Has anyone tried MX-Snapshot on Debian or derivatives?

[Senpai]

Hi:
Maybe it's a question out of place, but I'm curious....

I have created a respin of ParrotOS 6.0 which is a derivative of Debian as MX-Linux, adding the MX repos to be able to use the MX tools, I have created it with https://penguins-eggs.net/ and it works well, it installs with Calamares, but... It gives me some problems with some service....

I am making tests adding MX-Snapshot and the necessary packages for its operation, it creates the ISO and installs it without problems, but when starting the ISO the user "demo" does not start automatically, although with "Crtl+Alt+F1" and "startx", it starts the graphical environment well, but once in it, to "demo" the password does not work... if the one of "root" works, and if I install the system from the ISO, the same thing happens with the new user created...
What could be missing to make it work?

Best regards

[Adrian]

It won't work out of the box because of various assumptions, it would also transform the live system of the distro into a antiX/MX lookalike.
I did migrate a Debian server using it, but it's not for the faint of heart users.

[AVLinux]

Hi,

Before I came to MX I did try it with varying degrees of success on pure Debian but I never got it to work completely because of the 'assumptions' @Adrian mentions..

First big obstacle is the customization of MX with the systemd shim, default Debian installs will use systemd by default and the MX/antiX live system is geared for sysvinit, if you can get beyond that then you will need to rework a lot of stuff in /usr/local/share/live-files/ to change or override MX defaults.. In the end I discovered what thousands already know... MX is an improvement on Debian in many ways so why waste time with square pegs in round holes when working from an MX base gives you everything you need and a Remastering suite that is ready to work..

[dolphin_oracle]

snapshot doesn't actually care about the init system at all. but our default mx-iso-template is set up for MX, not other derivatives. the templates are not generic. antiX has its' own as well.

I've used snapshot with straight debian, but I don't think I've bothered on debian 12. Our user setup should be fairly close to debian standard though. that wasn't always the case. I don't know why user password would fail, unless parrot does some different from debian with their setups that we aren't taking account of, and the passwd change just doesn't work for some reason. In other words, the demo account password might be whatever the password was on the original system. different shells might play a part. there could be other things. a saved home folder with incorrect permissions on the .Xauthority file could be a factor. UID differences could be another. I don't know enough about parrot's setup to advise beyond those few things.

I guess permission differences of some of the user account files might play a part too. you could try running mx-snapshot as root rather than as user. that might get around assumptions made on file system permissions that don't match ours.

[Senpai]

snapshot doesn't actually care about the init system at all. but our default mx-iso-template is set up for MX, not other derivatives. the templates are not generic. antiX has its' own as well.

I've used snapshot with straight debian, but I don't think I've bothered on debian 12. Our user setup should be fairly close to debian standard though. that wasn't always the case. I don't know why user password would fail, unless parrot does some different from debian with their setups that we aren't taking account of, and the passwd change just doesn't work for some reason. In other words, the demo account password might be whatever the password was on the original system. different shells might play a part. there could be other things. a saved home folder with incorrect permissions on the .Xauthority file could be a factor. UID differences could be another. I don't know enough about parrot's setup to advise beyond those few things.

I guess permission differences of some of the user account files might play a part too. you could try running mx-snapshot as root rather than as user. that might get around assumptions made on file system permissions that don't match ours.

Hi:
Thanks to all for the hints, these are the only errors that I have been able to get, it is true that it shows some error in ".Xauthority" and also that the file "/var/log/syslog" is missing.
I will try it as root just to try and learn, but as @Adrian says "it's not for the faint of heart users as me.", hahahahaha

[Toku]

If you can keep the lines in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf commented out except for autologin-user=demo when remastering, I think it will autologin.

If you remaster with the new user, the edited lightdm.conf will be retained, but if you remaster with the demo for distribution, the contents of lightdm.conf will be reset.


deepl translation

[manyroads]

@Senpai This is all above my 'paygrade' but have you tried using a tool like snapshot? (see link below)

I'd guess there are others around that might work, I think Devuan might have something. I know there used to be similar tools available on/for Ubuntu.

http://snapper.io/

[manyroads]

FWIW I just came across this. @Senpai Perhaps it will do what you want/need:

https://fluxuan.org/fluxuan-linux-snapshot

[Senpai]

@Senpai This is all above my 'paygrade' but have you tried using a tool like snapshot? (see link below)

I'd guess there are others around that might work, I think Devuan might have something. I know there used to be similar tools available on/for Ubuntu.

http://snapper.io/

Thanks
Yes, for Respin not "MX" I am using https://penguins-eggs.net/, it is new, it is in development and uses squids, it works in MX, though not in antiX, but for MX there is nothing better than MX-Snapshot .
But I will check those links to see what I find