GNU bug report logs - #66560
[DOCUMENTATION] doc: Include steps for mounting EFI partitions.

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Message #14 received at 66560 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Christina O'Donnell <cdo <at> mutix.org>
To: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 66560 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#66560: [DOCUMENTATION] doc: Include steps for mounting EFI
 partitions.
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2023 09:51:22 +0000

Hi Maxim,

Thank you for your time and comments.

> If you look at the latest manual, this should not be empty since mount
> --rbind is used (the 'r' in the name is for recursive) for the whole
> /sys directory:
>
>           mount --rbind /proc /mnt/proc
>           mount --rbind /sys /mnt/sys
>           mount --rbind /dev /mnt/dev

Yes! I see the latest one uses --rbind while the 1.4.0 manual that I
was following uses --bind. I didn't see the change, but that should be
sufficient.

>> +@item
>> +If the directory @file{/sys/firmware/efi/efivars} is empty, you need to
>> +boot the rescue system including the kernel option "efi=runtime" and
>> +mount the EFI variables before proceeding:
>> +
>> +@example sh
>> +mount -t efivarfs none /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
>> +@end example
>
> Maybe the only information missing here is the "if empty, run with
> "efi=runtime" bit?  Also note that the latest version of the manually
> mentions using Guix System rather than another live rescue image, so
> perhaps it just wouldn't happen then?  It seems we assume that
> /sys/firmware/efi exists for UEFI systems in the documentation
> elswehere, without having to mention that "efi=runtime" bit, so I'm
> inclined to think it's not necessary for Guix System.

I don't think "efi=runtime" is necessary (and I couldn't it in the
kernel documentation).I did run into this problem on the Guix System
installer. I think now that my problem must have been caused by using
'--bind' (without the "r"). Since the installer uses an UEFI
bootloader, I doubt any further steps are needed as you say.

>> +@item
>> +If your bootloader installation failed, you may need to bind
>> +@file{efivars} between the two systems.
>> +
>> +@example sh
>> +mount --bind /sys/firmware/efi/efivars /mnt/sys/firmware/efi/efivars
>> +@end example
>
> This should be covered by the --rbind, asusming the host contains
> /sys/firmware/efi/efivars.
>
> So I think we don't need to change anything to the manual. If the
> "efi=runtime" advice is truly useful even on Guix System, we could
> mention it like so:
>

I agree. I'm happy for this patch/issue to be closed. Thank you for
reviewing this!

Kind regards,
 - Christina

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