TiVo won't boot with LogsNull hack

[Steverino]

I've read here that people have lost all their hacks when their logs files took up too much space and their VAR directory was automatically deleted. I also read that the LogsNull hack prevents this from happening. See http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/sh...60&postcount=3

I have a backup of my TiVo and of my VAR folder, but I don't want to worry about having to delete logs or having to replace the lost files(if I don't remember to delete logs). LogsNull looks like a good solution.

After installing it, my TiVo would not boot. I found that the modified rc.sysinit that contains the "runsyslog=false" line was the culprit. I had carefully followed the instructions and I've made sure that the re.sysinit, fixsub.tcl and logsNull files all have the executable attribute set. I can switch to my backed up rc.sysinit file and the TiVo boots just fine. I've posted my modified rc.sysinit file at
http://members.cox.net/stevensmith/rc.sysinit.logsnull

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why my TiVo won't boot with this hack? My TiVo is a Philips stand alone. I've installed Jeff Keegan's "Hacking TiVo" CD hacks and I have a CacheCard. I've also upgraded to a single 160GB hard drive using the LBA48 kernel. Everything else runs great. Perhaps one of my hacks is not compatible with LogsNull. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve Smith

[BubbleLamp]

No idea what you're screwing up, but LogsNull only needs to be run once, it doesn't have to execute on every boot.

[Steverino]

No idea what you're screwing up, but LogsNull only needs to be run once, it doesn't have to execute on every boot.

That may be, but it appears something has to occur with each boot. Doesn't the rc.sysinit file run when the TiVo boots? Why does the rc.sysinit file have to contain a line that says:
runsyslog=false
It is this line that is causing the problem. I can remove the line and the TiVo boots and runs just fine, but this line is required by the LogsNull hack.

Steve Smith

[BubbleLamp]

That may be, but it appears something has to occur with each boot. Doesn't the rc.sysinit file run when the TiVo boots? Why does the rc.sysinit file have to contain a line that says:
runsyslog=false
It is this line that is causing the problem. I can remove the line and the TiVo boots and runs just fine, but this line is required by the LogsNull hack.

Steve Smith

It shouldn't have anything to do with the LogsNull. Here is the entire script

#!/bin/bash
for foo in /var/log/* ; do
  rm -f "$foo"
  if [ "$1" != "touch" ]; then
    mknod -m666 "$foo" c 1 3
  else
    touch "$foo"
  fi
done

[Steverino]

Then why do the instructions have you modify rc.sysinit file? See line 4 at http://www.angelfire.com/darkside/wa...d.htm#LogsNull

Are there different versions of LogsNull? Or perhaps you are using a different method for getting rid of log files? I've done several searches for "LogsNull" and they all have the same instructions that say insert the line "runsyslog=false" in the rc.sysinit file before the "# Set the path comment".

[BubbleLamp]

Then why do the instructions have you modify rc.sysinit file? See line 4 at http://www.angelfire.com/darkside/wa...d.htm#LogsNull

Are there different versions of LogsNull? Or perhaps you are using a different method for getting rid of log files? I've done several searches for "LogsNull" and they all have the same instructions that say insert the line "runsyslog=false" in the rc.sysinit file before the "# Set the path comment".

I have no idea what those directions are. The default rc.sysinit file already has these two lines:

runsyslog=false
export RUNSYSLOG

except of course it would say true by default. The lines are in my rc file and the system runs fine.

[Steverino]

I have no idea what those directions are. The default rc.sysinit file already has these two lines:

runsyslog=false
export RUNSYSLOG

except of course it would say true by default. The lines are in my rc file and the system runs fine.

Those lines are not in my default rc.sysinit file. The only mention of "RUNSYSLOG" is below:

if [ "$runsyslog" = false ]; then 
  echo "No logging daemons started..."
else
  echo "Starting logging daemons..."

Perhaps

runsyslog=false
export RUNSYSLOG

was removed by one of my hacks. Or, perhaps one of you hacks added these lines. My rc.sysinit file is posted at http://members.cox.net/stevensmith/rc.sysinit.logsnull. This file has the "runsyslog=false" line inserted and that line keeps the TiVo from booting. Can anyone explain the discrepancies between BubbleLamp's rcsysinit file and mine which follows the LogsNull instructions. Obviously something is wrong with my LogNull installation while yours works, but I'm just following the instructions, while your rc.sysinit file appears to deviate from those instrucitons. Should I try something different?

Steve Smith