8 replies to this topic

[Moon Goon]

I was thinking of either making a primitive (I mean, Pong compared to Quake 4 primitive) WinBuilder or a set of WinBuilder scripts that build a ReactOS Live CD instead of Win PE. Really not much to it besides copying the files from an actual ReactOS Live CD and using the ISOBOOT.BIN to load the CD.

My question is: since I'd be using mkisofs which is GPL licensed would my program or set of scripts also have to be GPL? Would that also mean any other tools I use must be GPL?

Now, I know I could do tons of research and figure it out myself.. I'd just like to hear what others thoughts are. Thanks in advance

[TheHive]

I havent had experience with ReactOS except that we tried using some file from it to make the standard release smaller. But we ran it to problems so I dont think we are using them anymore.

You shuold be able to use a combination of freeware, Open Source or the such as long as you include the Licencing txt.

[Brito]

My question is: since I'd be using mkisofs which is GPL licensed would my program or set of scripts also have to be GPL? Would that also mean any other tools I use must be GPL?

No, you choose the license to be applied to your own work. More info on GPL License


ReactOS seems always a bit behind in time compared to windows, the explorer shell still isn't much developed and there are still issues when it boots from emulators.

But overall it's is an excellent idea since PE environments are not as limited as most people would think some time ago.

Since most members here are quite experienced in handling PE problems, reactOS should likely be a breaze since it's even possible to code or modify applications to fit most booting needs..


ReactOS has also support for NTFS volumes, and the live CD is sized in 50Mb - none of this is yet optimized with the methods used in wibuilder projects - and most standard scripts can surely be applied to build an excellent boot disk - one wich can even be downloaded for free ready to use or even ready to be built - something like press play, without needing a windows source ever again.

So, why not?

I personally think it would be excellent to have a standard project for ReactOS as well, it would be even better if it was released under an open license project, taking the standard project for XP/2003 as an example - this way everyone would be able to change and improve things in team work.

What do you say?

[Moon Goon]

@Nuno: You know more than I do and you wear a bullet-proof helmet, so I give you much respect

However, is it true ReactOS has NTFS support? The last LiveCD I downloaded (about a week ago) could "see" an NTFS drive was present but could not access the files.

NTFS support for ReactOS would make a project truly worth it. I will re-download a Live CD and search through the ReactOS site for an NTFS enabled build. I have tried replacing the ReactOS NTFS.SYS with the real 2k and XP driver and it always barfed. Needless to say, my skills are not enough to port NTFS-3G to ReactOS.

If you already have a link to a ReactOS+NTFS CD or a method to build ReactOS with NTFS support please post it!

ReactOS with working NTFS support makes me excited in ways only appropriate for a Computer Repair Technician, and then only behind closed doors

[Brito]

What file systems does ReactOS support, now?

FAT(12/16/32) plus VFAT, ISO-9660 - CD-ROM, NPFS - named pipe file system (internal FS), MSFS - mailslot file system (internal FS)

What file systems will ReactOS support?

Our goal is to support as many filesystems as possible. IFS-drivers can be developed for at least these disk file systems which are available with Linux. It is, however, very hard to program a compliant/working filesystem driver. So it will take some time. There will be at least: FAT(12/16/32) plus VFAT, ISO-9660 - CD-ROM, A Higher FS like ext3, NTFS or JFS, NPFS - named pipe file system (internal FS), MSFS - mailslot file system (internal FS)

Quoted from reactOS developer FAQ


It is possible to add NTFS support on ReactOS using native MS ntfs.sys, even thought I'd prefer a free solution..
http://www.reactos.o...le_Systems/NTFS

This specifc file can be included on a reactOS build as long as it complies with the MS license. This is where I think a project can be usefull. Allowing to download a project with all files and adding the option to include ntfs.sys.

I don't think there's any need to redownload the live CD image yet, I really hope a free ntfs.sys driver can come up soon!

If you already have a link or a method to build a ReactOS with NTFS support please post it!

At the moment I'm still working on winbuilder, but would really be fun to see the results of a project like this - it might even support the ROS team to continue their excellent work..

[Moon Goon]

Followed the link and got this:

Current plans for supporting NTFS and open/free filesystems

Note: To the best of my knowledge, these are not official project-wide plans, but rather those of Alex Ionescu who is probably most suited for implementing NTFS. If they are project-wide plans, then delete this notice.

Alex Ionescu, who is very familiar with NTFS and does alot of important work for ROS. He says that "implementing a free NTFS driver is not a priority right now. Getting the XP one to run is.


So, by these statements NTFS is not an official project and Alex might be getting the XP NTFS.SYS to work.. sniff

UPDATE: Just tried Live CD build 22970.
NTFS.SYS from NT4 SP3 - BSOD
NTFS.SYS from XP Pro SP2 - Crashes ROS Explorer when accessing NTFS drive
NTFS.SYS from Win 2k3 - Can access drive from ROS Explorer but does not see folders or files. Cannot create files or folders.

Still, they can't ignore NTFS. It worth doing because SOMEDAY they'll most likely have NTFS support. I'll start making a ReactOS project this weekend. One big bummer is that ReactOS has problems running executables compiled from my favorite programming language. So, I have to figure out how to deal with that.

[Draugen]

Even though NTFS support in ReactOS is going to be a neccesity by the time they reach 1.0 final, i'm actually more exoted about the possiblility of a IFS xfs/jfs/ext3 (a working ext2 IFS is available) and reiserfs (also available, but development has stagnated since nov 2005 i think) driver. That would make dual-booting/hard disk forensics much easier

[Moon Goon]

I managed to get a shell of a project going. I discovered that encoding the whole ReactOS Live CD contents was a bad idea I'll now have to learn how to use those scripting commands. The wget functions look tasty. I could download the ReactOS Live CD ISO if not already present. Only thing is finding out how to extract the files from that ISO.

Is there a help file for WinBuilder commands? I was stuck without Internet access this weekend and couldn't reach the wiki.

[Brito]

I managed to get a shell of a project going. I discovered that encoding the whole ReactOS Live CD contents was a bad idea

Why not 7zip the file and upload it?

This way you'd be able to distribute your project files without getting worried on sizes and allow people to later download the zipped file with your custom settings ready to go..

This zipped file could then be placed inside your project.

Once the zipped file is downloaded, write a value on a variable to ensure it's not downloaded again and the script should then start building the new boot disk..

I'll now have to learn how to use those scripting commands. The wget functions look tasty. I could download the ReactOS Live CD ISO if not already present. Only thing is finding out how to extract the files from that ISO.

Uniextract is a free solution for extracting ISO files (and a whole lot of other filetypes..), here's the link:
http://legroom.net/m...;app=uniextract

Althought I still prefer the above method because it might be more customizable..

Is there a help file for WinBuilder commands? I was stuck without Internet access this weekend and couldn't reach the wiki.

There is no help file, the best offline help at this moment is the source code window - in there you'll find the right click option from where you can select and add all available commands and variables.

This is good because it fill the necessary syntax for the command you select with example values to give you an idea of what they will do..

If you get any other doubts not listed on the wiki, do ask and I'll explain in more detail..

I hope this helps, good luck!