Oupgrade will swap user files?

Jun Cao

It seems every time I oupgrade the firmware, the installed software and my files are swapped. Any method to avoid this?

Kit Bishop

@Jun Cao As I understand it, when you do an oupgrade only files within the /etc directory are preserved, all else will get removed/replaced.

It is also my understanding that this will be dealt with in a future release.

However, I also note that the file /etc/sysupgrade.conf contains the following:

## This file contains files and directories that should
## be preserved during an upgrade.

# /etc/example.conf
# /etc/openvpn

I intend to experiment with this.
Would any of the Omega people care to comment?

Jun Cao

Thanks for reply, @Kit-Bishop . I'll take an experiment for next upgrade, since I've already upgraded to the latest version.

Kit Bishop

@Jun-Cao I can confirm that the trick with /etc/sysupgrade.conf works
I did the following:

Created two directories in /
- /testa
- /testb
Changed /etc/sysupgrade.conf to have line:
- /testa/
Ran oupgrade -force
Note that the -force option forces an upgrade to occur even if it isn't needed
Checked the directories after the upgrade:
- /testa still existed - it was named in /etc/sysupgrade.conf
- /testb no longer existed - it was not named in /etc/sysupgrade.conf

Chuck Parro

I made a directory called /home. I put /home in etc/sysupgrade.conf but it still got erased on oupgrade -force. Does this only work inside of /etc or am i missing something? I checked with openwrt references and couldn't find a solution.

Kit Bishop

@Chuck-Parro Not sure why you should be having a problem. I have two directories in my etc/sysupgrade.conf file and they are getting preserved over an upgrade.

Are you sure you have entry for the directory, not just a file.
My understanding, though I haven't checked in detail is that a file you want to be preserved should be named without a trailing / character: e.g. /myfile and that a directory to be preserved should have a trailing / character: e.g. /mydir/
That's what's working for me. Perhaps the Omega guys could confirm.

Chuck Parro

I have tried every variation i can think of to get it to work but no luck. Is it possible that something changed in the latest upgrade?

Kit Bishop

@Chuck-Parro Sorry to hear you are having problems with this. It has all been working fine with me.
Could you post a copy of your /etc/sysupgrade.conf file from your Omega so I (or someone else) could have a look at it.

Chuck Parro

I found my error. When i used the built in editor to add the lines to sysupgrade.conf i didn't hit 'enter' after the last line to signify eol. I noticed it when i used cat to display the file as i got ready to post another message. Sorry to waste your time but thank you for helping.

Chuck Parro

I was wrong. The dir only gets saved by sysupgrade.conf if it has something in it. If the dir i add is empty it doesn't get saved. When i put some dummy file into it it works. Does this make sense or is there something else i am missing.

Kit Bishop

@Chuck-Parro Glad to hear you got something sorted. Interesting to know about the issue with empty directories - I'll see what I get with that case.

Kit Bishop

@Chuck-Parro I agree with you regarding empty directories not getting preserved.

Just created two directories under /
One I left empty, one I put a file in
Named both in /etc/sysupgrade.conf
Did an oupgrade -force
The directory with a file was preserved, the empty directory was removed

@Boken-Lin I'd say this was a bug that probably should be fixed. Should I raise a ticket under https://github.com/OnionIoT/Onion-Console/issues ?

Chuck Parro

Thanks Kit.

Lazar Demin

@Kit-Bishop that's odd... not really a Console issue though, I'll look into it.

Lazar Demin

@Kit-Bishop @Chuck-Parro
ok I've looked into the mechanism that preserves files noted in /etc/sysupgrade.conf, it looks for files in the directories specified.

If you want to preserve a directory (i presume for mount points?), make a dummy file in it. The dummy file can be empty.

Kit Bishop

@Lazar-Demin Yes, thanks - that pretty much matches my experience.
And you are right about wanting to preserve mount point directories.
I name 2 directories in /etc/sysupgrade.conf that i want preserved:

My USB mount point
My /root directory - that's where I put files I'm currently working on and testing and I don't want them wiped over an upgrade - though that obviously isn't an issue if /root is empty at the time of upgrade since it gets re-created on the upgrade

Lazar Demin

@Kit-Bishop yep, that's exactly my reasoning with the /root directory

The next firmware release will have /etc/sysupgrade.conf updated to include /root
coming very soon!!!

Kit Bishop

@Lazar-Demin Cool - thanks