Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Saturday, 15 June 2024 07:53:06 BST Dale wrote:
>> Peter Humphrey wrote:
>>> Here's the output of parted -l on my main NVMe disk in case it helps:
>>>
>>> Model: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 250GB (nvme)
>>> Disk /dev/nvme1n1: 250GB
>>> Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
>>> Partition Table: gpt
>>> Disk Flags:
>>>
>>> Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
>>>
>>> 1 1049kB 135MB 134MB
>>> 2 135MB 4296MB 4161MB fat32 boot boot, esp
>>> 3 4296MB 12.9GB 8590MB linux-swap(v1) swap1 swap
>>> 4 12.9GB 34.4GB 21.5GB ext4 rescue
>>> 5 34.4GB 60.1GB 25.8GB ext4 root
>>> 6 60.1GB 112GB 51.5GB ext4 var
>>> 7 112GB 114GB 2147MB ext4 local
>>> 8 114GB 140GB 25.8GB ext4 home
>>> 9 140GB 183GB 42.9GB ext4 common
>>>
>> I'm starting the process here. I'm trying to follow the install guide
>> but this is still not clear to me and the guide is not helping. In your
>> list above, is #2 where /boot is mounted? Is that where I put kernels,
>> init thingys, memtest and other images to boot from?
> Yes, and yes ('tree -L 3 /boot' below). I've had no success with the layout
> recommended in the wiki, because I want a choice of kernels to boot; I've
> shown my boot-time screen here before. In fact, gparted shows the unformatted
> first partition as bios_grub. I don't know why parted didn't show the same
> (it
> does show it now) Gparted screen shot attached.
>
> Thus, I have an unused bios_grub partition, then a FAT32 EFI system
> partition,
> then the rest as usual.
Could you share the boot screen again? I used lilo ages ago then
switched to Grub. Grub is massive but it works well enough. Thing is,
seeing your screen may help me to understand how certain options work.
It may make me use the bootloader you use, which is what by the way?
>> My current layout for a 1TB m.2 stick, typing by hand:
>>
>> 1 8GB EFI System
>> 2 400GB Linux file system for root or /.
>> 3 180GB Linux file system for /var.
>>
>> I'll have /home and such on other drives, spinning rust. I'm just
>> wanting to be sure if my #1 and your #2 is where boot files go, Grub,
>> kernels, init thingys etc. I've always had kernels and such on ext2 but
>> understand efi requires fat32.
> Yes. I believe the EFI spec requires a file system that any OS can access,
> and
> FAT is it, FAT32 usually being recommended.
>
> Then, when it comes to bootctl and installkernel, I ignore the Gentoo advice
> on USE flags because it results in illegible file names and impenetrable
> directories. My version is far simpler to manage, which I do by hand. I don't
> suppose anyone else would use my approach, but I started it long before the
> days of EFI, and it still works for me.
>
> Also, as I've said here before, I dislike the all-things-to-all-men grub, so
> I
> don't use it.
>
> Incidentally, do you really need so much space in root and /var? Mine are
> just
> 40GB each, and not even half full. I don't run a lot of media apps though.
> Still, space is cheap. :)
>
> $ tree -L 3 /boot
> /boot
> ├── config-6.1.67-gentoo-rescue
> ├── config-6.6.21-gentoo
> ├── config-6.6.21-gentoo-rescue
> ├── config-6.6.30-gentoo
> ├── config-6.6.30-gentoo-rescue
> ├── config-6.7.9-gentoo
> ├── config-6.8.5-gentoo-r1
> ├── early_ucode.cpio
> ├── EFI
> │ ├── BOOT
> │ │ └── BOOTX64.EFI
> │ ├── Linux
> │ └── systemd
> │ └── systemd-bootx64.efi
> ├── intel-uc.img
> ├── loader
> │ ├── entries
> │ │ ├── 06-gentoo-rescue-6.6.30.conf
> │ │ ├── 07-gentoo-rescue-6.6.30.nonet.conf
> │ │ ├── 08-gentoo-rescue-6.6.21.conf
> │ │ ├── 09-gentoo-rescue-6.6.21.nonet.conf
> │ │ ├── 30-gentoo-6.6.30.conf
> │ │ ├── 32-gentoo-6.6.30.conf
> │ │ ├── 34-gentoo-6.6.30.conf
> │ │ ├── 40-gentoo-6.6.21.conf
> │ │ ├── 42-gentoo-6.6.21.conf
> │ │ └── 44-gentoo-6.6.21.conf
> │ ├── entries.srel
> │ ├── loader.conf
> │ └── random-seed
> ├── System.map-6.6.21-gentoo
> ├── System.map-6.6.21-gentoo-rescue
> ├── System.map-6.6.30-gentoo
> ├── System.map-6.6.30-gentoo-rescue
> ├── System.map-6.7.9-gentoo
> ├── System.map-6.8.5-gentoo-r1
> ├── vmlinuz-6.1.67-gentoo-rescue
> ├── vmlinuz-6.6.21-gentoo
> ├── vmlinuz-6.6.21-gentoo-rescue
> ├── vmlinuz-6.6.30-gentoo
> ├── vmlinuz-6.6.30-gentoo-rescue
> ├── vmlinuz-6.7.9-gentoo
> └── vmlinuz-6.8.5-gentoo-r1
>
OK. So, I mount /boot and put my kernels, config files and all the
things I usually put there as usual. Then I have a efi directory under
/boot that the efi tools use. I only created one partition so I assume
when I boot it will find the efi directory within /boot??? If this is
the case, I don't need to redo my partitions. I already started a OS
backup but oh well. ;-)
Like you, I keep old kernels around too. Eventually, I clean out old
ones but I like to keep at least a couple around just in case one goes
wonky. At least I can boot a older kernel to fix things. I also do
things the manual way. I copy my kernels over with names I like, copy
the config file over with a matching name as well. I do let dracut
build the init thingy. I do edit the name to match the kernel so that
grub sees it. So, you not alone doing it the manual way, as much as I
can anyway.
Thanks much.
Dale
:-) :-)
