[Fedora-livecd-list] LiveUSB overlay size is smaller than expected

[S'orlok Reaves]

Hello,
   I'm using the LiveUSB feature of the LiveCDs, with the overlay feature to persist data. I have to say, I'm really enjoying the portability. However, I'm unable to install all the packages I would like to, due to a mysterious fact: the overlay file is way smaller than I created it to be.

The details:
--------------
The USB stick: 2.0GB Imation, listed as 1.88GiB in gparted (no bad sectors). Gparted also lists 548MB used, but that's inaccurate since the OS is squished.

The ISO: a minimal install, 126 MB, expands to (presumably) ~500 MB at boot

The install: I used "livecd-iso-to-disk --overlay-size-mb 1600 F10min.iso /deb/sdb1"
I did this from an existing Fedora 10 install, and there were no problems or warnings. I installed from scratch seven times.

Running "df -h" on a clean boot of the usb shows me:
/dev/mapper/live-rw   741M (size) 715M(used) 20M(avail) (mounted as /)
....and several tmpfs's I'm using for /var/run and yum's cache

Running "du -sh --exclude=proc /" shows a total of 698M used. This makes sense, and is close enough to df's proclaimed 715 MB that I accept it. (I know there were reported issues with df's accuracy on overlays).

Either way, the overlay is clearly full; trying to install things with yum fails with an "xxx mb needed" message.

Basically, it comes down to this:
Expected overlay size: 1600 MB
Reported overlay size:  741 MB

...and with my image loaded at 500MB, I'm restricted to 140MB of new data.


Has anyone experienced something similar? Or, did I do something wrong with the flash to USB? Or, can someone at _least_ tell me how to re-create the overlay at 1600 MB? I'd really appreciate any help, as I quite enjoy carrying Fedora around with me, and abiword won't fit in the remaining 20 MB.

Thanks in advance; I've scanned the mailing list archives while trying to debug this problem and this list seemed both helpful and polite. :)

All the best,
-->Seth