If you feel like testing, here's a modified refractasnapshot script that handles editing the initramfs better. I've tested it in a VM with encrypted lvm and then again in the same system after adding amd64-microcode and intel-microcode. I did this in daedalus, which is using zstd compression for the initramfs. Seems to work fine.

Copy the file, make it executable and run it from your current directory:

sudo ./refractasnapshot -d

(or as root without the sudo)
https://git.devuan.org/devuan/refractas … tasnapshot

Just because someone posts something on the devuan forum does not make it the official word of devuan. Users get to speak for themselves.

I'm confused about what the problem is with your computer. You said you installed the latest Refracta, but then you're talking about kernels 6.5 and 6.6. The latest Refracta release is based on Devuan Daedalus, and it has a 6.1 kernel. I see that daedalus-backports has a 6.5 kernel but not a 6.6 kernel, so maybe the reason the 6.6 kernel doesn't work is because it wasn't built for the release that you're running.

The Refracta iso not booting in VM is weird. Check the sha256sum to make sure the download was good. But that doesn't explain the other failures.

The script output suggests that you have a resume file in your initramfs. (remove_resume=yes) but I don't see a corresponding 'rm -f ...resume' in the section under "edit_initrd".  Run lsinitramfs | grep resume $initrd where $initrd is the full path to the initrd in the excalibur iso. If you mount the iso, it will be in $mountpoint/live/initrd.img. Or you could retrieve it from the build host (assuming you set save_work=yes in refractasnapshot.conf). It would be in /home/work/iso/live/initrd.img.

You could also look in the build system for /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume and see what's in it. If it exists, make sure it says RESUME=none inside or delete it, and then run update-initramfs -u You only need the resume file if you want to resume from disk hibernation, and you usually don't want that in your snapshot.

Are you using a custom kernel? If so, compare your kernel config file to the one for the stock kernel to see if something is missing.

It may be something in the way the isos were made. I boot isos in qemu and vbox all the time. The only thing that doesn't work well is if the VM is set to do a uefi boot. In that case, I have to go into the efi setup and find the actual file to boot.

Take a look at /var/log/refractasnapshot.log or let me look at it.

Hi and welcome to Devuan!

We only have around a dozen people maintaining forked packages, and that load keeps getting bigger. If you ever get the urge to start developing again, it would probably be easy for you to find something to do around here.

From what I've seen, migrations from debian to devuan are a crap-shoot. I think it depends on what all you have installed. Upgrades and fresh installs are a lot more reliable.

In general, I think devuan is more like debian than debian is. I think you'll feel at home here.

I don't think it's normal behavior, but I'm not sure. My lxqt is minimal. I can't tell you off the top of my head which parts I left out, but I do have lxqt-powermanagement and lxqt-config-monitor. I do not have xscreensaver installed. I'm using openbox as the window manager.

lxqt-powermanagement is running. Watching top in an ssh session from another machine, I did not see lxqt-config-monitor run when the screen blanked. Screen blanking is set in the power manager settings. Nothing shows up in ~/.xsession-errors when the screen goes blank or when it comes back on.

Here's what I have installed with lxqt in the package name. Let me know if you think of something else you want me to check.

ii  liblxqt-globalkeys-ui1:i386        1.2.0-1                                i386         daemon used to register global keyboard shortcuts (ui files)
ii  liblxqt-globalkeys1:i386           1.2.0-1                                i386         daemon used to register global keyboard shortcuts (shared libs)
ii  liblxqt1:i386                      1.2.0-8                                i386         Shared libraries for LXQt desktop environment (libs)
ii  lxqt-config                        1.2.0-1+b1                             i386         LXQt system settings center
ii  lxqt-globalkeys                    1.2.0-1                                i386         daemon used to register global keyboard shortcuts (appl.)
ii  lxqt-notificationd                 1.2.0-1                                i386         LXQt notification daemon
ii  lxqt-panel                         1.2.1-1                                i386         LXQt desktop panel
ii  lxqt-policykit                     1.2.0-1                                i386         LXQt authentication agent for PolicyKit
ii  lxqt-powermanagement               1.2.0-1                                i386         power management module for LXQt
ii  lxqt-qtplugin:i386                 1.2.0-3+b2                             i386         LXQt system integration plugin for Qt
ii  lxqt-session                       1.2.0-3                                i386         session manager component for LXQt
ii  lxqt-system-theme                  1.2.0-1                                all          System theme for LXQt
ii  lxqt-themes                        1.2.0-1                                all          Themes for LXQt

Yes, it's isohybrid. I installed grub-efi-amd64-signed and shim-signed, which pulled in a couple other things. I assume the kernel is signed because there is no kernel package linux-image-*-signed, but there is an -unsigned kernel package. I did not install the -unsigned.

Edit:
When I get to fast internet, I'll download debian-live to compare.

A friend was having an overheating problem with her computer. CPU activity was always high. She typically had more than a dozen tabs open in firefox.

I added NoScript and showed her how to use it. CPU activity and temperatures dropped immediately.

If I make a desktop-live iso with signed grub and kernel, will you test it for me? I am unable to test secure boot.
I could have it ready in a day or two and post a link here.

Thanks.

Asking to see benchmarks to support performance claims if they're not already provided is not harassment. It's standard procedure in all sciences.

There's also a devuan-bugs mailing list, but it's not archived like some of the others.

If someone wants to see the latest bug reports without joining a mail list, you can see the archived messages at
https://lists.dyne.org/lurker/list/devuan-dev.en.html