Persistent possible with Debian Live?

[rajibando]

May please the following wiki: LiveUsbPersistence please be perused.

I have installed Ventoy on one of my HDDs. I then partitioned the rest space and can boot different ISOs from Ventoy. So far so good.

Could Ventoy be used to boot a Debian Live Persistent set up?

There are certain aspects in the said page that needs to be addressed. For example,

We can use:

• FAT partition with boot flag,
  
• ext4 partition with label persistence. The label "persistence" is mandatory.
  

I will have to ask the Wiki editors as to why a FAT partition with boot flag will be a necessity, or whether a FAT partition will be mandatory, or any other partition, like the ext4 partition will also do.

BTW, there is a detailed page in Unix & Linux Stack Exchange with the topic: How to create a Debian live USB with persistence? which is very complex to execute for non-programmers who use computers for purpose other than hard core programming.

[Steve2926]

Ventoy can boot from an ISO, so there is no need to extract files from the ISO.
Ventoy can support Live CDs with a persistence file.
See https://ventoy.net/en/plugin_persistence.html

So basically,
1. Copy the ISO file to the Ventoy drive
2. Extract a suitable .dat file from the zip file link in the article page according to what size you want. For debian you will need a persistence.conf version of the dat file. https://github.com/ventoy/backend/releas...images.zip
3. Copy the .dat file to the Ventoy drive
4. Configure Ventoy json file using Ventoyplugson web gui as shown
5. Boot to ventoy, select ISO, choose persistence file, use a menu option which is for Live persistence. If the grub2 debian boot menu inside the ISO does not include a menu entry for Live CD + persistence, then you will need to press 'e' key and edit the grub2 menu to include the correct key words to enable persistence and then press F10.

[rajibando]

Thank you, Mr. Steve2926, for your kind reply.

If the said page Plugin.persistence . Ventoy  is perused it will be noted that there is no mention of Debian in the Tested ISO list.

Just one line with the entry "Debian" in the script file, `CreatePersistentImg.sh`, as a note (but no Test Certification):

persistence.dat in 1GB size and ext4 filesystem and persistence label. Finally will create a  persistence.conf file inside the persistence.dat. The file only has 1 line "/ union". Some distros have this requirement (e.g. Debian/Kali/CloneZilla...)

I have no limitation of space as to have a 4GB persistent. I have an entire ext4 partition of 150GB for the said purpose of persistent.

I wrote an email to Mr. Paul Wise, Content Administration, Debian Wiki, Debian.Org, on the 1st May 2024, but didn't receive a reply till date.

I have had no problem with Ventoy till date, which is a wonderful package, but I am afraid Debian isn't helpful in this regard.

BTW, have you tested the persistence with Debian ISO?

Best wishes.

[rajibando]

... and a LMDE6 version 'Faye' based on a Debian distribution (bookworm)....

Dear Mr. Eliott, thank you very much for your kind reply. Please carefully peruse my question and posts. I am absolutely focussed on Persistence with Debian Live and none else.

While Ubuntu and your "LMDE6 version 'Faye'" are derived from Debian, I want to remain directly connected the Debian Universe which is huge. Not indirectly by an order of separation, Knoppix did provide me with a great deal of satisfaction, but it was only a niche that ended. So I wouldn't venture out of the known Debian Universe unless Debian fails.

My background is not computer programming or hardware design. Also, I have a narrow band of interest in only certain areas of computing.

I am afraid that your above post would be a distraction for visitors who might solve my problem. I would have requested you to please remove your post, but such a request might be construed as offending, whereas I wouldn't want in any way to offend my fellow members whose insights I seek.

Had you removed your post I would have removed the present one to keep the focus on the objective. But never mind ... let your post and mine remain to further specify my specific need.

[Steve2926]

Which exact Debian ISO are you testing?
Which exact persistence file have you used?

---

Debian IS on that Ventoy page - if you have poor eyesight, use ctrl-F and then type 'debian' to find the word on the page ;-)

sh CreatePersistentImg.sh -l persistence -c persistence.conf ----> persistence.dat in 1GB size and ext4 filesystem and persistence label. Finally will create a
persistence.conf file inside the persistence.dat. The file only has 1 line "/ union". Some distros have this requirement (e.g. Debian/Kali/CloneZilla...)

[rajibando]

I understood the part, "Ventoy brings a new feature here. You have no need to create any partition, no need to add persistent boot parameter. Just put a persistence data file in the 1st partition and tell Ventoy by the json configuration, and that's all." on the page Ventoy Persistence Plugin.

But had difficulty understanding the subsequent lines:
"You can put many different data files for different iso files at a time. You can also share a data file between different iso files as long as it can be supported by the distros. Even you can specify more than one data files to an iso file,"

May be, they could be better understood by itemising them separately:
You can:
a. put many different data files for different iso files at a time
b. share a data file between different iso files as long as it can be supported by the distros
c. specify more than one data files to an iso file

Covers all aspects. But difficult to imagine as an abstraction unless physically applied as a solution.

On the 2nd item on the page " https://ventoy.net/en/plugin_persistence.html", i.e., the Section Titled "2. Json Configuration"
, there is a link to https://ventoy.net/en/plugin_plugson.html, with the note: "Recommend to use VentoyPlugson, a GUI ventoy.json configurator. Refer VentoyPlugson"

the notes elaborate the above scenarios a., b. and c.

The item number 4. "Backend Image File : The backend image file is a disk image with a label. You can directly download the pre-created image files or create it by yourself." also appears clear.

But I find an obstruction in the dat image file sizes. Can't the image files be on a separate partition? Or an entire logical partition as an image file? What are the options?

Could someone kindly illustrate?