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Install doc + templates overhaul
From: |
Pierre Neidhardt |
Subject: |
Install doc + templates overhaul |
Date: |
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 19:28:23 +0100 |
User-agent: |
mu4e 1.0; emacs 26.1 |
I've just re-installed Guix from a 0.16 image. My first time in a year,
and I've had the opportunity to have a fresh look at the installation
manual. I've taken note of a few confusing points that gave me a hard
time installing Guix (even the 2nd time :p) so here they are. I'll send
a patch to address them if you people agree.
- From the manual, 6.1.4 Preparing for Installation:
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
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’:
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
Actually the EFI partition can be mounted anywhere (/efi or /boot are also
customary), it's up to the users to make sure they are pointed at the right
mounted location.
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
Also mount any other file systems you would like to use on the target
system relative to this path. If you have ‘/boot’ on a separate
partition for example, mount it at ‘/mnt/boot’ now so it is found by
‘guix system init’ afterwards.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
That's not consistent with /mnt/boot/efi that was just mentioned above.
Besides, I think we should mention the word "EFI" in this paragraph so that
people find this paragraph when they search for the EFI term to make sure
they've covered everything
- From 6.1.5 Proceeding with the Installation
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
• Make sure the ‘bootloader-configuration’ form refers to the target
you want to install GRUB on. It should mention ‘grub-bootloader’
if you are installing GRUB in the legacy way, or
‘grub-efi-bootloader’ for newer UEFI systems. For legacy systems,
the ‘target’ field names a device, like ‘/dev/sda’; for UEFI
systems it names a path to a mounted EFI partition, like
‘/boot/efi’, and do make sure the path is actually mounted.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
At the end, it's unclear whether the EFI partition must be _currently_ mounted
or if the config.scm must have a mount point declaration. Actually, it's both,
and that be made explicit I think. Also see the next point:
- From gnu/system/examples/desktop.tmpl:
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
;; 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")))
;...
(file-systems (cons (file-system
(device (file-system-label "my-root"))
(mount-point "/")
(type "ext4")
(dependencies mapped-devices))
%base-file-systems))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
The EFI partition is missing from the file-systems declaration!!
- All templates:
I remember this was discussed before, but shouldn't we replace (cons* ...) with
(list ...)? It's easier to grok for users new to Lisp.
- In the operating-system record, what's the default value of home-directory (in
(users (list (user-account (home-directory ...)))))? Shouldn't default to
(string-append "/home/" name)? That could also spare us some potential
mistakes at install-time.
- I was surprised to see that from the install image, curl, git, etc. would fail
with an SSL error. It's annoying because I really needed to get my config.scm
from an online source.
I only briefly investigated: the environment has
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
SSL_CERT_DIR=/etc/ssl/certs
SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
but the install image only has a /etc/ssl file.
--
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/
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- Install doc + templates overhaul,
Pierre Neidhardt <=
- Re: Install doc + templates overhaul, Ludovic Courtès, 2019/01/21
- Re: Install doc + templates overhaul, Pierre Neidhardt, 2019/01/21
- ‘nss-certs’ missing in the installation image, Ludovic Courtès, 2019/01/22
- Re: ‘nss-certs’ missing in the installation image, Pierre Neidhardt, 2019/01/22
- Re: ‘nss-certs’ missing in the installation image, Giovanni Biscuolo, 2019/01/23
- Re: ‘nss-certs’ missing in the installation image, Pierre Neidhardt, 2019/01/23
- Re: ‘nss-certs’ missing in the installation image, Ludovic Courtès, 2019/01/23