Problems with grub2

Problems with grub2

[Fabian Boucsein]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2872 bytes --]

Hello Guix hackers,

i am trying to install GuixSD 0.8.3. I am using this configuration
and try to install it on a USB disk:

;; This is an operating system configuration template
;; for a "bare bones" setup, with no X11 display server.

(use-modules (gnu))
(use-service-modules networking ssh)
(use-package-modules admin)

(operating-system
  (host-name "amanita")
  (timezone "Europe/Berlin")
  (locale "en_US.UTF-8")

  ;; Assuming /dev/sdX is the target hard disk, and "root" is
  ;; the label of the target root file system.
  (bootloader (grub-configuration (device "/dev/sdb")))
  (file-systems (cons (file-system
                        (device "/dev/sdb1")
                        (title 'device)
                        (mount-point "/")
                        (type "ext4"))
                      %base-file-systems))

  ;; This is where user accounts are specified.  The "root"
  ;; account is implicit, and is initially created with the
  ;; empty password.
  (users (cons (user-account
                (name "fabian")
                (comment "fabian")
                (group "users")

                ;; Adding the account to the "wheel" group
                ;; makes it a sudoer.  Adding it to "audio"
                ;; and "video" allows the user to play sound
                ;; and access the webcam.
                (supplementary-groups '("wheel"
                                        "audio" "video"))
                (home-directory "/home/fabian"))
               %base-user-accounts))

  ;; Globally-installed packages.
  (packages (cons tcpdump %base-packages))

  ;; Add services to the baseline: a DHCP client and
  ;; an SSH server.
  (services (cons* (dhcp-client-service)
                   (lsh-service #:port-number 2222)
                   %base-services)))

First i tried it with (locale "de_DE.UTF-8") but guix told me that de_DE is
not available. This is of course changeable after installation but will it
be added to the guix installation later?

When i try the installation as mentioned above everything is fine until the
installation of grub. Grub tells me that there are multiple labels assigned
to the device. When i look into /dev/disk/by-label i find one label for a
partition. Is there a way to get rid of this disk labels? I tried it with
parted but that brought no help. In the configuration i am telling that i
want to use device names. Why is grub2 using labels anyway??? I am not sure
what is the source of the problem. With Nix i have the same issue when i
try to install grub2. Grub1 is working fine. Will Grub1 be added to guix? I
have not found a Nix configuration which tells nix to use devices instead
of labels.

Looking forward for any help. By the way i really want to have a working
Guix system. After seeing Ludovics Fosdem talk i am so excited about guix.
What a wonderful idea!

Yours sincerely,
Fabian

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 3301 bytes --]

Re: Problems with grub2

[Alex Kost]

Fabian Boucsein (2015-07-29 00:07 +0300) wrote:

> Hello Guix hackers,

Hello!

[...]
> First i tried it with (locale "de_DE.UTF-8") but guix told me that
> de_DE is not available. This is of course changeable after
> installation but will it be added to the guix installation later?

I think "de_DE.utf8" should work.

> When i try the installation as mentioned above everything is fine
> until the installation of grub. Grub tells me that there are multiple
> labels assigned to the device. When i look into /dev/disk/by-label i
> find one label for a partition. Is there a way to get rid of this
> disk labels? I tried it with parted but that brought no help. In the
> configuration i am telling that i want to use device names. Why is
> grub2 using labels anyway??? I am not sure what is the source of the
> problem. With Nix i have the same issue when i try to install grub2.
> Grub1 is working fine. Will Grub1 be added to guix? I have not found
> a Nix configuration which tells nix to use devices instead of labels.

Apparently the source of the problem is not Nix or Guix.  IIUC the error
happens during "grub-install" call, so you have to figure it out why
grub doesn't want to be installed.  You may look at the output of
"blkid" to see if there are the same labels (I don't know why grub
wouldn't like them).

Before experimenting with grub, read its info manual: (info "(grub)
Invoking grub-install").  If you are brave enough, check if the
following command also fails:

grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdb

("/mnt/boot" is where "grub" directory will be put)

As for grub1, since it is a free software, I think it may be added to
Guix if someone will decide to make a package for it (but you may be the
only person who want it :-)).

-- 
Alex

Re: Problems with grub2

[Fabian Boucsein]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2548 bytes --]

Hi Alex,

thanks for yiur answer. The error i get when guix is trying to install
grub2 is about too many disk label. With devices in mind there are three
ways to configure grub2. Devices, label and uuids. Looking
at my configuration i am already saying that i want to use device names to
identify my devices. Or is something wrong with my configuration and / or
my understanding of it? Why is grub bothering about disk label anyway?
Looking at my arch linux with its automatically configured grub2 there are
uuids in use.
Are device names unusual in grub2 and should i use uuids instead?

Thanks for all the help.

Yours sincerely,
Fabian


2015-07-29 9:36 GMT+02:00 Alex Kost <alezost@gmail.com>:

> Fabian Boucsein (2015-07-29 00:07 +0300) wrote:
>
> > Hello Guix hackers,
>
> Hello!
>
> [...]
> > First i tried it with (locale "de_DE.UTF-8") but guix told me that
> > de_DE is not available. This is of course changeable after
> > installation but will it be added to the guix installation later?
>
> I think "de_DE.utf8" should work.
>
> > When i try the installation as mentioned above everything is fine
> > until the installation of grub. Grub tells me that there are multiple
> > labels assigned to the device. When i look into /dev/disk/by-label i
> > find one label for a partition. Is there a way to get rid of this
> > disk labels? I tried it with parted but that brought no help. In the
> > configuration i am telling that i want to use device names. Why is
> > grub2 using labels anyway??? I am not sure what is the source of the
> > problem. With Nix i have the same issue when i try to install grub2.
> > Grub1 is working fine. Will Grub1 be added to guix? I have not found
> > a Nix configuration which tells nix to use devices instead of labels.
>
> Apparently the source of the problem is not Nix or Guix.  IIUC the error
> happens during "grub-install" call, so you have to figure it out why
> grub doesn't want to be installed.  You may look at the output of
> "blkid" to see if there are the same labels (I don't know why grub
> wouldn't like them).
>
> Before experimenting with grub, read its info manual: (info "(grub)
> Invoking grub-install").  If you are brave enough, check if the
> following command also fails:
>
> grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdb
>
> ("/mnt/boot" is where "grub" directory will be put)
>
> As for grub1, since it is a free software, I think it may be added to
> Guix if someone will decide to make a package for it (but you may be the
> only person who want it :-)).
>
> --
> Alex
>

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 3331 bytes --]

Re: Problems with grub2

[Alex Kost]

Fabian Boucsein (2015-07-30 09:33 +0300) wrote:

> Hi Alex,
>
> thanks for yiur answer. The error i get when guix is trying to
> install grub2 is about too many disk label. With devices in mind
> there are three ways to configure grub2. Devices, label and uuids.
> Looking
> at my configuration i am already saying that i want to use device
> names to identify my devices. Or is something wrong with my
> configuration and / or my understanding of it? Why is grub bothering
> about disk label anyway? Looking at my arch linux with its
> automatically configured grub2 there are uuids in use.
> Are device names unusual in grub2 and should i use uuids instead?

I would suggest to forget about GuixSD config for now and to try
"grub-install" manually to see if it fails or not.  If it is OK, you may
check "grub-mkconfig" with the generated config ("…grub.cfg" can be
found in /gnu/store).

-- 
Alex