Flashback - Edit ROM, and flash images to ROM!

Alright, some disclaimers before I continue:

• This does not edit the actual ROM, it creates a virtual drive which acts as the proxy for the ROM, therefore tricking programs and the OS into thinking that the new directory is the actual ROM. Pretty complex.
• This means that the altered ROM is reset at each reboot, and each instance of ROM is "sandboxed" to each individual computer. Security and safety are still retained.
• This also means that ROM is not read-only anymore, and you can edit it after flashing an image. I'm not sure whether to call this a bug or a feature.
• This program can only be called after CraftOS boots, or the "startup" file is executed. Using this utility to change how autorun works will not work, full stop. (It's not possible to do it software-wise, you have to manually add a resource pack to do that.)
• This is still very buggy, as it deals with low-level stuff.

I think the important stuff is out of the way, so lets get to how to use it:

flashback [<imagepath>] [-s]

Calling flashback on it's own will just make the ROM editable. Adding -s will make the new ROM blank. Not recommended.
Adding <imagepath> will extract the RAMDisk exported image to the new ROM, and will overwrite anything.

Examples:

flashback

Makes ROM editable.

flashback -s

Makes ROM blank, still allowing changes.

flashback image

Creates a new ROM using contents of the old ROM, and then extracts the image on top of that.

flashback image -s

Creates a ROM only containing contents of the image.

Example ROM images
Ayy
Testing the water here, adds two new programs called "ayylmao" and "nicememe". I'll leave you to figure out what they do.

Download:

pastebin get DBvkcKUY ayy

To flash to ROM:

flashback ayy

Warning:
Read this before you download, please.
Calling flashback with the -s argument will erase non-user-created programs, such as cd and dir. Use this if you want to create the ROM from scratch, or you know what you are doing.
If you run into the issue of not being able to do anything, rebooting fixes the problem.

And, for the love of Christopher Nolan, DO NOT RUN FLASHBACK TWICE (inbetween every reboot). It will instantly crash, for reasons unknown. This is the highest priority to fix, as it could potentially be the tip of the bug iceberg.

Assuming you've read all the warning signs and understand that here be dragons, this is the installer.

pastebin run kvpKm0Tp

Go nuts. Use it to create that kernel you've always wanted to make, or use -s to break cd just for the hell of it. Maybe you want to show that pesky parallels API who's boss, or maybe you want to cause more bugs when you try to fix them. In the end, I am not liable for any damages you cause, be it software, hardware or property.

Github Link

Updated to 1.0.2, fixes the bug with using an image and -s at the same time, and also fixes another bug related to loading images.
I've updated the OP with a test image I've been using.

i dont really see a good use for this atm, but pretty cool anyways! ;)/>

One reason it'll stop working if you run it twice is that FS will be patched twice, possibly creating a conflict?!

This is quite cool. I probably won't use it but I'll take some ideas from your vfs with the stuff I want to use it for.
I'm going to be making a sandboxed temporary login system for 'public' computers on a server. It'll download data from github/pastebin then run it in a ramdisk. As I need to override the whole root FS, I won't be able to use your vfs.

Quite cool, could you add it to my app store? go to my profile :D/>

DannySMc, on 03 March 2015 - 04:04 PM said:

Quite cool, could you add it to my app store? go to my profile :D/>

I don't believe there is any use for it outside being a proof-of-concept API, and especially not since no-one else has made any images that can be flashed.

When I get some free time, I will create an image and post it here. :D/>