CDOT Student Presentation 200904 in Flickr

Finally, I've uploaded it, hehe.. If you want the original, please let me know.



CDOT Student Presentation 200904 in Flickr
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CDOT Student Presentation 200904 in Flickr

mNm Release 0.9

mNm Release 0.9

= integrated multi-language support
= progress bar & message
= Existing Code migrate with Fedora First Boot, as a plug-in in 'Create User' Module
= Improved Auto Mount (instead of un-mount every thing, it only mount non-existing one)

Migrate aNd Manager Release 0.8 Progress Update

mNm running as an Firstboot module


So... I've been trying to put mNm to merge with firstboot. Althought I should contact firstboot owner soon.. but I still want to make sure my program will not have big problem when integrate to firstboot. I've been playing around the modules. After 2 days of testing, I finally figure out a way for it.

Instead of using it as a module in Firstboot, mNm should be used as a plug-in (Please correct me if this is not the proper way to call it.). So.. in "Create User" module, user can also choose a 'Network Login' thing.. (honestly, i dun really know what it really dose tho). It calls up '/usr/bin/authconfig-gtk --firstboot' as a process. So... that where mNm should be!!

Let me also talk why it should be a plug-in. I was thinking if mNm should be replacing 'create user' module or should be an alternative module. But the logic is kinda wired. and firstboot dose not run like that. Firstboot will call up modules one by one in sequence. As mNm will do automount, it's kinda silly to mount every thing even mNm will not even being used. I believe running mNm as the Create User plugin is the best way to do. And also.. it seems that calling up mNm as a module in firstboot is not possible. As you can see in the capture that I run mNm as a module and the item list is blank. Maybe there will be some way to do.. but if the plug idea is working.. why bother? :-)

But I will still confirm with my super duper professor Chris Tyler first. Then... multi-language!!


Here is some improvements I've also done in last two days..
1. disable umount when calling up 'AutoMount'.
2. It has a bug that, if the user folder contain file, mNm will crash. This issue has been fixed.

PS:
Finally, I fixed the problem in the tree list when mNm running as a module in firstboot. I've also uploaded the capture as the first image. (Nestor, 200904071200)

mNm running as an plug-in inside Firstboot module 'Create User'

Migrate aNd Manager Release 0.8

This version of mNm has a functional GUI that will provide all functions that need to be done for firstboot. Although there are some small improvements need to be made but Since it matches all milestone that I planed before except Multi-Language font part, therefore, I'm posting it here.

Hopefully, I'll have a newer version of 0.8, which would be called 0.8.1 coming this weekend that will have scroll bar and it will a better version of 0.8. The next release 0.9 should be a fully working version. And I'm targeting to do bug fixing and improvement after release 0.9.

Here is a list of things that I've added in this 0.8 release...
* check boxes
* auto mount (add on auto mount to mount all supported types)
* auto search (including OS type and users, default OS User home only)
-- get supported OS type from database
-- put list of supported OS object(classes) in a list
-- find out if the mounted drives (just in all drives except default live CD user) has any user

mNm Program/Source

mNm Main Page in FedoraHosted

Migrate aNd Manager Release 0.71

Welcome to the team
First welcome Kezong Liang, Stephen joing me on this project. Stephen will be concentrating on multi-language support of the program.

What's in 0.71 release?
This release is a preview of 0.8. Several bugs have been fixed in GUI mode. And it could be download with yum from Mohak Dilipbhai Vyas.
The GUI function is only showing ideas of how the GUI may look like.

Instruction:
1. download this rpm package and put vyasrepo in your repo list
http://matrix.senecac.on.ca/~mdvyas/vyasrepo-10-1.fc10.noarch.rpm
2. type in this command..
yum install mnm

How to run...
the program will be saved in your /usr/sbin/. If you do not want to risk you documents, running in virtual machine is strongly recommanded.

Thanks
Thank you for Patty, Milton on helping me testing this program, and Mohak kindly packaged this program and put it in his repository. And of course all the hard work from Stephen Liang. :-)

mNm Update

I've been working on the GUI after 0.7 release. The next release will have a working GUI that automatic mount Fedora supported partitions, and detect all users from supported OS. It will also have a click box that allow user just migrate certain folder, mount or users. And of course, automatically create user if the user is not existing.

And finally, I got my tree working with check box. The next step will be integrating these check box with the migration process. Since I don't have good foundation on python GUI module, this may take me a while.

But i can't help myself to show off my work, hehe.. even there is a lot to work on..so.. here is the capture...

mNm Release 0.7

Finally, GUI can work with out command lines!! :-) right now i'm calling "create and move" function to do file copying and automatic create users. This function will be the foundation of the program and it will be good enough to use in firstboot.

Anyway, here is the code...
mNm Release 0.7 source code

mNm Release 0.6.3

It's only been few days after release 0.6. This release of 0.6.3 is not for bug fixing, it's actually some internal improvement of 0.6. It is kind of an early release 0.7 I have successfully move every thing into a class. And instead of putting supported OS database in array, i put them in a file and import them when necessary.

The next step of 0.7 will be targeting on calling internal function from GUI instead of using os.system to call up mNm in bash.

If time is allowed, I will also create another function to get all supported OS into a list. So, the GUI could just call up the function and user will be easier to choose.

Soure Code of mNm0.6.3


Some more to share...
It was tough to restructure the whole program. Especially it's about 800 lines of code now. Sometime I've totally forgot what i have and what i was trying to do in the code. So, I try to work on 0.7 as soon as I can, so i don't have to pick up again. ;-p

And surprisingly, every thing go smoother after 0.6 release. I didn't expect having my function use those classes would be so easy. I only spend about 5,6 hours from 0.6 to 0.6.3. That's a relief. :-)

Since the foundation is much more better now. All I have to care is improving the GUI, and build some small functions if necessary.

Migrate aNd Manage(mNm) Milestone for Release 0.7

Before adding functions on GUI, I want to build up a better foundation. At this moment it is impossible to have mNm pure GUI mode. Currently, mNm GUI will organise a command line with all parameters and call the line in batch. Which is acceptable but not a perfect GUI if I want this in firstboot. There for, I want to build a better foundation so I don't have to worry about variables in the future.

So, here is the milestone for mNm release 0.7:
= put all supported OS type and directory list in an array which is stored in a class for easier management and calling.
= GUI call up internal functions, instead of calling batch.


Please check the link below for updated milestone.
mNm Milestone Release0.7in FedoraHosted

Migrate aNd Manage(mNm) Release 0.6

After all hours and days of debugging, finally, release 0.6 is here. It sounds easy to put all variables into class, but.. OMG.. i couldn't believe how tough it was.. So I had to change my mile stone. But the brightside is, it's always better to improve the foundation instead of changing it later when its more than 2000 lines of code, right? Luckily... I have only did 800 lines... ;-p

Anyway, here is what I've done for Release 0.6...
- those code of sorting flags and calling function will be put in 2 functions instead of on the upper level lines. It's better for future development.
- put global variables into classes
- fixed all bugs after moving all global variables into classes - added a variable named "ProgMsg?" for easier debugging

mNm Release 0.6 code in FedoraHost

Migrate aNd Manage Release 0.6 Progress (and problems..)

After bug fix of 0.5, which is 0.52. I've moved all the codes into functions. I found there is problem on calling few functions, such as calling help.

After hours of testing and searching, I found the reason. The reason is because the way python handle global is totally different to my other programming language experience. Of course, I can assign global variable in functions then, I can change it in any where, or I can pass the variables. But... I think I'll change all variable in a class, so I can call up any time any where. And I think it's better for future development too.

This release's coding is more than I thought. It's more like restructuring the whole program instead of adding code on it. @@ And I'll have to do a lot of testing to make sure all variables pass successfully too. And I need a little plan on it too.

And the reason why I'm putting every into functions is because it's easier for GUI development. So I can actually call up the functions form GUI instead of just call up mnm in bash command with all parameters.

Migrate aNd Manage (mNm) 0.5.1 and milestone

I found a bug right the day after I post my 0.5 release. It had a problem when using GUI to call up mNm in bash. It will be called mNm 0.5.1 Release.

And I've also have my mNm Milestone posted in FedoraHosted. 0.6 Release will be concentrate on bug fixing and restructuring internal functions.

Please links below for details.

mNm 0.5.1 Release
mNm Milestone for Release 0.6

Migrate aNd Manage (mNm) 0.5 Release

This is the GUI release of Migrate aNd Manage. This GUI verion only support single folder migrations. Again, the source can be found in FedorHosted.org

GUI feature:
= Auto typing
= Call up mNm single user migration function

Migrate aNd Manage (mNm) 0.4 Release

In this release, mNm will support space checking with a single command. This will be useful for both command mode and in GUI mode.

And mNm has successfully obtain a space in FedoraHosted. This project's wiki has moved to FedoraHost from zenit's wiki. All the information and source will be found in there. It will be open to public for every one to try out.

Link:
https://fedorahosted.org/mnm/

More about Virtual Machine with Sun VirtualBox

I've been working on a little project on Virtual Machine. And I was trying to setup a network for our networking course, so we can do thing like Beowulf clustering. I used VirtualBox, since it's a cross platform. Because I have tri-boot with Vista/OSX/Fedora. So I can turn on my VM in any system and work on it.

After hours of searching and testing. Finally, I can ssh to and from my VMs and even connected to outside world. Thank you John64 and Vyas(Mohak) testing it for me. There are a lot of things that I'm not quite sure too. But since I've gotta stop playing with my VM and go back to my labs works. I can't spend too much time on it.

Anyway, here is the command to enable port fowarding with the build-in command "VBoxManage". This command allow you control VM configuration and even create a VM with one line command...

= enable Foward ports 2222 to 22 in VirtualBox =
# VBoxManage setextradata vm-F10i686 "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/HostPort" 2222
# VBoxManage setextradata vm-F10i686 "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/GuestPort" 22
# VBoxManage setextradata vm-F10i686 "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/Protocol" TCP

NOte: - vm-F10i686 - is the name in your VirtualBox, not your hostname

= Check configuration with VBoxMange command.
# VBoxManage getextradata vm-F10i686 enumerate

The good thing about using port forwarding is easy. But it has limitation also. Like... if I want to VNC to/from my VM, i'll need to forward another port also. So, instead, my next little project will be working on using DNS server, etc to setup a network (virtual network?) for my VMs. And I'll be using my host (my laptop) as the router, DNS server, etc.

And her are some trick and tips I would like to share with you..
1. If you are setting up same VMs in different machine. You can actually save your image file (.vdi). So you don't have to install again. But it seems a name is writed in the file also. So, I wasn't able to duplicate image file and having two same config VMs running in same host. I may spend sometime to hack about it when I have chance.
2. There is a build-in function called "snapshot" that allow you to capture the system status and recovery it later. But instead, I just copy the image file instead, because it gives me more flexibility when I'm using it in different OS.
3. Install Guest Additions, it's just fun to see a full-screen high resolution Fedora running in your Vista! I was able to have 1440x900 to use my Fedora VM in osx and Fedora host!
4. If you want to have a tri-boot VM with XP, Vista and some Linux. You may want to install XP, Vista and Linux in order. I would suggest to put XP, Vista, Swap as the primary and put all other Linux in your logical drive. Yeah... You can put all different Linux in your vm, Fedora, Ubuntu, FreeBSD... (the list goes on forever)
5. If you have backup, and somehow your vm system is not working. Instead of fixing it, you can just mount the old image file back! It's not a good admin should do, but... if u know the stuffs.. why do it over and over again? ^^

Actually, There are still a lot of things I want to explorer about VM. I could spend a month on it without doing any thing else. But... I'll save this fun later when I'm done the LUX course. Lets put study first. ^^

Nes

Migrate aNd Manage Release 0.3

Here is my 0.3 release for my LUX project "Migrate aNd Mange", or mNm in short.. The name was originally called "Windows Data Migration Tools". Here is there feature list of mNm.

Feature List

= Support post install files migration
= Support XP/Vista/OSX
= Support random flags syntax in command mode
= Support listing users from XP and Vista
= Support any Linux or Unix based system that has python installed and same user folder structure.
= Support automatic user detection or with a given user name(s)
= Support copying file(s) and folder(s) to specified location
= If given location is not a home folder of the OS type given, it will report error message and exit
= When duplicate file(s) or folder(s) is detected, wdmt has an option to replace older file/folder, backup existing Fedora user folder(s) or replace existing user folder(s)
= Auto create user list with a temporary password and migrate folders and files


LINKS:

Migrate aNd Manage in Fedora Project Wiki
Migrate aNd Manage in Seneca Open Source Wiki
Mirgrate aNd Manage's Source Code

Migrate aNd Manage Project status: Link added

I've just added link function in mNm. So, old user folder from OSX/Win can be linked under current user folder, it will be named "~/mNm_folder". This link function is one of the backup option once the function "MoveSrcDir" or "CreateAndMove" is called.

At this point it will handle all users that is provided in the given list. It could be called up when used in GUI mode. Since I'm now targeting on having mNm in GUI mode, I don't put a lot of error checking in command mode at this state. But I'm sure I may add on more to make it better in the future.

Here is the link you can find the latest version of mNm...

mNm0.2.3

Migrate aNd Manage Project status: AutoMount added

Finally I added automount function. It could be called with flag "-am" or "--AutoMount". It currently support ntfs/fat16/fat32. I may add function to support hfs/hfs_plus also (for OSX).

This function will automatic mount disk and partition from sda0 to sdj9. I believe it would be cover in most cases. Unless someone has more than 10 physical hard drive or more than 10 partitions.

The following link is the file of current work version. You're more than welcome to try it out.

mNm v0.2.2

Migrate aNd Manage Project: Status update

Right now, I'm working on auto mount function for Migrate aNd Manage.

I was trying to see what is the best way to do. And I come out of 2 different approach. First, just let create a temp folder and use bash command to mount it. It will be one or multiple loop to mount all sd* . Since hd* is not the standard any more. At this point, I will use sd*. The loop will trying mounting all harddisk and partition in FAT/ntfs format and also hfs, hfs-plus format. The second way to do is capture the command return from "fdisk -l", it will return all partitions that is avaliable to the current system.

It sounds like using "fdisk -l" is a smarter way to do. But after an overnight of research, considering the afford and speed to the system, it seems auto mount is actually more efficient. Because if the program spend time on calling "fdisk" and anylise the output. Then mount it, it actually the system is doing more than mounting them one by one. Instead if I trying to mount one by one, it could have been even faster than capture in fdisk.

But.. here is a concern.. Since, i'm gonna mount the source partition in a temp name, say "/media/ntfs1", what if people want to use another name? but I'll work on this part later..

Step by step.. function by function.. ^^

0.2 Relase Contributions - De-Luxer Community

It's almost the end of semester. I'm so glad that I'm doing LUX in Seneca@york. All my classmates are friendly and nice. We're like a small group of community, we help each other to learn and acheive our goals.

I'm so glad to meet Milton and Mohak. They helped me a lot on my LUX Project and the arcade project. Of course, I gave them some help too. Beside them, I also helped Steven Liang a little bit on his project. Since we don't speak perfect English, we try to help each other to understand what we miss in class and things for our projects.

I heard that next sem is gonna be tough on project. I've gotta finish my functions this month, so I can work on the GUI next sem.. ^^

And good luck on your project guys...