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/). 

Chinese Introduction [中文说明](http://liuk.io/blog/gentoo-stage4)

## 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
```

Command line arguments:

```
  mkstage4.sh [-q -c -b -l -k] [-s || -t <target-mountpoint>] [-e <additional excludes dir*>] <archive-filename> [custom-tar-options]
  -q: activates quiet mode (no confirmation).
  -c: excludes connman network lists.
  -b: excludes boot directory.
  -l: excludes lost+found directory.
  -e: an additional excludes directory (one dir one -e).
  -s: makes tarball of current system.
  -k: separately save current kernel modules and src (smaller & save decompression time).
  -t: makes tarball of system located at the <target-mountpoint>.
  -h: displays help message.
```

eg.
```bash
liuk@localhost ~/proj/mkstage4 $ sudo ./mkstage4.sh -l -s -k -e /dataA -e /home/liuk/dataZ1/ /dataB/gentoo-stage4-20180511 --exclude=/dataB/* --exclude=/ssd/*
Are you sure that you want to make a stage 4 tarball of the system
located under the following directory?
/

WARNING: since all data is saved by default the user should exclude all
security- or privacy-related files and directories, which are not
already excluded by mkstage4 options (such as -c), manually per cmdline.
example: $ mkstage4.sh -s /my-backup --exclude=/etc/ssh/ssh_host*

COMMAND LINE PREVIEW:
tar -cjpP --ignore-failed-read --exclude=/home/*/.bash_history --exclude=/dev/* --exclude=/var/tmp/* --exclude=/media/* --exclude=/mnt/*/* --exclude=/proc/* --exclude=/run/* --exclude=/sys/* --exclude=/tmp/* --exclude=/usr/portage/* --exclude=/var/lock/* --exclude=/var/log/* --exclude=/var/run/* --exclude=/dataA --exclude=/home/liuk/dataZ1/ --exclude=/usr/src/*  --exclude=/lib64/modules/*  --exclude=dataB/gentoo-stage4-20180511.tar.bz2 --exclude=lost+found --exclude=/dataB/* --exclude=/ssd/* -f /dataB/gentoo-stage4-20180511.tar.bz2 /*

tar -cjpP --ignore-failed-read -f /dataB/gentoo-stage4-20180511.tar.bz2.ksrc /usr/src/linux-4.16.6-gentoo*

tar -cjpP --ignore-failed-read -f /dataB/gentoo-stage4-20180511.tar.bz2.kmod /lib64/modules/4.16.6-gentoo*

Type "yes" to continue or anything else to quit: yes
```

### -k separately save current kernel modules and src

  It will save current running kernel modules and src in separate tar file. It save decompression time.

## Extract Tarball

Tarballs created with mkstage4 can be extracted with:

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

If you use -k option, extract src & modules separately

```bash
tar xvjpf archive_name.tar.bz2.kmod
tar xvjpf archive_name.tar.bz2.ksrc
```

## 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).