how do I delete leftover .pet.specs files?--Solved

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Monsie
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how do I delete leftover .pet.specs files?--Solved

#1 Post by Monsie »

In Wary Puppy 5.3 I have a few leftover files from having un-installed various Pet packages that for whatever reason I decided not to keep. I have tried a number of ways to delete these files but w/o success:
  • I have used the gui to right-click and delete,
    I have dragged the files (kicking and screaming) to the trash bin :wink:
    I have used the remove command at the terminal,
    I have emptied the contents of the files, saved them, then tried to delete them,
    I have tried changing the permissions for each offending file,
    I have renamed the files with the .txt extension then deleted them,
    I even compiled Bleachbit for Wary Puppy 5.3 and attempted to shred the files
Despite my efforts, each time I re-boot the files re-appear. Not only that, but the files that I renamed with the .txt extension instead of the .pet.specs extension are returning also :shock:

I have searched the Forum and Googled for a solution to this issue, but without any luck so far... I may be wrong, but I don't remember having this problem with other Puppies or versions of Wary...

Help, Help, Help...

Thanks,
Monsie
Last edited by Monsie on Tue 02 Oct 2012, 06:49, edited 1 time in total.
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

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rcrsn51
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#2 Post by rcrsn51 »

Where are these files located?

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Monsie
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how do I permanently delete leftover .pet.specs files?

#3 Post by Monsie »

Hi rcrsn51,

These files are in the root directory: / not /root

Since I am running pupmode 13 my save file is on a usb flash drive. Recently, I discovered that my Wary Puppy CD was corrupted, and had to burn a new image... I am wondering if my save file could be messed up also.

Monsie
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

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rcrsn51
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Re: how do I permanently delete leftover .pet.specs files?

#4 Post by rcrsn51 »

Monsie wrote:Since I am running pupmode 13 my save file is on a usb flash drive.
IIRC, the installation of PETs works differently in this mode. The software is written directly into the permanent savefile layer so as not to blow up the temporary RAM layer. That might explain why you can't make these files disappear.

But if this is new behaviour, then you may have some kind of corruption. I will set up a Wary 5.3 flash drive and check.

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rcrsn51
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#5 Post by rcrsn51 »

I tested this with a flash drive setup of Way 522 and could NOT duplicate the problem. I installed some PETS, both before and after creating the savefile. In no cases were there any leftover pet.spec files in /.

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SFR
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#6 Post by SFR »

I'm on PUPMODE=13, Slacko 5.3.3.

I too have pet.specs file in /, but the content is just:
pet.specs wrote:petget-20120418|petget|20120418||Setup|696K||petget-20120418.pet|+wget|Puppy Package Manager||||
I guess it's because the first pet ever I've installed was the latest Shinobar's petget-20120418.pet.
Then I installed some other .pets, but (as you can see) this pet.specs file is no longer in use since that.
Probably different Puppies = different petgets = /pet.specs or not

Regarding deletion:
I wasn't able to do it directly from /
...but I did delete it from /initrd/pup_ro1/pet.specs and (after reboot) the one from / disappeared as well.

Just my 2 cents, hope it'll help somehow...

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Monsie
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how do I delete leftover .pet.specs files?--Solved

#7 Post by Monsie »

Thank you rcrsn51 and SFR... I really appreciate your help.

SFR: I tried your approach to deleting my stubborn .pet.specs files and it worked! :D I guess that is because these files were part of the initial ram disk system, and so deleting the copies of those files in the root directory was a useless exercise.

rcrsn51: I appreciate that you tested this scenario. Given your feedback, I think I will probably create a new savefile for Wary, because I think there is a good chance that my current savefile could be messed up somewhat.

That said, I've been doing some researching, trying to understand Puppy a little better.... From what I gather, early versions of Puppy installed packages in ram, then later copied this information to the save file. With the Puppy Linux release notes v3.00 Barry K writes:
However, Puppy 3.00 has something new. PETget, the PET package manager installs packages direct to the 'pup_save' file, not into RAM. Thus, you can install big packages and they will not chew up RAM space and you won't have to reboot.
Other package installation systems (such as for DotPup packages) do not yet have this feature.
So, as Puppy Linux evolved, Pets were installed directly to the save file.

Many of the Pet packages, I had installed were older, and maybe this explains why some pet specs files were found in /initrd pathway. Other newer Pets do not leave the specs files here, but usually somewhere along the installation path e.g. /usr/share... which in turn is saved directly.

I am not sure if I have this completely right. Probably my sense of understanding here is rather limited. When I start looking at the development of Puppy Linux under the hood, I find that trying to follow its evolution is just a bit complicated... :?

Thanks again, and I will mark this issue as solved.

Monsie
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

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