GNU bug report logs - #36262
cannot install bootloader to root partition

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: znavko <at> disroot.org
To: "bug-guix" <bug-guix <at> gnu.org>
Subject: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 11:25:14 +0000

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Hello! I was not able to install Guix having 2 partitions:
/dev/sda1 ext4 Linux filesystem
/dev/sda2 Linux Swap

`guix system init` says in this case:
guix system: error: failed to install bootloader

Screen: http://0x0.st/zeLs.jpg

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Message #8 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Danny Milosavljevic <dannym <at> scratchpost.org>
To: znavko <at> disroot.org
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 16:53:54 +0200

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Hi,

which grub is that? grub-efi?

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Message #11 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
To: znavko <znavko <at> disroot.org>
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 19:08:16 +0200

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Znavko,

znavko <at> disroot.org wrote:
> bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition

Installing GRUB to your root partition isn't supported, and should 
never be necessary anyway.

> Hello! I was not able to install Guix having 2 partitions:
> /dev/sda1 ext4 Linux filesystem
> /dev/sda2 Linux Swap

This is a strange partition layout; it's missing a ‘BIOS boot 
partition’ and can never work without forcing GRUB to do something 
it doesn't like to do.

Did you create this layout manually?  If so, why?

Kind regards,

T G-R

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Message #14 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
To: Danny Milosavljevic <dannym <at> scratchpost.org>
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 19:09:44 +0200

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Danny,

Danny Milosavljevic wrote:
> which grub is that? grub-efi?

i386-pc, so ‘BIOS’ (which means it's trying to use blocklists, 
which is fragile & won't work without --force).

Kind regards,

T G-R

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Message #17 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: znavko <at> disroot.org
To: "Tobias Geerinckx-Rice" <me <at> tobias.gr>
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 17:11:42 +0000

I have another laptop (Lenovo G50-30) where Guix works on this partition layout I've made manually:

# fdisk -l /dev/sda
...
Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1            2048 230000000 229997953 109.7G 83 Linux
/dev/sda2       230000640 234441647   4441008   2.1G 82 Linux swap / Solaris


But all the new installations on other two notebooks with the same layout do not work.


June 17, 2019 5:07 PM, "Tobias Geerinckx-Rice" <me <at> tobias.gr> wrote:

> Znavko,
> 
> znavko <at> disroot.org wrote:
> 
>> bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
> 
> Installing GRUB to your root partition isn't supported, and should
> never be necessary anyway.
> 
>> Hello! I was not able to install Guix having 2 partitions:
>> /dev/sda1 ext4 Linux filesystem
>> /dev/sda2 Linux Swap
> 
> This is a strange partition layout; it's missing a ‘BIOS boot
> partition’ and can never work without forcing GRUB to do something
> it doesn't like to do.
> 
> Did you create this layout manually? If so, why?
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> T G-R

Message #20 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: znavko <at> disroot.org
To: "Tobias Geerinckx-Rice" <me <at> tobias.gr>, "Danny Milosavljevic"
 <dannym <at> scratchpost.org>
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 17:19:25 +0000

Yes, I use Bios grub everywhere.

June 17, 2019 5:10 PM, "Tobias Geerinckx-Rice" <me <at> tobias.gr> wrote:

> Danny,
> 
> Danny Milosavljevic wrote:
> 
>> which grub is that? grub-efi?
> 
> i386-pc, so ‘BIOS’ (which means it's trying to use blocklists,
> which is fragile & won't work without --force).
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> T G-R

Message #23 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Mark H Weaver <mhw <at> netris.org>
To: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, znavko <znavko <at> disroot.org>
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2019 18:59:45 -0400

Hi Tobias,

Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr> writes:

> znavko <at> disroot.org wrote:
>> bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
>
> Installing GRUB to your root partition isn't supported, and should
> never be necessary anyway.
>
>> Hello! I was not able to install Guix having 2 partitions:
>> /dev/sda1 ext4 Linux filesystem
>> /dev/sda2 Linux Swap
>
> This is a strange partition layout; it's missing a ‘BIOS boot
> partition’ and can never work without forcing GRUB to do something it
> doesn't like to do.
>
> Did you create this layout manually?  If so, why?

FWIW, I used this partition layout for years, including on Guix systems,
and it worked fine.  Long ago, bootloaders were only able to access the
first 8 GB or so of the disk, because of limitations in the old INT 13h
BIOS interface.  Maybe this is still an issue on some ancient machines,
but I tend to use older hardware (my best laptop is ~11 years old, and
that's typical for me) and I've not had this issue in recent memory.

The only reason I started using a separate boot partition again is
because I now encrypt my root partition.

      Mark

Message #26 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
To: znavko <at> disroot.org
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2019 04:33:22 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Znavko,

znavko <at> disroot.org wrote:
> I have another laptop (Lenovo G50-30) where Guix works on this 
> partition layout I've made manually:
>
> # fdisk -l /dev/sda
> ...

^ You removed the most important part, please don't do this on 
help lists.

Still, we can tell that this is an ‘mbr’ layout:

> Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
> /dev/sda1            2048 230000000 229997953 109.7G 83 Linux
> /dev/sda2       230000640 234441647   4441008   2.1G 82 Linux 
> swap / Solaris
                                                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

> But all the new installations on other two notebooks with the 
> same layout do not work.

They aren't the same: the one in your screenshot is a completely 
different ‘gpt’ layout.

Hence my unanswered question:

> Did you create this layout manually? If so, why?

Although now I suspect there was no reason and that the installer 
isn't to blame.

So you can either:

- throw away your existing layout and create new MBR disklabel. 
 Your partitioning software will ask you or provide an option 
 somewhere.  Since modern partitioning software leaves a huge gap 
 before the first partition, GRUB will nestle cosily into that 
 first unused ~MiB.

- keep it as GPT (it has some minor features MBR doesn't), and 
 create an additional GPT ‘BIOS boot partition’ as recommended 
 before.  It only needs to be a few 100 KiB, so I use the space 
 before the first partition (= before the first megabyte; turning 
 off ‘alignment’ in your partitioning software).  This tiny 
 partition is for use by GRUB, and GRUB alone: do not format or 
 mount it.

Both options work equally well, but you need to choose.

Kind regards,

T G-R

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Message #29 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
To: Mark H Weaver <mhw <at> netris.org>
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, znavko <znavko <at> disroot.org>
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2019 04:59:10 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Mark H Weaver wrote:
> FWIW, I used this partition layout for years, including on Guix 
> systems,
> and it worked fine.

Impossible, sorry.

Kind regards,

T G-R

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Message #32 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" <pelzflorian <at> pelzflorian.de>
To: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, znavko <at> disroot.org
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:01:36 +0200

On Tue, Jun 18, 2019 at 04:33:22AM +0200, Tobias Geerinckx-Rice wrote:
> Although now I suspect there was no reason and that the installer isn't to
> blame.
> 

The graphical installer does not display a warning when not adding a
separate boot partition on GPT (an installer bug?), but installs
everything only to fail at the very end (this is another bug of guix
system?) at bootloader installation.

Regards,
Florian

Message #35 received at 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Mark H Weaver <mhw <at> netris.org>
To: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
Cc: 36262 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36262: cannot install bootloader to root partition
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2019 06:22:35 -0400

Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr> writes:

> Mark H Weaver wrote:
>> FWIW, I used this partition layout for years, including on Guix
>> systems,
>> and it worked fine.
>
> Impossible, sorry.

In fact, it _is_ possible, if you use an MBR partition table.  I assumed
that znavko was using MBR, but having now finally looked at the provided
screen image, I see now that they're using GPT.  I agree that in this
case, a BIOS boot partition is required.  I should have looked more
closely before responding, sorry.

     Best,
      Mark

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