried to install the start
script with help of the executable /sbin/insserv
as /etc/init.d/boot.scramdisk. But I think this isn't
the case for all Redhat type distributions.
The second attempt of the installation script was to
test whether there is a directory /etc/rcS.d and
to install the start script with help of
/usr/sbin/update-rc.d
I just checked my CentOS 5 and there is no /etc/rcS.d
either. So this is probably the reason that installation
of the start script failed.

In the packaging script for fedora distributions
(scramdisk-fc.spec) I'll do the following which I would
advise you to try in your case by hand (as user root).

First copy from the utils subdirectory of the sources
the file scramdisk.init with the new name scramdisk
to the directory /etc/rc.d/init.d i.e. in the sources
directory do

cp utils/scramdisk.init /etc/rc.d/init.d/scramdisk

Then, change to /etc/rc.d/rc5.d:

cd /etc/rc.d/rc5.d

and create two soft links by the commands

ln -s ../init.d/scramdisk S80scramdisk
ln -s ../init.d/scramdisk K04scramdisk

(with capital S and capital K). That should suffice
in order that your systems calls the scramdisk start
script with parameter start whenever it enters runlevel
5 and with parameter stop whenever it leaves runlevel 5.

Best regards
Ulrich

[SD4L-user] Fw: Re: reg scramdisk installation on REDHAT

[Mohammed C. <mcy...@ya...>]

Hans
 
I tried the installation after creating extra folder within the kernel location and this is this is what i get when i run make install.
 
[root@bldwk01 ScramDisk-1.3]# make install
list='crypto driver utils gui docs'; for subdir in $list; \
do make -C $subdir install; done
make[1]: Entering directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/crypto'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `install'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/crypto'
make[1]: Entering directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/driver'
if ! test -d /lib/modules/scramdisk; then \
  mkdir -p /lib/modules/scramdisk; \
fi && \
install -m 644 scramdisk.ko /lib/modules/scramdisk && \
cd /lib/modules/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL/extra && \
ln -s ../../scramdisk/scramdisk.ko scramdisk.ko && \
depmod -F /boot/System.map-`uname -r`
make[1]: Leaving directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/driver'
make[1]: Entering directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/utils'
mkdir -p /usr/bin
install -m 4755 sdmount sdumount sdcreate /usr/bin
install -m 755 sdchange sdreformat /usr/bin
test -d /etc/scramdisk/ || mkdir -p /etc/scramdisk
test -d /usr/share/scramdisk/ || mkdir -p /usr/share/scramdisk
install -m 644 scramdiskrc /etc/scramdisk
if test -d /etc/init.d/boot.d; then \
  (install -m 755 scramdisk.init /etc/init.d/boot.scramdisk && \
   test -x /sbin/insserv && /sbin/insserv /etc/init.d/boot.scramdisk); \
elif test -d /etc/rcS.d; then \
  (install -m 755 scramdisk.init /etc/init.d/scramdisk && \
   test -x /usr/sbin/update-rc.d && \
   /usr/sbin/update-rc.d scramdisk start 80 S . stop 04 S .); \
fi
./scramdisk.init start
Loading Scramdisk encrypted filesystems
make[1]: Leaving directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/utils'
make[1]: Entering directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/gui'
cp -f "scramdisk" "/usr/bin/scramdisk"
strip "/usr/bin/scramdisk"
cp -f "change.png" "/usr/share/scramdisk"
cp -f "create.png" "/usr/share/scramdisk"
cp -f "mount.png" "/usr/share/scramdisk"
cp -f "reformat.png" "/usr/share/scramdisk"
cp -f "scramdisk.png" "/usr/share/scramdisk"
cp -f "umount.png" "/usr/share/scramdisk"
make[1]: Leaving directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/gui'
make[1]: Entering directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/docs'
test -d /usr/share/scramdisk || mkdir -p /usr/share/scramdisk
test -d /usr/share/doc/scramdisk || mkdir -p /usr/share/doc/scramdisk
install -m 644 index_en.html intro_en.html mount_en.html create_en.html change_en.html config_en.html bookmarks_en.html index_de.html intro_de.html mount_de.html create_de.html change_de.html config_de.html bookmarks_de.html gui.jpg create.jpg tccreate.jpg reformat.jpg ppdialog.jpg tcppdialog.jpg config.jpg gui_de.jpg create_de.jpg tccreate_de.jpg reformat_de.jpg ppdialog_de.jpg tcppdialog_de.jpg config_de.jpg /usr/share/scramdisk
install -m 644 scramdisk.pdf /usr/share/doc/scramdisk/scramdisk_en.pdf
install -m 644 scramdisk_de.pdf /usr/share/doc/scramdisk
test -d /usr/share/man/man1 && install -m 644 scramdisk.1.gz /usr/share/man/man1 && \
        cd /usr/share/man/man1 && \
        ln -s scramdisk.1.gz sdchange.1.gz && \
        ln -s scramdisk.1.gz sdcreate.1.gz && \
        ln -s scramdisk.1.gz sdmount.1.gz && \
        ln -s scramdisk.1.gz sdumount.1.gz
make[1]: Leaving directory `/opt/ScramDisk-1.3/docs'
 
 
I still dont see the startup files in /etc/init.d.
 
Please advise
 
Thanks
Mohammed


--- On Mon, 6/23/08, Mohammed Cyclegar <mcy...@ya...> wrote:

From: Mohammed Cyclegar <mcy...@ya...>
Subject: Re: [SD4L-user] reg scramdisk installation on REDHAT
To: sd4...@li..., "Hans-Ulrich Juettner" <han...@t-...>
Date: Monday, June 23, 2008, 8:27 AM







Hello Hans
 
Thanks for the update ...i did verify the folder and it does exists but it does not have a folder extra.
 
here is the output 
[root@bldwk01 2.6.9-67.0.15.EL]# pwd
/lib/modules/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL
[root@bldwk01 2.6.9-67.0.15.EL]# ls -l
total 724
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     38 May 29 10:42 build -> /usr/src/kernels/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL-i686
drwxr-xr-x  9 root root   4096 May 29 10:47 kernel
-rw-------  1 root root 130928 Jun 18 08:42 modules.alias
-rw-------  1 root root     69 Jun 18 08:42 modules.ccwmap
-rw-------  1 root root 144781 Jun 18 08:42 modules.dep
-rw-------  1 root root     73 Jun 18 08:42 modules.ieee1394map
-rw-------  1 root root    357 Jun 18 08:42 modules.inputmap
-rw-------  1 root root    235 Jun 18 08:42 modules.isapnpmap
-rw-------  1 root root 133687 Jun 18 08:42 modules.pcimap
-rw-------  1 root root  74721 Jun 18 08:42 modules.symbols
-rw-------  1 root root 158926 Jun 18 08:42 modules.usbmap
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      5 May 29 10:42 source -> build
[root@bldwk01 2.6.9-67.0.15.EL]# 
 
DO you want me to create a folder extra and retry the installation.
 
Please advise
 
Thanks
Mohammed

--- On Thu, 6/19/08, Hans-Ulrich Juettner <han...@t-...> wrote:

From: Hans-Ulrich Juettner <han...@t-...>
Subject: Re: [SD4L-user] reg scramdisk installation on REDHAT
To: "Mohammed Cyclegar" <mcy...@ya...>, sd4...@li...
Date: Thursday, June 19, 2008, 3:02 PM

Hello Mohammed,

Mohammed Cyclegar wrote:
> Hans
>  
> Thanks for all your help...
>  
> I checked my installation it seems like it has not installed successfully.
>  
> I dont see any startup files in /etc/init.d.
>  
> I tried installing it again...after a successfull uninstall and i am
attaching the logs for both make and make install.
>  
> Can you please check where its failing.
>  
> Thanks again
> Mohammed
> 

the installation failed because there is no directory

/lib/modules/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL/extra

in your system. The install script expects a directory
/lib/modules/<kernelversion> with <kernelversion> the
version number of the running kernel as determined by
uname -r in the script. For kernels 2.6 there is a
directory extra below this where SD4L puts a link to
kernel module scramdisk.ko it had installed in the
/lib/modules/scramdisk which the script created also.

Would you please check what directories you have
below /lib/modules and what is in the directory
/lib/modules/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL if it exists.

Best regards
Ulrich

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Re: [SD4L-user] reg scramdisk installation on REDHAT

[Mohammed C. <mcy...@ya...>]

Hello Hans
 
Thanks for the update ...i did verify the folder and it does exists but it does not have a folder extra.
 
here is the output 
[root@bldwk01 2.6.9-67.0.15.EL]# pwd
/lib/modules/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL
[root@bldwk01 2.6.9-67.0.15.EL]# ls -l
total 724
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     38 May 29 10:42 build -> /usr/src/kernels/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL-i686
drwxr-xr-x  9 root root   4096 May 29 10:47 kernel
-rw-------  1 root root 130928 Jun 18 08:42 modules.alias
-rw-------  1 root root     69 Jun 18 08:42 modules.ccwmap
-rw-------  1 root root 144781 Jun 18 08:42 modules.dep
-rw-------  1 root root     73 Jun 18 08:42 modules.ieee1394map
-rw-------  1 root root    357 Jun 18 08:42 modules.inputmap
-rw-------  1 root root    235 Jun 18 08:42 modules.isapnpmap
-rw-------  1 root root 133687 Jun 18 08:42 modules.pcimap
-rw-------  1 root root  74721 Jun 18 08:42 modules.symbols
-rw-------  1 root root 158926 Jun 18 08:42 modules.usbmap
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      5 May 29 10:42 source -> build
[root@bldwk01 2.6.9-67.0.15.EL]# 
 
DO you want me to create a folder extra and retry the installation.
 
Please advise
 
Thanks
Mohammed

--- On Thu, 6/19/08, Hans-Ulrich Juettner <han...@t-...> wrote:

From: Hans-Ulrich Juettner <han...@t-...>
Subject: Re: [SD4L-user] reg scramdisk installation on REDHAT
To: "Mohammed Cyclegar" <mcy...@ya...>, sd4...@li...
Date: Thursday, June 19, 2008, 3:02 PM

Hello Mohammed,

Mohammed Cyclegar wrote:
> Hans
>  
> Thanks for all your help...
>  
> I checked my installation it seems like it has not installed successfully.
>  
> I dont see any startup files in /etc/init.d.
>  
> I tried installing it again...after a successfull uninstall and i am
attaching the logs for both make and make install.
>  
> Can you please check where its failing.
>  
> Thanks again
> Mohammed
> 

the installation failed because there is no directory

/lib/modules/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL/extra

in your system. The install script expects a directory
/lib/modules/<kernelversion> with <kernelversion> the
version number of the running kernel as determined by
uname -r in the script. For kernels 2.6 there is a
directory extra below this where SD4L puts a link to
kernel module scramdisk.ko it had installed in the
/lib/modules/scramdisk which the script created also.

Would you please check what directories you have
below /lib/modules and what is in the directory
/lib/modules/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL if it exists.

Best regards
Ulrich

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Re: [SD4L-user] [I] Re: Cannot mount containers in Ubuntu 8.04

[Jonathan C. <jco...@ro...>]

I have just tried kernel 2.6.24-19. Scramdisk built for 2.6.24-18 still
works.

Hans-Ulrich Juettner wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Millen, Stewart wrote:
>   
>> I did read on the Ubuntu forums that by a poster's performance 
>> tests, 2.6.24-18 does run significantly faster. So perhaps a 
>> package compatible with it might be desirable. Or at least
>> downloaders of SD4L should be warned that they will need to choose
>> to boot to the earlier kernel to save themselves (and you!) the
>> hassle of re-answering this question. =)
>>     
>
> New packages for Ubuntu 8.04 and kernel 2.6.24-18 have been
> uploaded to the SD4L release 1.3.0 for architectures i386
> and x86_64.
>
> Best regards
> Ulrich
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace.
> It's the best place to buy or sell services for
> just about anything Open Source.
> http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php
> _______________________________________________
> SD4L-user mailing list
> SD4...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sd4l-user
>
>   

Re: [SD4L-user] reg scramdisk installation on REDHAT

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hello Mohammed,

Mohammed Cyclegar wrote:
> Hans
>  
> Thanks for all your help...
>  
> I checked my installation it seems like it has not installed successfully.
>  
> I dont see any startup files in /etc/init.d.
>  
> I tried installing it again...after a successfull uninstall and i am attaching the logs for both make and make install.
>  
> Can you please check where its failing.
>  
> Thanks again
> Mohammed
> 

the installation failed because there is no directory

/lib/modules/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL/extra

in your system. The install script expects a directory
/lib/modules/<kernelversion> with <kernelversion> the
version number of the running kernel as determined by
uname -r in the script. For kernels 2.6 there is a
directory extra below this where SD4L puts a link to
kernel module scramdisk.ko it had installed in the
/lib/modules/scramdisk which the script created also.

Would you please check what directories you have
below /lib/modules and what is in the directory
/lib/modules/2.6.9-67.0.15.EL if it exists.

Best regards
Ulrich

Re: [SD4L-user] reg scramdisk installation on REDHAT

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hello Mohammed,

Mohammed Cyclegar wrote:
> Hello ALL
>  
> I am trying to compile and install on Redhat Enterprise 4 64 Bit ( Kernel 2.6.9).
>  
> It seems everything worked but when i try to create a container at the time of mounting its giving me error. ( I am using scramdisk GUI)
>  
> To me it seems like error because of the kernel module not loaded.
> Installed all the prerequsite packages.
>  
> This is what i have done
> ./configure 
>  make
> make install
>  
> create a conf file in ld.so.conf.d to point point to scramdisk.ko  and ran ldconfig.
>  
> Can you please help me resolve this issue. or of there is a rpm for Redhat i can use it.
>  

there is no configure script in the sources of SD4L.
So make and make install suffices. Of course, you have
to do the make install as user root. The file in ld.so.conf.d
also is bypassed by the SD4L mechanism. The make install
calls
/etc/init.d/scramdisk start
which creates device nodes in the new directory /dev/scramdisk
and loads scramdisk.ko into the kernel.
You may check the result by
/etc/init.d/scramdisk status
which should tell you
Scramdisk loaded, uses: 0
if the start was successful and you aren't using the module yet.
If not try
/etc/init.d/scramdisk start
again by hand and look at the error messages (if any). Possibly
you have to call
/etc/init.d/scramdisk stop
first.

Best regards
Ulrich

[SD4L-user] reg scramdisk installation on REDHAT

[Mohammed C. <mcy...@ya...>]

Hello ALL
 
I am trying to compile and install on Redhat Enterprise 4 64 Bit ( Kernel 2.6.9).
 
It seems everything worked but when i try to create a container at the time of mounting its giving me error. ( I am using scramdisk GUI)
 
To me it seems like error because of the kernel module not loaded.
Installed all the prerequsite packages.
 
This is what i have done
./configure 
 make
make install
 
create a conf file in ld.so.conf.d to point point to scramdisk.ko  and ran ldconfig.
 
Can you please help me resolve this issue. or of there is a rpm for Redhat i can use it.
 
Thanks
Mohammed Cyclegar

Re: [SD4L-user] [I] Re: Cannot mount containers in Ubuntu 8.04

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hi all,

Millen, Stewart wrote:
> I did read on the Ubuntu forums that by a poster's performance 
> tests, 2.6.24-18 does run significantly faster. So perhaps a 
> package compatible with it might be desirable. Or at least
> downloaders of SD4L should be warned that they will need to choose
> to boot to the earlier kernel to save themselves (and you!) the
> hassle of re-answering this question. =)

New packages for Ubuntu 8.04 and kernel 2.6.24-18 have been
uploaded to the SD4L release 1.3.0 for architectures i386
and x86_64.

Best regards
Ulrich

Re: [SD4L-user] [I] Re: Cannot mount containers in Ubuntu 8.04

[Millen, S. <smm...@ea...>]

Hi Hans-Ulrich,

Millen, Stewart wrote:

>> Sorry for the newbie question, but if I do get a install with 
>> 2.6.24-18-generic installed, can I roll back to 2.6.24-16 to get 
>> Scramdisk to work until a compatible package is developed?
>> 
>
> I don't know how the vendor of the new box installs the machines,
> but if it's only updated from an original installation with
> kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (or an image of such a state) the roll
> back is easy. The old kernel package is'nt removed on update but
> the new package is merely added and made the default for booting.
> You may choose the old kernel on every boot by hand.
>
> You can change this default by editing the file /boot/grub/menu.lst
> (there is certainly a GUI in Ubuntu for this purpose but I don't
> know it from the top of my head - I always edit this by hand).

I just got the email back from the vendor: my box has both kernels 
installed, so I'll just roll back. I've done some searching on the 
web in the meantime, and it seems all one has to do is to change 
the defaults is to edit the file /boot/grub/menu.1st and select the
line:

default 0

and change "0" to the number corresponding to 2.6.24-16 (the non-
safe mode version) in the list of kernels. Correct?

I did read on the Ubuntu forums that by a poster's performance 
tests, 2.6.24-18 does run significantly faster. So perhaps a 
package compatible with it might be desirable. Or at least
downloaders of SD4L should be warned that they will need to choose
to boot to the earlier kernel to save themselves (and you!) the
hassle of re-answering this question. =)

Stewart 

Re: [SD4L-user] [I] Re: Cannot mount containers in Ubuntu 8.04

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hello Stewart,

Millen, Stewart wrote:
> I have just ordered a new box with Hardy installed, due here in a
> few days, and I don't know what kernel version that I'll get (I've
> sent an email asking). If Hardy is now being shipped with 
> 2.6.24-18-generic as default, wouldn't a package be needed?
> 
> (Looking at the Ubuntu forums, this updated kernel broke not only 
> Scramdisk, but some other apps/features as well. Some rolled back 
> to 2.6.24-16-generic to fix it). 
> 
> Sorry for the newbie question, but if I do get a install with 
> 2.6.24-18-generic installed, can I roll back to 2.6.24-16 to get 
> Scramdisk to work until a compatible package is developed?
> 

I don't know how the vendor of the new box installs the machines,
but if it's only updated from an original installation with
kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (or an image of such a state) the roll
back is easy. The old kernel package is'nt removed on update but
the new package is merely added and made the default for booting.
You may choose the old kernel on every boot by hand.

You can change this default by editing the file /boot/grub/menu.lst
(there is certainly a GUI in Ubuntu for this purpose but I don't
know it from the top of my head - I always edit this by hand).

Best regards
Ulrich

Re: [SD4L-user] [I] Re: Cannot mount containers in Ubuntu 8.04

[Millen, S. <smm...@ea...>]

> the problem is that the kernel on your system is slightly different
> from the kernel on which I built the package. This might come from
> a different Ubuntu distribution (KUbuntu, XUbuntu etc.) or from an
> updated kernel. The kernel on which I built the package is
> 2.6.24-16-generic which was in the plain Ubuntu I installed shortly
> after the launch. You can find out your kernel version by starting
> a terminal and typing
>
> uname -r
>
> or by looking at the files in your /boot directory. If you can
> tell me the exact version of your kernel I'll see whether I can
> get that kernel and build a new package which should match your
> kernel.
>
> An alternative would be to build ScramDisk-1.3 yourself from the
> sources. But you have to install many development tools in order to
> do so. There is some guidance for that in the ScramDisk documentation
> and I offer my support if you choose this option.

I have just ordered a new box with Hardy installed, due here in a
few days, and I don't know what kernel version that I'll get (I've
sent an email asking). If Hardy is now being shipped with 
2.6.24-18-generic as default, wouldn't a package be needed?

(Looking at the Ubuntu forums, this updated kernel broke not only 
Scramdisk, but some other apps/features as well. Some rolled back 
to 2.6.24-16-generic to fix it). 

Sorry for the newbie question, but if I do get a install with 
2.6.24-18-generic installed, can I roll back to 2.6.24-16 to get 
Scramdisk to work until a compatible package is developed?

Stewart

Re: [SD4L-user] Cannot mount containers in Ubuntu 8.04

[Jonathan C. <jco...@ro...>]

Hello, Hans,

Fortunately, I have kernel 2.6.24-16 available, so I now boot from that. 
The also upgrade included 2.6.24-18, which was the default. I didn't 
realize that ScramDisk had to match the kernel that exactly. ScramDisk 
works fine now.

Thanks.


Hans-Ulrich Juettner wrote:
> Hello Jonathan,
>
> Jonathan Coles wrote:
>   
>> When I try to mount a Scramdisk container, I get the error message 
>> "Mounting failed: No such device or address."
>>
>> This is after I updated my Ubuntu v7.10 system to the v8.04 LTS release 
>> and installed ScramDisk_1.3-0_Ubuntu-8.04_2.6.24_i386.deb. I have 
>> successfully used Scramdisk on Ubuntu since version 7.04.
>>
>> No information is given about the which device or address has a problem, 
>> but /var/log/messages includes the entry: " kernel: [   39.530073] 
>> scramdisk: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module".
>>
>> Possibly this is a bug in the Debian package. If not, what is the solution?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>>     
>
> the problem is that the kernel on your system is slightly different
> from the kernel on which I built the package. This might come from
> a different Ubuntu distribution (KUbuntu, XUbuntu etc.) or from an
> updated kernel. The kernel on which I built the package is
> 2.6.24-16-generic which was in the plain Ubuntu I installed shortly
> after the launch. You can find out your kernel version by starting
> a terminal and typing
>
> uname -r
>
> or by looking at the files in your /boot directory. If you can
> tell me the exact version of your kernel I'll see whether I can
> get that kernel and build a new package which should match your
> kernel.
>
> An alternative would be to build ScramDisk-1.3 yourself from the
> sources. But you have to install many development tools in order to
> do so. There is some guidance for that in the ScramDisk documentation
> and I offer my support if you choose this option.
>
> Best regards
> Ulrich
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace.
> It's the best place to buy or sell services for
> just about anything Open Source.
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> _______________________________________________
> SD4L-user mailing list
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> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sd4l-user
>
>   

Re: [SD4L-user] Cannot mount containers in Ubuntu 8.04

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hello Jonathan,

Jonathan Coles wrote:
> When I try to mount a Scramdisk container, I get the error message 
> "Mounting failed: No such device or address."
> 
> This is after I updated my Ubuntu v7.10 system to the v8.04 LTS release 
> and installed ScramDisk_1.3-0_Ubuntu-8.04_2.6.24_i386.deb. I have 
> successfully used Scramdisk on Ubuntu since version 7.04.
> 
> No information is given about the which device or address has a problem, 
> but /var/log/messages includes the entry: " kernel: [   39.530073] 
> scramdisk: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module".
> 
> Possibly this is a bug in the Debian package. If not, what is the solution?
> 
> Thanks.
> 

the problem is that the kernel on your system is slightly different
from the kernel on which I built the package. This might come from
a different Ubuntu distribution (KUbuntu, XUbuntu etc.) or from an
updated kernel. The kernel on which I built the package is
2.6.24-16-generic which was in the plain Ubuntu I installed shortly
after the launch. You can find out your kernel version by starting
a terminal and typing

uname -r

or by looking at the files in your /boot directory. If you can
tell me the exact version of your kernel I'll see whether I can
get that kernel and build a new package which should match your
kernel.

An alternative would be to build ScramDisk-1.3 yourself from the
sources. But you have to install many development tools in order to
do so. There is some guidance for that in the ScramDisk documentation
and I offer my support if you choose this option.

Best regards
Ulrich

Re: [SD4L-user] [I] Re: Problems with Scramdisk (?) 1.3-0 on Gutsy 7.10

[Millen, S. <smm...@ea...>]

> I'm not an expert concerning Firefox but I guess Firefox may think
> it's still running not because of a running process but because of
> some corrupt information it finds in the user profile. That could
> be tested by moving the user profile away and replacing it temporarily
> by a default profile. If Firefox then starts the (corrupt) profile
> is likely to be the culprit.

I think the problem is/was mostly related to Adobe Flash. Here's the 
post I made to the Ubuntu forums about it just now.

.....

Think I've solved most of this problem; it's with Adobe Flash--I had
created a shortcut within the encrypted container for \multimedia on my
old box, and when I copied everything to the new box I notice that Flash
worked from the get-go without being formally installed. 

I first thought "hooray!" but then Friday evening I began to think  of
that I might have in essence *two* \multimedia directories in my home
user directory, and that this might be causing a conflict. When I looked
at my home directory, this indeed was the case! 

So my testing went like this:

a) I first switched between my two accounts with no Scramdisk containers
open, using the fast switching applet. As I expected, that worked like a
charm;

b) then I opened the containers but started no programs, and then did
the switching. Again, that worked;

c) Then I started Evolution and then checked mail and then made the
switch. No problems there;

d) I repeated the process in c) with Pan and Pidgin, without incident;

e) I renamed the \multimedia folder outside the container and created a
link to the one inside the container, then moved the link (renamed to
"\.multimedia") under the home directory tree. 

f) Then I opened Firefox on a blank page; and switched, with no problems
either direction;

g) Then I opened a page that required Flash (Youtube) and started to
play the Youtube. I then made the switch...and it worked. 

:guitar:

h) Then I closed Firefox and restarted it a number of times. It started
normally without asking me to reboot, even on sites that use Flash. I
then deleted my redundant \multimedia directory.

I think this almost settles it, though after closing Firefox normally I
still got the message that "Firefox had unexpectedly closed" and asking
me if I wanted to restore my last session on my next bootup the
following day. That's not much of a problem (I can always say "no" if
it's limited to that) but perhaps it would be of interest what might
trigger Firefox to think it had crashed at the end of a session when it
did not. For that reason, I'll not close this thread quite yet. Anyone
knowledgeable about Firefox error messages out there?

Perhaps there is one last test--perhaps I should deliberately "crash"
Firefox by closing via the system monitor and force a quit and then
restart it to see if it starts normally. (As it should).

Stewart

[SD4L-user] Cannot mount containers in Ubuntu 8.04

[Jonathan C. <jco...@ro...>]

When I try to mount a Scramdisk container, I get the error message 
"Mounting failed: No such device or address."

This is after I updated my Ubuntu v7.10 system to the v8.04 LTS release 
and installed ScramDisk_1.3-0_Ubuntu-8.04_2.6.24_i386.deb. I have 
successfully used Scramdisk on Ubuntu since version 7.04.

No information is given about the which device or address has a problem, 
but /var/log/messages includes the entry: " kernel: [   39.530073] 
scramdisk: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module".

Possibly this is a bug in the Debian package. If not, what is the solution?

Thanks.

Re: [SD4L-user] [I] Re: Problems with Scramdisk (?) 1.3-0 on Gutsy 7.10

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hi Stewart,

Millen, Stewart wrote:
> Anyway, I'd be open to more ideas. I could live with this problem if I
> could only figure when Firefox tells me that it can't open a new window
> because it's still running, even though it's closed, how to kill
> whatever app is causing the mischief in a terminal window. Then I could
> at least avoid restarting the computer, which is a pain.
> 

I'm not an expert concerning Firefox but I guess Firefox may think
it's still running not because of a running process but because of
some corrupt information it finds in the user profile. That could
be tested by moving the user profile away and replacing it temporarily
by a default profile. If Firefox then starts the (corrupt) profile
is likely to be the culprit.

Best regards
Ulrich

Re: [SD4L-user] [I] Re: Problems with Scramdisk (?) 1.3-0 on Gutsy 7.10

[Millen, S. <smm...@ea...>]

> Your problems may possibly come from the redirect of your Firefox
> user profiles to the encrypted container. If your new machine does
> some preloading of Firefox modules or libraries on startup of the
> desktop the container with your user profile is probably not yet
> mounted. So there is an inconsistency in what theses preloaded modules
> see and what is later seen by Firefox as your user profile. Since
> Firefox also saves much cache, history, configuration, and state
> in the user profile these information may also get corrupted by
> being written to different places.

Some other things to try:

a) switch between users using the applet with no containers open;

b) switch between users using the applet with my containers open 
but none of the affected programs running;

c) if no crashes occur in a) and b) then start the programs which
I redirect to folders within encrypted containers one at a time
and try to see if switching using via the applet indicates if 
my problem is restricted when that program runs. 1st to try would 
be Pan, then Evolution, then Pidgin, and lastly Firefox (since I
suspect Firefox to be the culprit).

d) I am going to get a new desktop soon to replace my dead one
(admittedly with Hardy 8.04). I will see if this problem repeats
or does it seem to be restricted to either Gutsy and/or my laptop.

e) Come to think of it: I don't remember having to install Flash 
on this machine, when I simply copied the containers from my old 
(now murdered) machine to the new laptop, I simply started Firefox 
and went to Youtube, expecting that I would get the prompt to 
install Flash. Lo and behold Flash worked from the start! 

Perhaps I should remove the Flash plugin and then re-install it? 
Perhaps that could be the problem?

That will at least give you more information.

In the short term, I might have to look into using Opera if this
problem cannot be fixed.

Stewart

Re: [SD4L-user] [I] Re: Problems with Scramdisk (?) 1.3-0 on Gutsy 7.10

[Millen, S. <smm...@ea...>]

Hi Hans-Ulrich, 

> I'm sorry that my answer is somewhat speculative, due to the
> complexity of these failures and the lack of any precise error
> message.
>
> Your problems may possibly come from the redirect of your Firefox
> user profiles to the encrypted container. If your new machine does
> some preloading of Firefox modules or libraries on startup of the
> desktop the container with your user profile is probably not yet
> mounted. So there is an inconsistency in what theses preloaded modules
> see and what is later seen by Firefox as your user profile. Since
> Firefox also saves much cache, history, configuration, and state
> in the user profile these information may also get corrupted by
> being written to different places.
>
> Maybe the applets also have some configuration/state information
> which is redirected to the container and crash because of sudden
> inaccessibility of their files.

Here's a follow-up post on things to try that I made to the Ubuntu
forums:

Several more ideas about this to bounce off everyone's head:

a) (From my local Linux guru): "Try turning off ipv6 in firefox. It
seemed faster for me once I did this, the other issues I'll have to
think about a bit more."

To turn off IPv6:
Open Firefox
Type about:config in your url bar.
In the "filter" bar that appears on that "page", type IPv6.
Set network.dns.disableIPv6 to True

b) Try creating a test profile which is not set in Firefox/Mozilla
default folder for profiles but is not within a Scramdisk container, and
see if the problem replicates. That might distinguish between a purely
Firefox problem or a Scramdisk problem;

c) Likewise, set all the profiles back in their default directory,
/.mozilla, then try moving the entire /.mozilla folder to the encrypted
directory. Then delete the original under /home/user and create a link
under that pointing to the /.mozilla folder within the encrypted
directory (which is what I do for evolution, pan, and pidgin, and it
seems to work fine).

d) As these are TrueCrypt containers, download and open them with
Truecrypt (the new GUI version) and see if the error repeats;

e) While I don't see this problem on two boxes running Gutsy, I hasten
to add that these two boxes are desktops, not laptops, and I can see
some differences just in normal operation switching between users
between the two, with no Scramdisk containers open (these differences
replicate on my Linux guru's friend Dell Inspiron 1525N, and he thinks
they might be because the video card isn't fully supported). He says
that upgrading to Hardy might then be the simplest answer.

f) Could this be a problem (at least with Firefox telling me that it's
still running when Ubuntu says it's not) with Flash?

Anyway, I'd be open to more ideas. I could live with this problem if I
could only figure when Firefox tells me that it can't open a new window
because it's still running, even though it's closed, how to kill
whatever app is causing the mischief in a terminal window. Then I could
at least avoid restarting the computer, which is a pain.

Stewart

Re: [SD4L-user] Problems with Scramdisk (?) 1.3-0 on Gutsy 7.10

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hello Stewart,

Millen, Stewart wrote:
>>From a post made on the Ubuntu forums:
> 
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> I'm running Gutsy 7.10 on a Dell Inspiron 1525N laptop (essential
> hardware listed on the Dell site, if it's of interest) just recently
> purchased. I also use Scramdisk for Linux version 1.3-0 to which I have
> containers (formatted in ext3) copied from a Feisty 7.04 machine which
> were created using a previous version of Scramdisk (but still should be
> compatible). I direct Firefox to look for my user profiles within the
> encrypted containers. 
> 
> On my Feisty machine (until it was murdered recently, great sadness :()
> there were never any problems. However, on my new Gutsy machine, it
> seems that I'm experiencing:
> 
> a) more hangups (like 20 seconds to a minute) on loading web pages (ok,
> this could be at the web server end) but which nearly freeze up my
> system. It does this even though a quick look at the system monitor does
> not show high RAM or CPU usage. 
> 
> b) A lot of times when this happens (but even when it doesn't) when I
> close Firefox and restart it I get a "Firefox is already running, you
> must either close Firefox or restart your system" error. In the system
> monitor it does not show Firefox running. 
> 
(snip)

I'm sorry that my answer is somewhat speculative, due to the
complexity of these failures and the lack of any precise error
message.

Your problems may possibly come from the redirect of your Firefox
user profiles to the encrypted container. If your new machine does
some preloading of Firefox modules or libraries on startup of the
desktop the container with your user profile is probably not yet
mounted. So there is an inconsistency in what theses preloaded modules
see and what is later seen by Firefox as your user profile. Since
Firefox also saves much cache, history, configuration, and state
in the user profile these information may also get corrupted by
being written to different places.

Maybe the applets also have some configuration/state information
which is redirected to the container and crash because of sudden
inaccessibility of their files.

I hope this will be helpful.
Best regards
Ulrich

[SD4L-user] Problems with Scramdisk (?) 1.3-0 on Gutsy 7.10

[Millen, S. <smm...@ea...>]

>From a post made on the Ubuntu forums:


Hello all,

I'm running Gutsy 7.10 on a Dell Inspiron 1525N laptop (essential
hardware listed on the Dell site, if it's of interest) just recently
purchased. I also use Scramdisk for Linux version 1.3-0 to which I have
containers (formatted in ext3) copied from a Feisty 7.04 machine which
were created using a previous version of Scramdisk (but still should be
compatible). I direct Firefox to look for my user profiles within the
encrypted containers. 

On my Feisty machine (until it was murdered recently, great sadness :()
there were never any problems. However, on my new Gutsy machine, it
seems that I'm experiencing:

a) more hangups (like 20 seconds to a minute) on loading web pages (ok,
this could be at the web server end) but which nearly freeze up my
system. It does this even though a quick look at the system monitor does
not show high RAM or CPU usage. 

b) A lot of times when this happens (but even when it doesn't) when I
close Firefox and restart it I get a "Firefox is already running, you
must either close Firefox or restart your system" error. In the system
monitor it does not show Firefox running. 

When I open the terminal and type in:

ps -e -a

thinking that I might see Firefox listed there still running (and thus
could issue a kill command) I don't see it there either. Nothing puts
things right except a system restart, which is a pain and distressingly
Windows-like and un-Linux-like.

c) If I do restart (or even if I don't have to restart after an
apparently normal session but have turned on the machine normally and
logged in) when I start Firefox I get a "Firefox was unexpected closed
during the last session" error asking me if I want to start a new
session or to restore the old one. I get this error message even if
Firefox *did* seem to close normally at the end of last session;

d) When I dismount the normal encrypted container file after a session,
to log out and shut down the laptop, the container formatted in ext3
where the folder with the profile data is listed usually has to be
brutally dismounted. Even there it will not dismount until a 2nd
dismount command is issued. (Previously, on my Feisty machine, that
happened occasionally too, but I think there the problem was memory
leaks in gaim, not Firefox, and a single brutal dismount was sufficient.
Nor did it seem to affect the system adversely in any other way).

The reason why I think Scramdisk is involved in some way (and a post
will be made to the Scramdisk user's group on this) is:

a) I am currently helping a married couple run their new Dell Linux 530N
box, using Gutsy 7.10, without Scramdisk, and I have not observed this
problem. Neither has a friend who's running Gutsy without Scramdisk on a
Zareason Limbo 2440 box and who says Firefox runs "flawlessly".

b) I am experiencing another problem which seems to be Scramdisk
related. My user account is the one where I use Scramdisk, my
administrative rights account does not. 

When I use the new applet feature that lists the users and allows for
quick switching from my admin (non-Scramdisk using) account to my user
account which does use Scramdisk, there is no problem. However, when I
go the reverse way using the quick switching applet, from my user
account (with Scramdisk containers open) to my non-Scramdisk using admin
account, four applets on the panels crash when the admin account screen
loads (the quick switcher, trash, and two others--I forget but can post
them later). Going from one account to another in either direction doing
it the old-fashioned way--by using the "stop" button--causes no
problems. This bug is *very* repeatable.

Like I said, I'll post this to the Scramdisk User's forum so that the
developers can read this. FWIW, the only thing that I could be running
that might be considered a plug-in is the one which allows Firefox to
run Flash (to play Youtubes and such).

Stewart

[SD4L-user] ScramDisk for Linux 1.3-0 released

[Hans-Ulrich J. <han...@t-...>]

Hello,

The stable version 1.3-0 of ScramDisk for Linux has been released.
It has the new functionality of a container timeout. If activated
on mounting a container, this container will be unmounted after it
has been inactive for the configured time. The NTFS filesystem is
now supported by ScramDisk for Linux. Moreover, some bugs have been
fixed.

Packages for CentOS 5, Debian 3.1 and 4.0, Fedora 7 and 8, Mandriva 
2008.0, SuSE 10.2 and 10.3 and Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10 are provided for 
i386 and AMD64 architectures.

The kernel version is part of the filename of binary packages and
must match the kernel version of the system it is installed on.
The architecture i386 or x86_64 in the filename should also match
the architecture of the distribution on which it is installed.

Best regards
Ulrich