please add BSDTAR to be able to install ARCH distributions

[beta-tester]

hello,
i would like to be able to install an ARCH distribution via NOOBS to a RPi2.
currently a very outdated version of ARCH is available via NOOBS and only for an old RPi1.
for RPi2 there is no supported ARCH distribution there.
i started a discussion with a question, why it is not possible to use NOOBS to install a more recent ARCH distribution.
(https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=822213#p822213)
it sounds, it is because the recent ARCH distributions makes use of extendend access permission flags that the normal TAR archive is not able to carry and restore. for that reason the ARCH distributions uses BSDTAR to backup and restore these kind of flags.

so, to be able to install an recent ARCH distribution via NOOBS it is necessary, that NOOBS uses BSDTAR for install an ARCH distribution.

please add BSDTAR to the installation pipeline or exchange the normal TAR with BSDTAR.

i and other users would be very happy, if it could be included into NOOBS... thanks

[NicoHood]

I dont like those +1 posts, but I agree on this. Arch for Pi2 would be great. Ubuntu Mate as well.

[procount]

OK, I'll bite and see if I can add it to my version of NOOBS (PINN).
I've added it as a package to buildroot and built it.
Can BSDTAR replace TAR for all other distros, or should it ONLY be used for Arch?

[lurch]

Can BSDTAR replace TAR for all other distros, or should it ONLY be used for Arch?

When I was corresponding with one of the ArchLinuxArm guys over email about this ages ago, he assured me that bsdtar was effectively a superset of gnutar, but I didn't have time to do the testing required.

I don't want to sound dismissive, but for the audience it's aimed at, stability of NOOBS is much more important than the ability to install less-popular OSes such as ArchLinux.

[procount]

Well, I've now built a version of NOOBS v1.5 and replaced tar with bsdtar.
If anyone wants to test it, I'll post it on my github, but I guess the latest Arch distro will have to be repackaged for NOOBS in order to test it and hosted somewhere.
Oh, and I guess I'll have to rename this test version NOOBS to avoid conflicts too.

[maxnet]

When I was corresponding with one of the ArchLinuxArm guys over email about this ages ago,
he assured me that bsdtar was effectively a superset of gnutar, but I didn't have time to do the testing required.

Think we are currently using Busybox's tar.

But note that standard GNU tar does have options to store extra attributes as well (e.g. --selinux --acls --xattrs).
If they need any file system flag so exotic that it would not be covered even if we had gnu tar, wouldn't it make more sense to let them use partition disk images?
(which are already supported by NOOBS)

[procount]

It's not as simple as just replacing tar with bsdtar. there are some extra considerations that need adding to the code so it might take me a bit longer, but I;m getting there....

[procount]

Using BSDTAR results in the following error after the tar file has been extracted (on ext4):
"./usr/bin/ping6: Cannot restore extended attributes on this file system,
./usr/bin/ping: (null)
./usr/bin/rlogin: (null)
./usr/bin/rsh: (null)
./usr/bin/rcp: (null)
bsdtar< Error exit delayed from previous errors"

[maxnet]

"./usr/bin/ping6: Cannot restore extended attributes on this file system,

In addition to enabling the libarchive, attr and acl buildroot packages, you may also need to modify the Linux kernel configuration to enable things like posix ACLs and security labels, if they are using those.

[procount]

I'm so glad there are linux gurus here to keep pointing me down the correct rabbit hole! :) I had no idea about those.

[procount]

@maxnet - you were right (of course). I've now got Arch untar'd, but it needs some more work to get the rfs loaded.

[procount]

And... it now loads properly. Just got to work out why i;ve got to adjust it manually

[NicoHood]

Maybe you can share the current state of your fixes? I cannot find the branch on your fork, so I guess you havent uploaded it yet?

[procount]

Look at my branch new_bsdtar_150. I think I pushed this version after I fixed everything so it should install ARCH direct from it's existing bsdtar file, but it needs some help from it's partition_setup.sh file which I've not pushed yet. I was going to do that when I got something else working......

[maxnet]

Look at my branch new_bsdtar_150

Any specific reason you do are using bsdtar for the ext4 partition, but not for FAT there?

[NicoHood]

Is this page up to date?
https://github.com/raspberrypi/noobs/wiki/NOOBS-partitioning-explained

It says stuff like "This is what the riscos-boot.bin file is for, and why the RISC OS 'root' partition is still stored as a raw partition and not as a tarball." But before it says that it creates an extended partition for each OS.

I tried to mount the first partition, but i could not find the right type. Am I doing anything wrong?

sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt -t vfat