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On Friday 26 Aug 2016 12:33:47 Mick wrote: |
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> On Friday 26 Aug 2016 09:32:25 Peter Humphrey wrote: |
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> > In my search for a suitable boot method, I'm trying Mike G's |
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> > systemd-boot ebuild. I've installed it with no problem, and now I reach |
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> > the heart-in-mouth stage of actually replacing gummiboot with it. But |
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> > first, the backup, including dd of what used to be called the MBR (what |
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> > is it now?). |
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> > |
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> > # parted -l |
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> > Model: Unknown (unknown) |
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> > Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 256GB |
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> > Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B |
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> > Partition Table: gpt |
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> > Disk Flags: |
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> > |
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> > Number Start End Size File system Name Flags |
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> > |
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> > 1 1049kB 3146kB 2097kB uefi bios_grub |
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> > 2 3146kB 144MB 141MB fat32 boot boot, esp |
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> > 3 144MB 4504MB 4360MB linux-swap(v1) swap |
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> > 4 4504MB 15.0GB 10.5GB ext4 rescuesys |
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> > 5 15.0GB 32.2GB 17.2GB ext4 gentoo |
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> > 6 32.2GB 36.5GB 4295MB ext4 var |
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> > 7 36.5GB 45.1GB 8590MB ext4 home |
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> > |
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> > [...] |
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> > |
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> > That start block of the uefi partition looks odd to me. |
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> |
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> The 'Name' of the 1st partition is the label you have provided when you |
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> created it. It is NOT the type of the partition, which is shown under the |
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> 'Flags' column as 'bios_grub'. |
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Yes, I know that of course. I called the first partition "uefi" because |
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that's what the wiki used, and nothing more suitable suggested itself. |
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> The 1st partition was created to accommodate Grub's boot code. |
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Now that I didn't know. Well, I was hazy about it anyway. |
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> It starts on the first cylinder (change the units in parted to cyl and |
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> you'll see it starts at '0 cyl') and has no fs on it. |
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Indeed, except that parted doesn't want to use cylinders in its list output. |
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> > I'm pretty sure I didn't specify a start position to parted when I was |
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> > constructing the partition layout six months ago, preferring to let the |
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> > program choose a value itself. |
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> |
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> Parted and friends will create this partition for Grub at the very start |
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> of the disk, when you use GPT. |
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Quite so. |
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> > I do remember, though, that parted had a strange idea of what |
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> > 2MB meant: it's turned out to be 2097kB. |
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> |
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> You are mixing decimal and binary. 2MiB = 2 x 1024^2 = 2,097,152 |
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Well, it isn't me who's mixing them, but parted. I was operating in MiB |
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throughout, as far as I could tell. |
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> > My question for the panel is whether I need to do anything about that |
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> > partition layout. What do you think? |
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> |
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> You don't have to do something about it, if you want to retain the ability |
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> to use Grub. If you will no longer use grub then you probably do not |
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> need the first grub-specific partition. |
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I hope I never have to look at grub-2 again. All the same, 2MiB is a small |
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enough price to pay for flexibility. |
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> As shown above the second partition is your EFI partition. 141MB may not |
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> be enough to store many kernel images, but it depends on how many kernel |
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> images and initramfs you keep in there at any time. |
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I expect to hold two or three kernels in the boot partition: the latest, a |
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recent known-working one and perhaps a long-term one. I haven't needed an |
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initramfs yet. |
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-- |
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Rgds |
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Peter |
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