[installer image] grub-install efi fails getting canonical path to /boot/efi on dos-formatted disk

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5 participants
  • Bengt Richter
  • Leo Famulari
  • Ludovic Courtès
  • Mathieu Othacehe
  • pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)
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Submitted by
pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)
Severity
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pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote on 19 Apr 2021 11:29
(address . bug-guix@gnu.org)
20210419092928.p426llfdlvb5ay3z@pelzflorian.localdomain
When installing from the Guix install image, grub-install fails on my
x86_64 ASRock Beebox PC:

guix system: error: '/gnu/store/hsc3gsqbxkl64nx38sf2fgs2fxzbpr0i-grub-efi-2.04/sbin/grub-install --boot-directory /mnt/boot --bootloader-id=Guix --efi-directory /boot/efi' exited with status 1; output follows:

Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
/gnu/store/hsc3gsqbxkl64nx38sf2fgs2fxzbpr0i-grub-efi-2.04/sbin/grub-install: error: failed to get canonical path of `/boot/efi'.

I let the Guix installer (git master commit
fef2f08bc640f78cc0a86fc7be3eccbc07b5e98c) auto-partition my entire
disk without encryption.

“fdisk -l /dev/sda” shows:

Disk /dev/sda: 238.49 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors
[…]
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xd0416d83

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 2048 7811071 7009024 3.7G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2 * 7011072 500117583 492306432 234.8G 83 Linux

Regards,
Florian
P
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pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote on 19 Apr 2021 13:01
(address . 47889@debbugs.gnu.org)
20210419110049.pua6fewptt6uzxge@pelzflorian.localdomain
On Mon, Apr 19, 2021 at 11:29:54AM +0200, pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote:
Toggle quote (3 lines)
> When installing from the Guix install image, grub-install fails on my
> x86_64 ASRock Beebox PC:

This error occurred on multiple install attempts, but apparently the
last one broke my UEFI; the Beebox can no longer output anything on
the screen. I will need some time until I can jumper the mainboard.

Regards,
Florian
L
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Leo Famulari wrote on 19 Apr 2021 19:27
(name . pelzflorian (Florian Pelz))(address . pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de)(address . 47889@debbugs.gnu.org)
YH29i4tzlk1Ft9zQ@jasmine.lan
On Mon, Apr 19, 2021 at 11:29:54AM +0200, pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote:
Toggle quote (3 lines)
> When installing from the Guix install image, grub-install fails on my
> x86_64 ASRock Beebox PC:

Can you be specific about which install image you used? For example, can
you provide the URL of the image?
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pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote on 19 Apr 2021 22:19
(name . Leo Famulari)(address . leo@famulari.name)(address . 47889@debbugs.gnu.org)
20210419200342.pkqexpuiz5dq5ury@pelzflorian.localdomain
On Mon, Apr 19, 2021 at 01:27:39PM -0400, Leo Famulari wrote:
Toggle quote (7 lines)
> On Mon, Apr 19, 2021 at 11:29:54AM +0200, pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote:
> > When installing from the Guix install image, grub-install fails on my
> > x86_64 ASRock Beebox PC:
>
> Can you be specific about which install image you used? For example, can
> you provide the URL of the image?

This one:


Same thing happened on an image manually created by running

./pre-inst-env guix system image -t iso9660 gnu/system/install.scm

on commit fef2f08bc640f78cc0a86fc7be3eccbc07b5e98c (after fixing it by
removing the broken “vi” entry from po/packages/LINGUAS which Julien
had only fixed in a later commit).

Regards,
Florian

P.S. I can test again, the PC works again after clearing the CMOS.
L
L
Leo Famulari wrote on 20 Apr 2021 02:26
(no subject)
(address . control@debbugs.gnu.org)
YH4fo2AAaaQqRdE9@jasmine.lan
block 47297 with 47889
L
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Ludovic Courtès wrote on 22 Apr 2021 15:28
Re: bug#47889: [installer image] grub-install efi fails getting canonical path to /boot/efi on dos-formatted disk
(name . pelzflorian (Florian Pelz))(address . pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de)(address . 47889@debbugs.gnu.org)
878s5a1m9k.fsf@gnu.org
Hi Florian,

"pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> skribis:

Toggle quote (23 lines)
> When installing from the Guix install image, grub-install fails on my
> x86_64 ASRock Beebox PC:
>
> guix system: error: '/gnu/store/hsc3gsqbxkl64nx38sf2fgs2fxzbpr0i-grub-efi-2.04/sbin/grub-install --boot-directory /mnt/boot --bootloader-id=Guix --efi-directory /boot/efi' exited with status 1; output follows:
>
> Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
> /gnu/store/hsc3gsqbxkl64nx38sf2fgs2fxzbpr0i-grub-efi-2.04/sbin/grub-install: error: failed to get canonical path of `/boot/efi'.
>
> I let the Guix installer (git master commit
> fef2f08bc640f78cc0a86fc7be3eccbc07b5e98c) auto-partition my entire
> disk without encryption.
>
> “fdisk -l /dev/sda” shows:
>
> Disk /dev/sda: 238.49 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors
> […]
> Disklabel type: dos
> Disk identifier: 0xd0416d83
>
> Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
> /dev/sda1 2048 7811071 7009024 3.7G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
> /dev/sda2 * 7011072 500117583 492306432 234.8G 83 Linux

There’s no EFI (vfat) partition here. Is it an EFI machine?

Is /boot/efi mounted when you boot the installation image?

If it were EFI, it would be a GPT partition table, not a DOS one.

It seems to me there’s confusion here: the generated config file seems
to be using ‘grub-efi-bootloader’, but the machine is actually not EFI.
WDYT?

Thanks,
Ludo’.
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pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote on 22 Apr 2021 16:38
(name . Ludovic Courtès)(address . ludo@gnu.org)(address . 47889@debbugs.gnu.org)
20210422143651.fwdrrqmcw225eh23@pelzflorian.localdomain
On Thu, Apr 22, 2021 at 03:28:39PM +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
Toggle quote (4 lines)
> There’s no EFI (vfat) partition here. Is it an EFI machine?
>
> Is /boot/efi mounted when you boot the installation image?

No because there is no EFI partition. If I create one and restart the
installer, then it is *not* mounted either, only /mnt/boot/efi later
during the install. (I believe since the installer is installed as on
an external medium, it does not need an EFI partition.)

I had booted the install image via UEFI boot and had expected auto
partitioning and the default configuration to do the right thing.

Toggle quote (2 lines)
> If it were EFI, it would be a GPT partition table, not a DOS one.

Thank you for explaining. If Guix defaults require GPT on EFI
(according to
some computers apparently really do not support dos partition tables
for the EFI system partition), then I think
gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm should disallow selecting a DOS
scheme when auto partitioning the entire disk.

Regards,
Florian
L
L
Ludovic Courtès wrote on 23 Apr 2021 12:39
(name . pelzflorian (Florian Pelz))(address . pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de)
87im4ds2su.fsf@gnu.org
Hi Florian,

(Cc: Mathieu.)

"pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> skribis:

Toggle quote (13 lines)
> On Thu, Apr 22, 2021 at 03:28:39PM +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
>> There’s no EFI (vfat) partition here. Is it an EFI machine?
>>
>> Is /boot/efi mounted when you boot the installation image?
>
> No because there is no EFI partition. If I create one and restart the
> installer, then it is *not* mounted either, only /mnt/boot/efi later
> during the install. (I believe since the installer is installed as on
> an external medium, it does not need an EFI partition.)
>
> I had booted the install image via UEFI boot and had expected auto
> partitioning and the default configuration to do the right thing.

The installer determines whether it’s doing a UEFI installation like so:

(define (efi-installation?)
"Return #t if an EFI installation should be performed, #f otherwise."
(file-exists? "/sys/firmware/efi"))

It uses that to determine whether to create an EFI System Partition
(ESP) and whether to use ‘grub-efi-bootloader’.

Did it create an ESP in your case?

I’m not entirely sure how it decides between GPT and DOS, though;
Mathieu?

We should add UEFI installation tests using OVMF.

Thanks,
Ludo’.
P
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pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote on 23 Apr 2021 13:12
(name . Ludovic Courtès)(address . ludo@gnu.org)
20210423111211.jauxzqx6uqh5c76e@pelzflorian.localdomain
On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 12:39:13PM +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
Toggle quote (11 lines)
> The installer determines whether it’s doing a UEFI installation like so:
>
> (define (efi-installation?)
> "Return #t if an EFI installation should be performed, #f otherwise."
> (file-exists? "/sys/firmware/efi"))
>
> It uses that to determine whether to create an EFI System Partition
> (ESP) and whether to use ‘grub-efi-bootloader’.
>
> Did it create an ESP in your case?

No, not on a DOS layout, only on GPT layout. I think DOS should not
be allowed in auto partitioning (which would be the safer option) or
an ESP should be created on DOS as well.

Regards,
Florian
B
B
Bengt Richter wrote on 24 Apr 2021 05:24
(name . Ludovic Courtès)(address . ludo@gnu.org)
20210424032425.GA18504@LionPure
Hi Ludo, Florian,

On +2021-04-23 12:39:13 +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
Toggle quote (29 lines)
> Hi Florian,
>
> (Cc: Mathieu.)
>
> "pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" <pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de> skribis:
>
> > On Thu, Apr 22, 2021 at 03:28:39PM +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
> >> There’s no EFI (vfat) partition here. Is it an EFI machine?
> >>
> >> Is /boot/efi mounted when you boot the installation image?
> >
> > No because there is no EFI partition. If I create one and restart the
> > installer, then it is *not* mounted either, only /mnt/boot/efi later
> > during the install. (I believe since the installer is installed as on
> > an external medium, it does not need an EFI partition.)
> >
> > I had booted the install image via UEFI boot and had expected auto
> > partitioning and the default configuration to do the right thing.
>
> The installer determines whether it’s doing a UEFI installation like so:
>
> (define (efi-installation?)
> "Return #t if an EFI installation should be performed, #f otherwise."
> (file-exists? "/sys/firmware/efi"))
>
> It uses that to determine whether to create an EFI System Partition
> (ESP) and whether to use ‘grub-efi-bootloader’.
>

How does that work if you want to mount an external USB disk as the target
of your installation partitioning and formatting etc, but which may be intended
for another laptop with a different BIOS booting in a different mode than your
installer was booted into? (Maybe plug the finished USB disk into another laptop?
USB C3.1 is fast enough if connected to a good SSD cassette).

I.e., suppose your installer machine was booted UEFI but you want the target disk
to be legacy MBR booted on a laptop that can only do that, loading grub2 as embedded
in the target disk? Or vice versa?

I'd like an interactive install, maybe selecting a target disk something like
Toggle snippet (11 lines)
$ select choice in $(lsblk -o kname,model,serial|tr -s ' ' _); do break;done
1) KNAME_MODEL_SERIAL 6) dm-0_
2) sdb_Ultra_Fit_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 7) nvme0n1_Samsung_SSD_970_EVO_Plus_500GB_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
3) sdb1_ 8) nvme0n1p1_
4) sdb2_ 9) nvme0n1p2_
5) sr0_USB_SCSI_CD-ROM_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
#? 2
$ echo "$choice"
sdb_Ultra_Fit_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

so then the installation script can continue and mount the associated disk device
Toggle snippet (4 lines)
$ echo "$choice"|cut -d _ -f1
sdb

It seems like the /sys/... file system that would show whether the disk is EFI-bootable
will be determined by booting the very disk image we are trying to create -- both by its
content (MBR and/or GPT, and what bootloader + .cfg, etc) and the BIOS trying to boot it.

Sorry for the noise if I am missing some context.

Toggle quote (13 lines)
> Did it create an ESP in your case?
>
> I’m not entirely sure how it decides between GPT and DOS, though;
> Mathieu?
>
> We should add UEFI installation tests using OVMF.
>
> Thanks,
> Ludo’.
>
>
>

--
Regards,
Bengt Richter
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pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote on 24 Apr 2021 11:31
(name . Bengt Richter)(address . bokr@bokr.com)
20210424093155.3qyuyiyog76fl7re@pelzflorian.localdomain
Hello Bengt,

On Sat, Apr 24, 2021 at 05:24:26AM +0200, Bengt Richter wrote:
Toggle quote (6 lines)
> How does that work if you want to mount an external USB disk as the target
> of your installation partitioning and formatting etc, but which may be intended
> for another laptop with a different BIOS booting in a different mode than your
> installer was booted into? (Maybe plug the finished USB disk into another laptop?
> USB C3.1 is fast enough if connected to a good SSD cassette).

Do we want to support such rare use cases in the default
configuration? Currently the configuration created by the installer
assumes you want to install to the same boot mode (UEFI or “legacy”
BIOS) as was selected when booting the installer. This means that if
your computer only supports one or the other, you have no choice. It
does not depend on what’s on the disk.

Also, in UEFI mode, the grub-efi-bootloader from
gnu/bootloader/grub.scm would need to be copied and adapted to add the
--removable option if you want to install to a removable USB in UEFI
mode. This is because grub-efi-bootloader otherwise writes boot
information into your BIOS’s NVRAM on the mainboard of the computer
doing the install.

Regards,
Florian
M
M
Mathieu Othacehe wrote on 25 Apr 2021 16:15
(name . Ludovic Courtès)(address . ludo@gnu.org)
87eeeyv49v.fsf@gnu.org
Hello,

Toggle quote (5 lines)
> I’m not entirely sure how it decides between GPT and DOS, though;
> Mathieu?
>
> We should add UEFI installation tests using OVMF.

I could reproduce this issue with the following steps:

Toggle snippet (5 lines)
qemu-img create -f qcow2 guix-system.img 50G
qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1024 -bios $(guix build ovmf)/share/firmware/ovmf_x64.bin -cdrom /gnu/store/<lastest-image.iso> -hda guix-system.img
Choose the msdos disk type in the auto-partitioning installer partitioning menu.

When using the auto-partitioning, the installer probes the selected
installation device type. If it has no type, like with my reproducer, it
asks whether to use msdos or gpt.

If the disk is already using an msdos or gpt layout, it is preserved.

Then, the auto-partitioning considers erroneously that ESP partitions
are not supported on msdos disks with the following code snippet:

Toggle snippet (15 lines)
(and (not has-extended?) ;not msdos?
(if (efi-installation?)
(and (not esp-partition)
(user-partition
(fs-type 'fat32)
(esp? #t)
(size new-esp-size)
(mount-point (default-esp-mount-point))))
(user-partition
(fs-type 'ext4)
(bootable? #t)
(bios-grub? #t)
(size bios-grub-size))))

Finally, grub-efi fails because there's no /boot/efi mount point.

This problem can then occur for two reasons:

1. The user is booting the installation image with UEFI support, using
an empty installation device, choosing auto-partition and msdos as
disk type.

2. The user is booting the installation image with UEFI support, using
an already msdos formatted installation device and choosing
auto-partition.

I think we could solve 1. easily, by forcing the GPT layout. Solving
2. is a bit trickier.

As Ludo suggested, we also need to create new installer tests covering
UEFI installations.

I'll try to come up with a patch soon.

Thanks,

Mathieu
P
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pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote on 25 Apr 2021 18:34
(name . Mathieu Othacehe)(address . othacehe@gnu.org)
20210425163412.duj4t4ind5r5tv4x@pelzflorian.localdomain
On Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 04:15:56PM +0200, Mathieu Othacehe wrote:
Toggle quote (15 lines)
> Finally, grub-efi fails because there's no /boot/efi mount point.
>
> This problem can then occur for two reasons:
>
> 1. The user is booting the installation image with UEFI support, using
> an empty installation device, choosing auto-partition and msdos as
> disk type.
>
> 2. The user is booting the installation image with UEFI support, using
> an already msdos formatted installation device and choosing
> auto-partition.
>
> I think we could solve 1. easily, by forcing the GPT layout. Solving
> 2. is a bit trickier.

Can you force GPT also in 2.? All disk partitions get removed anyway.
Arch wiki says MSDOS layout does not work on all EFI systems

Regards,
Florian
M
M
Mathieu Othacehe wrote on 25 Apr 2021 19:12
(name . pelzflorian (Florian Pelz))(address . pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de)
878s56uw3c.fsf@gnu.org
Hello Florian,

Toggle quote (4 lines)
> Can you force GPT also in 2.? All disk partitions get removed anyway.
> Arch wiki says MSDOS layout does not work on all EFI systems
> <https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/EFI_system_partition#Create_the_partition>.

Well I'm not sure, if someone has an MSDOS partition table with an ESP
partition it wouldn't be a good idea to wipe it.

The attached patch forces GPT if there's no partition table, and will
preserve/create an ESP partition on an MSDOS/EFI setup. I'm testing it
on various machines, seems to work fine.

WDYT?

Thanks,

Mathieu
From 65339286fe9d0c4758c04cfcaa177334577741cc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mathieu Othacehe <othacehe@gnu.org>
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2021 19:06:31 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] wip esp

---
gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm | 16 +++++++-----
gnu/installer/parted.scm | 45 ++++++++++++++------------------
2 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 33 deletions(-)

Toggle diff (104 lines)
diff --git a/gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm b/gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm
index 81cf68d782..2dcb10bbdb 100644
--- a/gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm
+++ b/gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm
@@ -95,14 +95,16 @@ DEVICES list."
(define (run-label-page button-text button-callback)
"Run a page asking the user to select a partition table label."
- (run-listbox-selection-page
- #:info-text (G_ "Select a new partition table type. \
+ (if (efi-installation?)
+ "gpt"
+ (run-listbox-selection-page
+ #:info-text (G_ "Select a new partition table type. \
Be careful, all data on the disk will be lost.")
- #:title (G_ "Partition table")
- #:listbox-items '("msdos" "gpt")
- #:listbox-item->text identity
- #:button-text button-text
- #:button-callback-procedure button-callback))
+ #:title (G_ "Partition table")
+ #:listbox-items '("msdos" "gpt")
+ #:listbox-item->text identity
+ #:button-text button-text
+ #:button-callback-procedure button-callback)))
(define (run-type-page partition)
"Run a page asking the user to select a partition type."
diff --git a/gnu/installer/parted.scm b/gnu/installer/parted.scm
index 9ef263d1f9..6d6e500d71 100644
--- a/gnu/installer/parted.scm
+++ b/gnu/installer/parted.scm
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
small-freespace-partition?
esp-partition?
boot-partition?
+ efi-installation?
default-esp-mount-point
with-delay-device-in-use?
@@ -193,12 +194,8 @@ inferior to MAX-SIZE, #f otherwise."
(define (esp-partition? partition)
"Return #t if partition has the ESP flag, return #f otherwise."
(let* ((disk (partition-disk partition))
- (disk-type (disk-disk-type disk))
- (has-extended? (disk-type-check-feature
- disk-type
- DISK-TYPE-FEATURE-EXTENDED)))
+ (disk-type (disk-disk-type disk)))
(and (data-partition? partition)
- (not has-extended?)
(partition-is-flag-available? partition PARTITION-FLAG-ESP)
(partition-get-flag partition PARTITION-FLAG-ESP))))
@@ -918,30 +915,26 @@ exists."
;; disk space. Otherwise, set the swap size to 5% of the disk space.
(swap-size (min default-swap-size five-percent-disk)))
- (if has-extended?
- ;; msdos - remove everything.
- (disk-remove-all-partitions disk)
- ;; gpt - remove everything but esp if it exists.
- (for-each
- (lambda (partition)
- (and (data-partition? partition)
- (disk-remove-partition* disk partition)))
- non-boot-partitions))
+ ;; Remove everything but esp if it exists.
+ (for-each
+ (lambda (partition)
+ (and (data-partition? partition)
+ (disk-remove-partition* disk partition)))
+ non-boot-partitions)
(let* ((start-partition
- (and (not has-extended?)
- (if (efi-installation?)
- (and (not esp-partition)
- (user-partition
- (fs-type 'fat32)
- (esp? #t)
- (size new-esp-size)
- (mount-point (default-esp-mount-point))))
+ (if (efi-installation?)
+ (and (not esp-partition)
(user-partition
- (fs-type 'ext4)
- (bootable? #t)
- (bios-grub? #t)
- (size bios-grub-size)))))
+ (fs-type 'fat32)
+ (esp? #t)
+ (size new-esp-size)
+ (mount-point (default-esp-mount-point))))
+ (user-partition
+ (fs-type 'ext4)
+ (bootable? #t)
+ (bios-grub? #t)
+ (size bios-grub-size))))
(new-partitions
(cond
((or (eq? scheme 'entire-root)
--
2.31.1
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pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrote on 26 Apr 2021 13:17
(name . Mathieu Othacehe)(address . othacehe@gnu.org)
20210426111700.esxn4cfwrfflez5l@pelzflorian.localdomain
On Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 07:12:39PM +0200, Mathieu Othacehe wrote:
Toggle quote (10 lines)
>
> Hello Florian,
>
> > Can you force GPT also in 2.? All disk partitions get removed anyway.
> > Arch wiki says MSDOS layout does not work on all EFI systems
> > <https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/EFI_system_partition#Create_the_partition>.
>
> Well I'm not sure, if someone has an MSDOS partition table with an ESP
> partition it wouldn't be a good idea to wipe it.

You are right of course; the old ESP may contain boot information for
other disks or network boot or whatever.


Toggle quote (4 lines)
> The attached patch forces GPT if there's no partition table, and will
> preserve/create an ESP partition on an MSDOS/EFI setup. I'm testing it
> on various machines, seems to work fine.

Thank you for this patch!! It installs EFI on msdos layout
successfully on my Beebox PC. That said, it could force GPT on msdos
layouts as well if they lack an ESP. But I’m already happy.

Regards,
Florian
L
L
Ludovic Courtès wrote on 26 Apr 2021 17:53
(name . Mathieu Othacehe)(address . othacehe@gnu.org)
8735vdca99.fsf@gnu.org
Hi Mathieu,

Mathieu Othacehe <othacehe@gnu.org> skribis:

Toggle quote (11 lines)
>> Can you force GPT also in 2.? All disk partitions get removed anyway.
>> Arch wiki says MSDOS layout does not work on all EFI systems
>> <https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/EFI_system_partition#Create_the_partition>.
>
> Well I'm not sure, if someone has an MSDOS partition table with an ESP
> partition it wouldn't be a good idea to wipe it.
>
> The attached patch forces GPT if there's no partition table, and will
> preserve/create an ESP partition on an MSDOS/EFI setup. I'm testing it
> on various machines, seems to work fine.

The patch looks reasonable to me, thanks a lot!

(It’s also reasonable to ignore ESP-on-MSDOS IMO.)

Ludo’.
M
M
Mathieu Othacehe wrote on 26 Apr 2021 18:37
(address . 47889@debbugs.gnu.org)
87im49huil.fsf@gnu.org
Hey Ludo & Florian,

Toggle quote (2 lines)
> The patch looks reasonable to me, thanks a lot!

Thanks for having a look! I'm working on an UEFI installation test as we
discussed. Almost there but for a strange reason, even if the
installation works smoothly, the created image isn't bootable in QEMU.

I'll keep investigating.

Thanks,

Mathieu
M
M
Mathieu Othacehe wrote on 27 Apr 2021 18:48
(name . Ludovic Courtès)(address . ludo@gnu.org)
87pmyfoeqp.fsf@gnu.org
Hello,

Here is a patchset solving this issue and adding a new UEFI system
test. The boot issue was quite complex. Turns out it's related to how
the OVMF firmware saves persistently the UEFI variables.

Regarding the MSDOS/UEFI patch, it is almost identical to what Florian
tested. I chose not to force GPT on UEFI if the user disk is already
MBR formatted, mostly to keep the code readable.

Thanks,

Mathieu
From c75278d39e977488516507fb8a67c167facda926 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mathieu Othacehe <othacehe@gnu.org>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2021 17:39:42 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] installer: Force GPT disk label when UEFI is supported.

* gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm (run-label-page): Force the GPT disk label
when UEFI is supported.
---
gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm | 17 ++++++++++-------
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

Toggle diff (31 lines)
diff --git a/gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm b/gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm
index 81cf68d782..2bb9b16945 100644
--- a/gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm
+++ b/gnu/installer/newt/partition.scm
@@ -95,14 +95,17 @@ DEVICES list."
(define (run-label-page button-text button-callback)
"Run a page asking the user to select a partition table label."
- (run-listbox-selection-page
- #:info-text (G_ "Select a new partition table type. \
+ ;; Force the GPT label if UEFI is supported.
+ (if (efi-installation?)
+ "gpt"
+ (run-listbox-selection-page
+ #:info-text (G_ "Select a new partition table type. \
Be careful, all data on the disk will be lost.")
- #:title (G_ "Partition table")
- #:listbox-items '("msdos" "gpt")
- #:listbox-item->text identity
- #:button-text button-text
- #:button-callback-procedure button-callback))
+ #:title (G_ "Partition table")
+ #:listbox-items '("msdos" "gpt")
+ #:listbox-item->text identity
+ #:button-text button-text
+ #:button-callback-procedure button-callback)))
(define (run-type-page partition)
"Run a page asking the user to select a partition type."
--
2.31.1
From b2ca61abc2f3faf918a9a4d006cb3d7cd2a71f19 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mathieu Othacehe <othacehe@gnu.org>
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2021 19:06:31 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] installer: Add MSDOS disk label support on UEFI systems.

* gnu/installer/parted.scm (esp-partition?): Remove the MSDOS check.
(auto-partition!): On MSDOS disks, check if an ESP partition is present. If
that's the case, do not remove it. Otherwise, if UEFI is supported, create
one.
---
gnu/installer/parted.scm | 45 +++++++++++++++++-----------------------
1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-)

Toggle diff (76 lines)
diff --git a/gnu/installer/parted.scm b/gnu/installer/parted.scm
index 9ef263d1f9..6d6e500d71 100644
--- a/gnu/installer/parted.scm
+++ b/gnu/installer/parted.scm
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
small-freespace-partition?
esp-partition?
boot-partition?
+ efi-installation?
default-esp-mount-point
with-delay-device-in-use?
@@ -193,12 +194,8 @@ inferior to MAX-SIZE, #f otherwise."
(define (esp-partition? partition)
"Return #t if partition has the ESP flag, return #f otherwise."
(let* ((disk (partition-disk partition))
- (disk-type (disk-disk-type disk))
- (has-extended? (disk-type-check-feature
- disk-type
- DISK-TYPE-FEATURE-EXTENDED)))
+ (disk-type (disk-disk-type disk)))
(and (data-partition? partition)
- (not has-extended?)
(partition-is-flag-available? partition PARTITION-FLAG-ESP)
(partition-get-flag partition PARTITION-FLAG-ESP))))
@@ -918,30 +915,26 @@ exists."
;; disk space. Otherwise, set the swap size to 5% of the disk space.
(swap-size (min default-swap-size five-percent-disk)))
- (if has-extended?
- ;; msdos - remove everything.
- (disk-remove-all-partitions disk)
- ;; gpt - remove everything but esp if it exists.
- (for-each
- (lambda (partition)
- (and (data-partition? partition)
- (disk-remove-partition* disk partition)))
- non-boot-partitions))
+ ;; Remove everything but esp if it exists.
+ (for-each
+ (lambda (partition)
+ (and (data-partition? partition)
+ (disk-remove-partition* disk partition)))
+ non-boot-partitions)
(let* ((start-partition
- (and (not has-extended?)
- (if (efi-installation?)
- (and (not esp-partition)
- (user-partition
- (fs-type 'fat32)
- (esp? #t)
- (size new-esp-size)
- (mount-point (default-esp-mount-point))))
+ (if (efi-installation?)
+ (and (not esp-partition)
(user-partition
- (fs-type 'ext4)
- (bootable? #t)
- (bios-grub? #t)
- (size bios-grub-size)))))
+ (fs-type 'fat32)
+ (esp? #t)
+ (size new-esp-size)
+ (mount-point (default-esp-mount-point))))
+ (user-partition
+ (fs-type 'ext4)
+ (bootable? #t)
+ (bios-grub? #t)
+ (size bios-grub-size))))
(new-partitions
(cond
((or (eq? scheme 'entire-root)
--
2.31.1
Attachment: 0003-tests-Add-gui-uefi-installed-os-test.patch
M
M
Mathieu Othacehe wrote on 28 Apr 2021 15:54
(name . Ludovic Courtès)(address . ludo@gnu.org)
87k0omwm40.fsf@gnu.org
Hello,

Toggle quote (4 lines)
> Regarding the MSDOS/UEFI patch, it is almost identical to what Florian
> tested. I chose not to force GPT on UEFI if the user disk is already
> MBR formatted, mostly to keep the code readable.

Pushed on master and cherry-picked on version-1.3.0 branch.

Thanks,

Mathieu
Closed
L
L
Ludovic Courtès wrote on 29 Apr 2021 09:45
(name . Mathieu Othacehe)(address . othacehe@gnu.org)
87a6pho7oy.fsf@gnu.org
Hi,

Mathieu Othacehe <othacehe@gnu.org> skribis:

Toggle quote (6 lines)
>> Regarding the MSDOS/UEFI patch, it is almost identical to what Florian
>> tested. I chose not to force GPT on UEFI if the user disk is already
>> MBR formatted, mostly to keep the code readable.
>
> Pushed on master and cherry-picked on version-1.3.0 branch.

Thanks!

Ludo’.
Closed
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