gen2stage4/README.md

#mkstage4

This is a bash script to create stage 4 tarballs either for the running system, or a system at a specified mount point.
The script is a new edition of an earlier [mkstage4 script](https://github.com/gregf/bin/blob/master/mkstage4) by Greg Fitzgerald (unmaintained as of 2012) which is itself a revamped edition of the [original mkstage4](http://blinkeye.ch/dokuwiki/doku.php/projects/mkstage4) by Reto Glauser (unmaintaied as of 2009). 
 
More information on mkstage4 can be found on its own Chymeric Tutorials article: [mkstage4 - Stage 4 Tarballs Made Easy](http://tutorials.chymera.eu/blog/2014/05/18/mkstage4-stage4-tarballs-made-easy/). 

##Installation

The script can be run directly from its containing folder (and thus, is installed simply by downloading or cloning it from here - and adding run permissions):

```bash
git clone https://github.com/TheChymera/mkstage4.git /your/mkstage4/directory
cd /your/mkstage4/directory
chmod +x mkstage4.sh
```

For [Gentoo Linux](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentoo_linux) and [Derivatives](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gentoo_Linux_derivatives), mkstage4 is also available in [Portage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage_(software)) via the *[chymeric overlay](https://github.com/TheChymera/chymeric)* (which can be enabled with just two commands, as seen in [the README](https://github.com/TheChymera/chymeric)).
After you have enabled the overlay, just run the following command:

```
emerge app-backup/mkstage4
```

##Usage

*If you are running the script from the containing folder (first install method) please make sure you use the `./mkstage4.sh` command instead of just `mkstage4`!*

Archive your current system (mounted at /):

```bash
mkstage4 -s archive_name
```

Archive system located at a custom mount point:

```bash
mkstage4 -t /custom/mount/point archive_name
```

Other options:

* `-q`: runs without prompting for confirmation (careful!).
* `-b`: excludes the `/boot` (or `/cutom/mount/point/boot`) directory.
* `-c`: excludes connman saved networks directory.
* `-l`: excludes the `/lost+found` directory.

##Extract Tarball

Tarballs created with mkstage4 can be extracted with:

```bash
tar xvjpf archive_name.tar.bz2
```

##Dependencies

* **[Bash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bash_(Unix_shell))** - in [Portage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage_(software)) as **app-shells/bash**
* **[tar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_(computing))** - in Portage as **app-arch/tar**

*Please note that these are very basic dependencies and should already be included in any Linux system.*

---
Released under the GPLv3 license.
Project led by Horea Christian (address all correspondence to: h.chr@mail.ru).