documentation: misleading EFI partitioning instructions

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6 participants
  • Gábor Boskovits
  • Carlo Zancanaro
  • Joshua Branson
  • Ludovic Courtès
  • Marius Bakke
  • Ricardo Wurmus
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Ricardo Wurmus
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Ricardo Wurmus wrote on 31 Jan 2018 20:01
(address . bug-guix@gnu.org)
idjlggd4ztn.fsf@bimsb-sys02.mdc-berlin.net
The manual section “Preparing for Installation: Disk Partitioning” says
this:

Toggle snippet (17 lines)
If your disk uses the GUID Partition Table (GPT) format and you plan
to install BIOS-based GRUB (which is the default), make sure a BIOS Boot
Partition is available (*note (grub)BIOS installation::).

If you instead wish to use EFI-based GRUB, a FAT32 “EFI System
Partition” (ESP) is required. This partition should be mounted at
‘/boot/efi’ and must have the ‘esp’ flag set. E.g., for ‘parted’:

parted /dev/sda set 1 esp on

Once you are done partitioning the target hard disk drive, you have
to create a file system on the relevant partition(s)(1). For the ESP,
if you have one and assuming it is ‘/dev/sda2’, run:

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda2

First, this sounds like it’s up to the user to pick either EFI-based
GRUB or BIOS-based GRUB. It is not clear that this is determined by
whether the machine has a {BIOS, EFI in legacy mode} or EFI. It’s
really not much of a choice.

Second, the “parted” command operates on the first partition (“1”), yet
for the second command the second partition (“/dev/sda2”) is used. It’s
better to be consistent here, i.e. to change “set 1 esp on” to “set 2
esp on” and to state that this would modify “/dev/sda2”.

Finally, it is not clear where the efi partition should be mounted.
Should it be /mnt/boot/efi? If so, should the configuration file
specify “/mnt/boot/efi” as the target? Or should it be “/boot/efi”?

An example would be useful here.

--
Ricardo
G
G
Gábor Boskovits wrote on 1 Feb 2018 10:13
(name . Ricardo Wurmus)(address . ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de)(address . 30312@debbugs.gnu.org)
CAE4v=pinrSG3G8vbJSoAbGcY-RcxTVc=wruDj5AkGrVyMq1GuQ@mail.gmail.com
2018-01-31 20:01 GMT+01:00 Ricardo Wurmus <ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de>:

Toggle quote (38 lines)
> The manual section “Preparing for Installation: Disk Partitioning” says
> this:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> If your disk uses the GUID Partition Table (GPT) format and you plan
> to install BIOS-based GRUB (which is the default), make sure a BIOS Boot
> Partition is available (*note (grub)BIOS installation::).
>
> If you instead wish to use EFI-based GRUB, a FAT32 “EFI System
> Partition” (ESP) is required. This partition should be mounted at
> ‘/boot/efi’ and must have the ‘esp’ flag set. E.g., for ‘parted’:
>
> parted /dev/sda set 1 esp on
>
> Once you are done partitioning the target hard disk drive, you have
> to create a file system on the relevant partition(s)(1). For the ESP,
> if you have one and assuming it is ‘/dev/sda2’, run:
>
> mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda2
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> First, this sounds like it’s up to the user to pick either EFI-based
> GRUB or BIOS-based GRUB. It is not clear that this is determined by
> whether the machine has a {BIOS, EFI in legacy mode} or EFI. It’s
> really not much of a choice.
>
> Second, the “parted” command operates on the first partition (“1”), yet
> for the second command the second partition (“/dev/sda2”) is used. It’s
> better to be consistent here, i.e. to change “set 1 esp on” to “set 2
> esp on” and to state that this would modify “/dev/sda2”.
>
> Finally, it is not clear where the efi partition should be mounted.
> Should it be /mnt/boot/efi? If so, should the configuration file
> specify “/mnt/boot/efi” as the target? Or should it be “/boot/efi”?
>
> An example would be useful here.
>
> I agree an example would be nice.
I will have a look at this when I have time.
I guess I had done something similar.



Toggle quote (6 lines)
> --
> Ricardo
>
>
>
>
Attachment: file
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Gábor Boskovits wrote on 1 Feb 2018 12:01
(name . Ricardo Wurmus)(address . ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de)(address . 30312@debbugs.gnu.org)
CAE4v=pieOc-B38NPYeM-vzgfQbOAMaxKryAc2_T1hAGBbf+b+g@mail.gmail.com
2018-02-01 10:13 GMT+01:00 Gábor Boskovits <boskovits@gmail.com>:

Toggle quote (44 lines)
> 2018-01-31 20:01 GMT+01:00 Ricardo Wurmus <ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de>:
>
>> The manual section “Preparing for Installation: Disk Partitioning” says
>> this:
>>
>> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
>> If your disk uses the GUID Partition Table (GPT) format and you plan
>> to install BIOS-based GRUB (which is the default), make sure a BIOS Boot
>> Partition is available (*note (grub)BIOS installation::).
>>
>> If you instead wish to use EFI-based GRUB, a FAT32 “EFI System
>> Partition” (ESP) is required. This partition should be mounted at
>> ‘/boot/efi’ and must have the ‘esp’ flag set. E.g., for ‘parted’:
>>
>> parted /dev/sda set 1 esp on
>>
>> Once you are done partitioning the target hard disk drive, you have
>> to create a file system on the relevant partition(s)(1). For the ESP,
>> if you have one and assuming it is ‘/dev/sda2’, run:
>>
>> mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda2
>> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>>
>> First, this sounds like it’s up to the user to pick either EFI-based
>> GRUB or BIOS-based GRUB. It is not clear that this is determined by
>> whether the machine has a {BIOS, EFI in legacy mode} or EFI. It’s
>> really not much of a choice.
>>
>> Second, the “parted” command operates on the first partition (“1”), yet
>> for the second command the second partition (“/dev/sda2”) is used. It’s
>> better to be consistent here, i.e. to change “set 1 esp on” to “set 2
>> esp on” and to state that this would modify “/dev/sda2”.
>>
>> Finally, it is not clear where the efi partition should be mounted.
>> Should it be /mnt/boot/efi? If so, should the configuration file
>> specify “/mnt/boot/efi” as the target? Or should it be “/boot/efi”?
>>
>> An example would be useful here.
>>
>> I agree an example would be nice.
> I will have a look at this when I have time.
> I guess I had done something similar.
>
> I've just looked around and found that we have ovmf in our repository.
It would be nice if we could create a system test and use an ovmf qemu to
test installation.
Once we have that we could get the documentation consistent with a working
testcase.
WDYT?

Toggle quote (9 lines)
>
>
>> --
>> Ricardo
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
Attachment: file
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Joshua Branson wrote on 1 Feb 2018 22:23
(address . bug-guix@gnu.org)
1517520192.3013052.1256470944.089A5312@webmail.messagingengine.com
By no means am I a developer, but that sounds like a good idea.


On Thu, Feb 1, 2018, at 3:01 AM, Gábor Boskovits wrote:
Toggle quote (49 lines)
> 2018-02-01 10:13 GMT+01:00 Gábor Boskovits <boskovits@gmail.com>:
>> 2018-01-31 20:01 GMT+01:00 Ricardo Wurmus <ricardo.wurmus@mdc-
>> berlin.de>:>>> The manual section “Preparing for Installation: Disk
>>> Partitioning” says>>> this:
>>>
>>> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
>>> If your disk uses the GUID Partition Table (GPT) format and you
>>> plan>>> to install BIOS-based GRUB (which is the default), make sure a
>>> BIOS Boot>>> Partition is available (*note (grub)BIOS installation::).
>>>
>>> If you instead wish to use EFI-based GRUB, a FAT32 “EFI System
>>> Partition” (ESP) is required. This partition should be mounted at>>> ‘/boot/efi’ and must have the ‘esp’ flag set. E.g., for ‘parted’:>>>
>>> parted /dev/sda set 1 esp on
>>>
>>> Once you are done partitioning the target hard disk drive, you
>>> have>>> to create a file system on the relevant partition(s)(1). For
>>> the ESP,>>> if you have one and assuming it is ‘/dev/sda2’, run:
>>>
>>> mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda2
>>> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>>>
>>> First, this sounds like it’s up to the user to pick either EFI-
>>> based>>> GRUB or BIOS-based GRUB. It is not clear that this is
>>> determined by>>> whether the machine has a {BIOS, EFI in legacy mode} or EFI. It’s>>> really not much of a choice.
>>>
>>> Second, the “parted” command operates on the first partition
>>> (“1”), yet>>> for the second command the second partition (“/dev/sda2”) is
>>> used. It’s>>> better to be consistent here, i.e. to change “set 1 esp on” to
>>> “set 2>>> esp on” and to state that this would modify “/dev/sda2”.
>>>
>>> Finally, it is not clear where the efi partition should be mounted.>>> Should it be /mnt/boot/efi? If so, should the configuration file
>>> specify “/mnt/boot/efi” as the target? Or should it be
>>> “/boot/efi”?>>>
>>> An example would be useful here.
>>>
>> I agree an example would be nice.
>> I will have a look at this when I have time.
>> I guess I had done something similar.
>>
> I've just looked around and found that we have ovmf in our repository.> It would be nice if we could create a system test and use an ovmf qemu
> to test installation.> Once we have that we could get the documentation consistent with a
> working testcase.> WDYT?
>>
>>
>>> --
>>> Ricardo
>>>
>>>
>>
Attachment: file
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C
Carlo Zancanaro wrote on 1 Feb 2018 23:19
(name . Ricardo Wurmus)(address . ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de)(address . 30312@debbugs.gnu.org)
87vafgcq0b.fsf@zancanaro.id.au
On Wed, Jan 31 2018, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
Toggle quote (9 lines)
> Finally, it is not clear where the efi partition should be
> mounted.
> Should it be /mnt/boot/efi? If so, should the configuration
> file
> specify “/mnt/boot/efi” as the target? Or should it be
> “/boot/efi”?
>
> An example would be useful here.

We have an example in the manual at "(guix) Using the
Configuration System" with the following sections:

;; Use the UEFI variant of GRUB with the EFI System
;; Partition mounted on /boot/efi.
(bootloader (bootloader-configuration
(bootloader grub-efi-bootloader)
(target "/boot/efi")))

;; Assume the target root file system is labelled "my-root",
;; and the EFI System Partition has UUID 1234-ABCD.
(file-systems (cons* (file-system
(device "my-root")
(title 'label)
(mount-point "/")
(type "ext4"))
(file-system
(device (uuid "1234-ABCD" 'fat))
(title 'uuid)
(mount-point "/boot/efi")
(type "vfat"))
%base-file-systems))

I know that's a completely different section where you're talking
about, but maybe it can be referenced/copied in the installation
section. I think we should mount the efi partition at /boot/efi
during installation, to match the way things will be when we boot
into the installed system.

Carlo
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L
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Ludovic Courtès wrote on 6 Feb 2018 17:05
control message for bug #30312
(address . control@debbugs.gnu.org)
874lmu5cjm.fsf@gnu.org
severity 30312 important
L
L
Ludovic Courtès wrote on 26 Jun 2018 10:12
Re: bug#30312: documentation: misleading EFI partitioning instructions
(name . Ricardo Wurmus)(address . ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de)
871scu6k6m.fsf@gnu.org
Hello gentlefolks!

Ricardo Wurmus <ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de> skribis:

Toggle quote (16 lines)
> First, this sounds like it’s up to the user to pick either EFI-based
> GRUB or BIOS-based GRUB. It is not clear that this is determined by
> whether the machine has a {BIOS, EFI in legacy mode} or EFI. It’s
> really not much of a choice.
>
> Second, the “parted” command operates on the first partition (“1”), yet
> for the second command the second partition (“/dev/sda2”) is used. It’s
> better to be consistent here, i.e. to change “set 1 esp on” to “set 2
> esp on” and to state that this would modify “/dev/sda2”.
>
> Finally, it is not clear where the efi partition should be mounted.
> Should it be /mnt/boot/efi? If so, should the configuration file
> specify “/mnt/boot/efi” as the target? Or should it be “/boot/efi”?
>
> An example would be useful here.

It’d be nice to fix this before the release. Anyone could take a look
to address these issues?

Thanks,
Ludo’.
M
M
Marius Bakke wrote on 26 Jun 2018 12:11
871sctzwk8.fsf@fastmail.com
ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

Toggle quote (23 lines)
> Hello gentlefolks!
>
> Ricardo Wurmus <ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de> skribis:
>
>> First, this sounds like it’s up to the user to pick either EFI-based
>> GRUB or BIOS-based GRUB. It is not clear that this is determined by
>> whether the machine has a {BIOS, EFI in legacy mode} or EFI. It’s
>> really not much of a choice.
>>
>> Second, the “parted” command operates on the first partition (“1”), yet
>> for the second command the second partition (“/dev/sda2”) is used. It’s
>> better to be consistent here, i.e. to change “set 1 esp on” to “set 2
>> esp on” and to state that this would modify “/dev/sda2”.
>>
>> Finally, it is not clear where the efi partition should be mounted.
>> Should it be /mnt/boot/efi? If so, should the configuration file
>> specify “/mnt/boot/efi” as the target? Or should it be “/boot/efi”?
>>
>> An example would be useful here.
>
> It’d be nice to fix this before the release. Anyone could take a look
> to address these issues?

I've tried to address the latter issue in https://bugs.gnu.org/31959.

I tested it by installing in a virtual machine with the ESP mounted at
"/mnt/boot/efi", using a Guix snapshot that included that commit. It
also works on my installed system with the ESP on /boot/efi.

Here is a patch addressing the second issue:
From 28b1aff2f0a78e7736c214880bbcfce1c0135346 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:59:51 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] doc: Use a consistent partitioning scheme.

* doc/guix.texi (Preparing for Installation): Consistently refer to the ESP as
/dev/sda1; root file system as /dev/sda2; and swap as /dev/sda3.
---
doc/guix.texi | 20 ++++++++++----------
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

Toggle diff (63 lines)
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index da05a200a..d3375601a 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -8641,21 +8641,21 @@ create a file system on the relevant partition(s)@footnote{Currently
GuixSD only supports ext4 and btrfs file systems. In particular, code
that reads file system UUIDs and labels only works for these file system
types.}. For the ESP, if you have one and assuming it is
-@file{/dev/sda2}, run:
+@file{/dev/sda1}, run:
@example
-mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda2
+mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
@end example
Preferably, assign file systems a label so that you can easily and
reliably refer to them in @code{file-system} declarations (@pxref{File
Systems}). This is typically done using the @code{-L} option of
@command{mkfs.ext4} and related commands. So, assuming the target root
-partition lives at @file{/dev/sda1}, a file system with the label
+partition lives at @file{/dev/sda2}, a file system with the label
@code{my-root} can be created with:
@example
-mkfs.ext4 -L my-root /dev/sda1
+mkfs.ext4 -L my-root /dev/sda2
@end example
@cindex encrypted disk
@@ -8663,12 +8663,12 @@ If you are instead planning to encrypt the root partition, you can use
the Cryptsetup/LUKS utilities to do that (see @inlinefmtifelse{html,
@uref{https://linux.die.net/man/8/cryptsetup, @code{man cryptsetup}},
@code{man cryptsetup}} for more information.) Assuming you want to
-store the root partition on @file{/dev/sda1}, the command sequence would
+store the root partition on @file{/dev/sda2}, the command sequence would
be along these lines:
@example
-cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda1
-cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sda1 my-partition
+cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda2
+cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sda2 my-partition
mkfs.ext4 -L my-root /dev/mapper/my-partition
@end example
@@ -8688,11 +8688,11 @@ by @code{guix system init} afterwards.
Finally, if you plan to use one or more swap partitions (@pxref{Memory
Concepts, swap space,, libc, The GNU C Library Reference Manual}), make
sure to initialize them with @command{mkswap}. Assuming you have one
-swap partition on @file{/dev/sda2}, you would run:
+swap partition on @file{/dev/sda3}, you would run:
@example
-mkswap /dev/sda2
-swapon /dev/sda2
+mkswap /dev/sda3
+swapon /dev/sda3
@end example
Alternatively, you may use a swap file. For example, assuming that in
--
2.18.0
I'm not sure how to best resolve the first issue. I suppose we can
mention that if unsure which GRUB to use, the user can test whether
"/sys/firmware/efi" exists on the live image.

We could also make it clearer when booting whether the installer is in
"UEFI" mode or not.
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L
L
Ludovic Courtès wrote on 26 Jun 2018 15:55
(name . Marius Bakke)(address . mbakke@fastmail.com)
877eml4ppm.fsf@gnu.org
Hi Marius!

Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com> skribis:

Toggle quote (6 lines)
>> Ricardo Wurmus <ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de> skribis:
>>
>>> Finally, it is not clear where the efi partition should be mounted.
>>> Should it be /mnt/boot/efi? If so, should the configuration file
>>> specify “/mnt/boot/efi” as the target? Or should it be “/boot/efi”?

[...]

Toggle quote (6 lines)
> I've tried to address the latter issue in https://bugs.gnu.org/31959.
>
> I tested it by installing in a virtual machine with the ESP mounted at
> "/mnt/boot/efi", using a Guix snapshot that included that commit. It
> also works on my installed system with the ESP on /boot/efi.

So with #31959 applied, users can mount to /boot/efi or /mnt/boot/efi,
and both will work, right?

I think #31959 can be applied.

Toggle quote (8 lines)
> From 28b1aff2f0a78e7736c214880bbcfce1c0135346 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> From: Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:59:51 +0200
> Subject: [PATCH] doc: Use a consistent partitioning scheme.
>
> * doc/guix.texi (Preparing for Installation): Consistently refer to the ESP as
> /dev/sda1; root file system as /dev/sda2; and swap as /dev/sda3.

Go for it!

Toggle quote (7 lines)
> I'm not sure how to best resolve the first issue. I suppose we can
> mention that if unsure which GRUB to use, the user can test whether
> "/sys/firmware/efi" exists on the live image.
>
> We could also make it clearer when booting whether the installer is in
> "UEFI" mode or not.

Maybe ‘guix system’ could warn, but I’m not sure how to do that in a
clean way.

Or at the very least we can document it. Perhaps we need to add a “UEFI
vs. BIOS” section in the manual.

Ludo’.
M
M
Marius Bakke wrote on 26 Jun 2018 17:18
(name . Ludovic Courtès)(address . ludo@gnu.org)
87h8lpy3sg.fsf@fastmail.com
ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

Toggle quote (21 lines)
> Hi Marius!
>
> Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com> skribis:
>
>>> Ricardo Wurmus <ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de> skribis:
>>>
>>>> Finally, it is not clear where the efi partition should be mounted.
>>>> Should it be /mnt/boot/efi? If so, should the configuration file
>>>> specify “/mnt/boot/efi” as the target? Or should it be “/boot/efi”?
>
> [...]
>
>> I've tried to address the latter issue in <https://bugs.gnu.org/31959>.
>>
>> I tested it by installing in a virtual machine with the ESP mounted at
>> "/mnt/boot/efi", using a Guix snapshot that included that commit. It
>> also works on my installed system with the ESP on /boot/efi.
>
> So with #31959 applied, users can mount to /boot/efi or /mnt/boot/efi,
> and both will work, right?

Yes, both should work at "guix system init" time, even if they only
specify "/boot/efi" in the configuration file.

Toggle quote (2 lines)
> I think #31959 can be applied.

Excellent, I'll push it shortly.

Toggle quote (10 lines)
>> From 28b1aff2f0a78e7736c214880bbcfce1c0135346 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
>> From: Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com>
>> Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:59:51 +0200
>> Subject: [PATCH] doc: Use a consistent partitioning scheme.
>>
>> * doc/guix.texi (Preparing for Installation): Consistently refer to the ESP as
>> /dev/sda1; root file system as /dev/sda2; and swap as /dev/sda3.
>
> Go for it!

Staged for inclusion!

Toggle quote (10 lines)
>> I'm not sure how to best resolve the first issue. I suppose we can
>> mention that if unsure which GRUB to use, the user can test whether
>> "/sys/firmware/efi" exists on the live image.
>>
>> We could also make it clearer when booting whether the installer is in
>> "UEFI" mode or not.
>
> Maybe ‘guix system’ could warn, but I’m not sure how to do that in a
> clean way.

I was thinking a visual hint when booting the live USB, e.g. in the
motd:

(if (file-exists? "/sys/firmware/efi")
"Welcome to the GuixSD installation image (UEFI mode)!".
"Welcome to the GuixSD installation image!")

I think Debian does something like this in the boot menu (IIRC).

Toggle quote (3 lines)
> Or at the very least we can document it. Perhaps we need to add a “UEFI
> vs. BIOS” section in the manual.

Yes, documentation needs more tweaks. As Ricardo mentioned, using EFI
is not really optional once you've booted with it. Leaving this bug
open still, suggestions welcome!
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Ludovic Courtès wrote on 26 Jun 2018 22:14
(name . Marius Bakke)(address . mbakke@fastmail.com)
87k1ql2tm6.fsf@gnu.org
Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com> skribis:

Toggle quote (2 lines)
> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

[...]

Toggle quote (19 lines)
>>> I'm not sure how to best resolve the first issue. I suppose we can
>>> mention that if unsure which GRUB to use, the user can test whether
>>> "/sys/firmware/efi" exists on the live image.
>>>
>>> We could also make it clearer when booting whether the installer is in
>>> "UEFI" mode or not.
>>
>> Maybe ‘guix system’ could warn, but I’m not sure how to do that in a
>> clean way.
>
> I was thinking a visual hint when booting the live USB, e.g. in the
> motd:
>
> (if (file-exists? "/sys/firmware/efi")
> "Welcome to the GuixSD installation image (UEFI mode)!".
> "Welcome to the GuixSD installation image!")
>
> I think Debian does something like this in the boot menu (IIRC).

The body is just plain static text, so I’m not sure how we could do
this. We’d need a bit of code to do that in /etc/profile or something.
Ideas?

Thanks,
Ludo’.
L
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Ludovic Courtès wrote on 5 Jul 2018 11:58
(name . Marius Bakke)(address . mbakke@fastmail.com)
8736wyf1hq.fsf@gnu.org
Hi!

I ended up simply improving the manual in commit
fc0e663f782896f542d008c871d21b9cf636a75c.

Maybe we can do better next time, like have ‘guix system init’ provide
hints or something.

Thanks,
Ludo’.
M
M
Marius Bakke wrote on 13 Jul 2018 00:06
Fixed in 0.15
(address . control@debbugs.gnu.org)
87601k6rd1.fsf@fastmail.com
close 30312
?