Live USB Maker seemed to chown some home folders to be under root

[stucash]

I've done a remaster today for my live system, and I generally back it up with another SSD using Live USB Maker.

My persistance option is set to persist_static.
My live persistance option is set to automatic.

Remaster:
1. Open RemasterCC
2. Choose Remaster
3. Choose Personal
4. Choose to delete rootfs.old and homefs.old
5. Run with lz4
6. took 40 minutes to finish.

Making Back-up:
1. Open Live USB Maker
2. Select clone running live system
3. Select the target drive to have the live system copied to
4. Then click start.

The process took about 12 minutes for me, from 0 to 10 percent was very slow and it took a snap from 10 to 100.

I then disconnect the original live system and boot into the backup SSD,
1. Select the size for rootfs
2. Select the size for homefs
3. Select the swap file size
4. Choose to copy files to home persistance device

My homefs typically is about 20-30G.

Once all above is finished and I booted into the desktop, I did a ls -lart to find that some home folders have become root folders, for example, some typical ones like Downloads, Documents, Desktop, Music, Pictures and my .vim.

This surely didn't happen before and it has always been the process since a long time ago.

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System:
  Kernel: 6.11.10-1-liquorix-amd64 [6.11-15~mx23ahs] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0 parameters: audit=0
    intel_pstate=disable BOOT_IMAGE=/antiX/vmlinuz quiet splasht nosplash lang=en_GB kbd=gb
    tz=Europe/London persist_static from=usb savestate splasht video=1600x1200 nomodeset
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.4_ahs_x64 Libretto September 15  2024 base: Debian GNU/Linux
    12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ROG STRIX Z790-A GAMING WIFI II v: Rev 1.xx serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1801 date: 11/30/2024
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-14700K bits: 64 type: MST AMCP arch: Raptor Lake gen: core 14
    level: v3 note: check built: 2022+ process: Intel 7 (10nm) family: 6 model-id: 0xB7 (183)
    stepping: 1 microcode: 0x12B
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 20 mt: 8 tpc: 2 st: 12 threads: 28 smt: enabled cache: L1: 1.8 MiB
    desc: d-12x32 KiB, 8x48 KiB; i-8x32 KiB, 12x64 KiB L2: 28 MiB desc: 8x2 MiB, 3x4 MiB L3: 33 MiB
    desc: 1x33 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 850 high: 1401 min/max: 800/3401 boost: enabled scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq
    governor: ondemand cores: 1: 889 2: 799 3: 890 4: 800 5: 900 6: 800 7: 930 8: 800 9: 800 10: 800
    11: 800 12: 800 13: 800 14: 800 15: 900 16: 800 17: 1401 18: 800 19: 900 20: 800 21: 800
    22: 800 23: 800 24: 800 25: 800 26: 800 27: 800 28: 1000 bogomips: 191385
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling mitigation: Clear Register File
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS; IBPB: conditional; RSB filling;
    PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence; BHI: BHI_DIS_S
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia v: 550.135 alternate: nouveau,
    nvidia_current_drm, nvidia_current non-free: N/A status: unknown device ID pcie: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2783 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
    gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 4080x2160 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1080x572mm (42.52x22.52")
    s-diag: 1222mm (48.12")
  Monitor-1: DP-0 pos: middle-r res: 1080x1920 hz: 60 dpi: 96 size: 286x509mm (11.26x20.04")
    diag: 584mm (22.99") modes: N/A
  Monitor-2: DP-2.8 pos: primary,bottom-l res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 93
    size: 527x296mm (20.75x11.65") diag: 604mm (23.8") modes: N/A
  Monitor-3: DP-4 pos: middle-c res: 1080x1920 hz: 60 dpi: 96 size: 286x509mm (11.26x20.04")
    diag: 584mm (22.99") modes: N/A
  Monitor-4: HDMI-0 pos: top-left res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 93 size: 527x296mm (20.75x11.65")
    diag: 604mm (23.8") modes: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 550.135 renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER/PCIe/SSE2
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 1-11.1:8 v: kernel
    alternate: snd_soc_avs,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl chip-ID: 041e:3272 class-ID: 0300 bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:7a50 serial: <filter> class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:22bc class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Creative Pebble V3 type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
  Device-4: ASUSTek USB Audio type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 1-2:3
    chip-ID: 0b05:1af1 class-ID: 0300
  API: ALSA v: k6.11.10-1-liquorix-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 1
    link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s port: N/A bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:272b class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I226-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igc v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:125c class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-14:11 chip-ID: 8087:0038 class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter>
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff link-mode: peripheral accept
    service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio, telephony
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller Intel driver: vmd v: 0.6
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:a77f rev: class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.93 TiB used: 416.48 GiB (21.1%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST31000524AS size: 931.51 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> rev: JC4B
    scheme: MBR
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 840 EVO 120GB size: 111.79 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: BB6Q
    scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB vendor: Seagate model: BarraCuda 120 SSD ZA1000CM10003
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: SSD serial: <filter>
    scheme: MBR
Partition:
  Message: No partition data found.
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 10 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    file: /live/boot-dev/swap-file
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 36.2 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 26 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0%
Repos:
  Packages: 2538 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2528 libs: 1260 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 10
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/charm.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/charm.gpg] https://repo.charm.sh/apt/ * *
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cran-r.list
    1: deb [trusted=yes] https://cran.ma.imperial.ac.uk/bin/linux/debian bookworm-cran40/
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://ftp.belnet.be/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://ftp.belnet.be/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    3: deb http://ftp.belnet.be/debian bookworm-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian bookworm stable
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dropbox.list
    1: deb [arch=i386,amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/dropbox.asc] http://linux.dropbox.com/debian bookworm main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com bookworm main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc] https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mxlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
    2: deb http://mxlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/warpdotdev.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/warpdotdev.gpg] https://releases.warp.dev/linux/deb stable main
Info:
  Processes: 525 Uptime: 37m wakeups: 1 Memory: 31.07 GiB used: 4.97 GiB (16.0%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

[fehlix]

Did you reboot after remaster? Clone running live system tends to get misinterpret as it will not clone persistence files, but linuxfs and surrounding boot-files only.
Suggest run a personal snapshot, so you have all in one iso file as "backup" in addition to remaster's own rollback feature.
you can check the original files/ownership within the linuxfs squashed file by visiting /live/linux/home.

[stucash]

Did you reboot after remaster? Clone running live system tends to get misinterpret as it will not clone persistence files, but linuxfs and surrounding boot-files only.
Suggest run a personal snapshot, so you have all in one iso file as "backup" in addition to remaster's own rollback feature.
you can check the original files/ownership within the linuxfs squashed file by visiting /live/linux/home.

@fehlix Thanks!

I did reboot after remaster, allowing to me set the size of rootfs. I've been running this procedure for backup since MX 19 and it never had a problem before, though I understand now that taking snapshot should be a more stable option (and making a Live USB from it).

However, I went onto the original Live system and checked under /live/linux/home/user_name, I see that all folders were correctly under the user_name, not root; so the owner of those folders did get changed after Live USB process.

Whilst we are at it, may I ask that if cloning running live system is not copying persistence files onto the backup USB drive, where does it copy it from, when it asked me whether I wanted to copy the files to persistance device? I am a little confused now.

[fehlix]

I did reboot after remaster, allowing to me set the size of rootfs. I've been running this procedure for backup since MX 19 and it never had a problem before, though I understand now that taking snapshot should be a more stable option (and making a Live USB from it).

However, I went onto the original Live system and checked under /live/linux/home/user_name, I see that all folders were correctly under the user_name, not root; so the owner of those folders did get changed after Live USB process.

Hmme, than this would mean during copy stuff out from the linuxfs onto the newly generated rootfs, something happend.
Looks not right to me indeed, Any other special settings multiple user, or newly renamed user,or anything other specialities?

Whilst we are at it, may I ask that if cloning running live system is not copying persistence files onto the backup USB drive, where does it copy it from, when it asked me whether I wanted to copy the files to persistance device? I am a little confused now.

Cloning running live system is like if you boot without persistence and clone the system, b/c it cannot clone rootfs (or homefs) as those are in use.
I think there may be in option to clone persistence files either rootfs or also homefs, but only if those are not in use.
look for

Code: Select all

sudo live-usb-maker --help

(corrected the CLI is live-usb-maker --help, the GUI is mx-live-usb-maker --help-all)
which the gui is using. So cloning running live system does not do what snapshot is doing, it just generates the LiveBoot stuff and copy the readonly linuxfs file, that's mainly it. You could manually copy the rootfs/homfs files after you booted without persistence, b/c both must fit to the linuxfs.As here is a long VID-check,
to make sure rootfs and linuxfs do match.

[stucash]

@fehlix To my best knowledge the only notable abnormality was that I had mismatched BIOS version which might have caused issue to my CPU; the BIOS has been updated with correct fix for 14700K prior to my exercise of Live USB making. The particular error caused stuttering and sometimes failure of NVIDIA driver installation (failed to rebuild initramfs); the error message was something along this line: Message from syslogd@mx1 at Jan 8 00:00:00 kernel:mce [Hardware Error] CPU 5 Machine check 0 Bank 0 80000004000040005.

This surely isn't look right to me; and my hunch is that, cloning running system isn't just copying linuxfs it is probably doing something clever behind the scene to figure out what's idle during the live making and copy them to a temporary location, this is the reason it took 40 minutes to finish the cloning. Please let me know if there's extra check I can do to help track down the issue.

I have to say though, doing a snapshot then back it up with Live USB indeed is a much better way. It took 7 minutes for the snapshot and it seems to have resulted in less fragmentation as well. Compared to the 40 minutes every time of cloning running system, snapshot is much better, let alone it is the official procedure prior to the Live USB Making.

[fehlix]

Suggest you take the new snapshot iso and create with "MX Live USB Maker" a new LiveUSB.