Hello.
I want to install the Fedora 42 image, but I want to know 100% what exactly was changed there.
Who can suggest complex solutions or methods that will allow me to see the difference between the original image and the modified one ?
(talking about the already installed Fedora 42 system).
I accidentally found out that my VPS provider gives modified images for installing the system and they are different from the original Linux images.
The provider does not provide information about changes in the image.
I would gladly use the original Fedora image, but for this I have to rent storage from the provider and pay for its rent for 1 month, which is not practical for the sake of one OS installation.
If you loop mount both images you should be able to identify where changes were made. Hopefully the changes didn’t include the squashfs.img file.
Your “already installed Fedora 42 system” must have some storage space where you can download the unmodifed image, or maybe you can copy both images to a local Fedora system.
Can you tell me more about how to do this?
Because I don’t quite understand, you say that I have to mount two images, the one given by the provider and the official one.
But I can’t do this, because I don’t have the provider’s image file, it is installed automatically when selected in the server control panel.
I also don’t understand how exactly I should make the comparison.
No, you can upload your own image there and install it.
But to have somewhere to save this image, you need to buy storage from the provider, and for this I have to pay rent for 1 month. Even if it costs only 5 dollars, I am not happy with it at all, then I will have to cancel the subscription.
I only need to install the system once and that’s it.
VPS providers typically have a recovery console.
It can be used to download and write custom images.
Sometimes it requires to manually configure network.
In addition, providers like Linode allow storage splitting.
A smaller part can be used to write the installer image.
Then you can boot a specific partition with direct boot.
Keep in mind that using a VPS expects you to trust its provider.
They have full access to your storage, memory, and traffic.
I recently read about this method, but it was said that it is not suitable for all Linux installation images, like the Fedora image cannot be launched this way. Sorry, I don’t remember the details now.
This way definitely works assuming that you know what you are doing.
I used the recovery console to download and write an official Fedora netinstall image and then performed a custom installation.
You can also set up SSH in the recovery console and upload own custom disk image, but make sure to specify the correct boot method.