Subject: [bug#41011] [PATCH] gnu: grub: Support for network boot via tftp/nfs.

From: Stefan <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2020 02:06:27 +0200

Hi Maxim!

> Does it cause a problem for the NFS boot via 'grub efi net' (I know
> nothing about it -- any link for a recommended reading?)

No, that’s no problem.

Regarding ‘grub efi net’: Just take a look at the GRUB manual. Actually GRUB is not dealing with NFS at all, it is using TFTP to load files. Only Linux uses NFS to mount its root file system. 

> When booting
> from NFS using the nfsroot Linux option, it's possible to specify a
> '/dev/nfs' as the root kernel parameter.  /dev/nfs is not a real block
> device, it's just a stub hinting the kernel that its root file system is
> on NFS.  Perhaps that can be used?

These “root=/dev/nfs rootfstype=nfs nfsroot=… ip=…” kernel arguments only make sense if an initrd can be omitted. Either the initrd or such a root-nfs becomes the root file system at startup. As the guix system is currently relying on an initrd, this is not an option.

Further you would need to ensure that certain CONFIG_NFS…, CONFIG_IP… and even more options for your network interface are set to ‘=y’ to ensure that Linux can make use of an nfs-root.

Bye

Stefan