Re: ISO-9660 image working and ready

Re: ISO-9660 image working and ready

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hey hey!

(This is a followup to <https://bugs.gnu.org/27661>.)

Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> skribis:

> If we want we can (in the future) provide only the iso9660 image on the homepage (for x86_64).
>
> It will work from CD and USB flash drive - that should cover all the options.

Are you saying that the same image could be either dd’d to a USB key or
burnt on an actual CD?

Are there any downsides to using ISO9660 as the file system for the
media, like limitations on file names or file name lengths, restrictions
on the type of files, etc.?  (That doesn’t seem to be the case, but I
vaguely remember ISO9660 as having annoying limitations.)

> (Usually, ARM systems have a more involved boot process and will not work, neither from SD card nor from CD-ROM - and booting from USB flash drive is out of the question).
>
> Of course it would be nice if people could test the iso9660 image a bit (especially on UEFI systems of which I have none).
>
> To generate one, for example do this:
>
> guix system disk-image -t iso9660 foo.scm # will print the name of the directory that contains "guixsd.iso" in the end.

I’ve just built:

  ./pre-inst-env guix system disk-image -t iso9660 gnu/system/install.scm

on v0.13.0-1321-gc96ed0091 (current master), booted it with QEMU,
worked fine with ‘lsblk’ showing only /dev/{fd0,sr0}.   Woohoo!  \o/

The image has this 2KiB /boot.catalog file; is that expected?

Otherwise the file names look alright as if Joliet extensions were used,
but maybe they are?  “guix gc --verify=contents” in the image is happy
(and surprisingly fast).

Anyway awesome work, and a great milestone.  Many users who had been
complaining about the lack of ISOs will thank you!  :-)

Ludo’.

Re: ISO-9660 image working and ready

[Danny Milosavljevic]

Hi Ludo,

On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 23:20:26 +0200
ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) wrote:

> > It will work from CD and USB flash drive - that should cover all the options.  
> 
> Are you saying that the same image could be either dd’d to a USB key or
> burnt on an actual CD?

Yes.

> Are there any downsides to using ISO9660 as the file system for the
> media, like limitations on file names or file name lengths, restrictions
> on the type of files, etc.?  (That doesn’t seem to be the case, but I
> vaguely remember ISO9660 as having annoying limitations.)

It uses the Rock Ridge extension.  That means basenames are limited to 255 characters at most, allowed are all characters except NUL and "/".

>   ./pre-inst-env guix system disk-image -t iso9660 gnu/system/install.scm
> 
> on v0.13.0-1321-gc96ed0091 (current master), booted it with QEMU,
> worked fine with ‘lsblk’ showing only /dev/{fd0,sr0}.   Woohoo!  \o/

Now try qemu ...  -hda thesamefile.iso :)

> The image has this 2KiB /boot.catalog file; is that expected?

Yeah, that's the El Torito specification for the first-stage bootloader.  It contains what system architectures are supported and what kind of weird boot emulation the BIOS is supposed to use (look like a floppy drive, look like a hard drive, just be yourself etc).

> Otherwise the file names look alright as if Joliet extensions were used,
> but maybe they are?

Rock Ridge :)

UNIX permissions work, too.

>  “guix gc --verify=contents” in the image is happy
> (and surprisingly fast).

> Anyway awesome work, and a great milestone.  Many users who had been
> complaining about the lack of ISOs will thank you!  :-)

Thanks for your help :)

Re: ISO-9660 image working and ready

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> writes:

> On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 23:20:26 +0200
> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) wrote:
>
>> > It will work from CD and USB flash drive - that should cover all the options.  
>> 
>> Are you saying that the same image could be either dd’d to a USB key or
>> burnt on an actual CD?
>
> Yes.

Wow, this is great!  Thanks a lot!

-- 
Ricardo

GPG: BCA6 89B6 3655 3801 C3C6  2150 197A 5888 235F ACAC
https://elephly.net

Re: ISO-9660 image working and ready

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Danny,

Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> skribis:

> On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 23:20:26 +0200
> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) wrote:
>
>> > It will work from CD and USB flash drive - that should cover all the options.  
>> 
>> Are you saying that the same image could be either dd’d to a USB key or
>> burnt on an actual CD?
>
> Yes.

Awesome!

Would you like to update the ‘release’ Makefile.am target as well as
“System Installation” in guix.texi to reflect that?

>> Are there any downsides to using ISO9660 as the file system for the
>> media, like limitations on file names or file name lengths, restrictions
>> on the type of files, etc.?  (That doesn’t seem to be the case, but I
>> vaguely remember ISO9660 as having annoying limitations.)
>
> It uses the Rock Ridge extension.  That means basenames are limited to 255 characters at most, allowed are all characters except NUL and "/".

Cool.

>>   ./pre-inst-env guix system disk-image -t iso9660 gnu/system/install.scm
>> 
>> on v0.13.0-1321-gc96ed0091 (current master), booted it with QEMU,
>> worked fine with ‘lsblk’ showing only /dev/{fd0,sr0}.   Woohoo!  \o/
>
> Now try qemu ...  -hda thesamefile.iso :)

Incredible.  :-)

>> The image has this 2KiB /boot.catalog file; is that expected?
>
> Yeah, that's the El Torito specification for the first-stage bootloader.  It contains what system architectures are supported and what kind of weird boot emulation the BIOS is supposed to use (look like a floppy drive, look like a hard drive, just be yourself etc).

OK.

>> Otherwise the file names look alright as if Joliet extensions were used,
>> but maybe they are?
>
> Rock Ridge :)

Oh right, Rock Ridge.  Thanks for explaining!

Ludo’.

Re: ISO-9660 image working and ready

[Danny Milosavljevic]

Hi Ludo,

On Mon, 17 Jul 2017 15:41:26 +0200
ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) wrote:

> Would you like to update the ‘release’ Makefile.am target as well as
> “System Installation” in guix.texi to reflect that?

Sure, but if possible, let's make sure that the image is tested in all cases first.  I hope someone tests the image on a real EFI computer again.  (It works in qemu - but with the complexity of the EFI specification and all I'd rather someone burned it to DVD and tried to boot from it)

Then something like the following?

diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 4d1512f8c..1d4364bce 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -632,14 +632,15 @@ release: dist
          image=`$(top_builddir)/pre-inst-env                                           \
            guix system disk-image                                                      \
             --system=$$system                                                          \
+            --file-system-type=iso9660                                                  \
            gnu/system/install.scm` ;                                                   \
          if [ ! -f "$$image" ] ; then                                                  \
            echo "failed to produced GuixSD installation image for $$system" >&2 ;      \
            exit 1 ;                                                                    \
          fi ;                                                                          \
-         xz < "$$image" > "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.xz.tmp" ;       \
+         xz < "$$image"/guixsd.iso > "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.xz.tmp" ;    \
          mv "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.xz.tmp"                       \
-            "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.xz" ;                         \
+            "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.iso.xz" ;                     \
        done
        for system in $(GUIXSD_VM_SYSTEMS) ; do                                         \
          image=`$(top_builddir)/pre-inst-env                                           \

Re: ISO-9660 image working and ready

[Adam Van Ymeren]

On July 17, 2017 1:54:49 PM EDT, Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> wrote:
>
>Sure, but if possible, let's make sure that the image is tested in all
>cases first.  I hope someone tests the image on a real EFI computer
>again.  (It works in qemu - but with the complexity of the EFI
>specification and all I'd rather someone burned it to DVD and tried to
>boot from it)

I will try to test it on a real EFI system tonight.

Re: ISO-9660 image working and ready

[Adam Van Ymeren]

Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> writes:

> Hi Ludo,
>
> On Mon, 17 Jul 2017 15:41:26 +0200
> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) wrote:
>
>> Would you like to update the ‘release’ Makefile.am target as well as
>> “System Installation” in guix.texi to reflect that?
>
> Sure, but if possible, let's make sure that the image is tested in all
> cases first.  I hope someone tests the image on a real EFI computer
> again.  (It works in qemu - but with the complexity of the EFI
> specification and all I'd rather someone burned it to DVD and tried to
> boot from it)

No luck booting the prodced guixsd.iso burned to a DVD on my UEFI
system.  It does boot fine if I disable UEFI boot.

That being said, it's possible that my system just doesn't supporting
booting from DVDs in UEFI mode.  I'm going to try to rule that out by
finding some other iso reported to work on UEFI systems.

Re: ISO-9660 image working and ready

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi!

Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> skribis:

>> Would you like to update the ‘release’ Makefile.am target as well as
>> “System Installation” in guix.texi to reflect that?

[...]

> Then something like the following?
>
> diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
> index 4d1512f8c..1d4364bce 100644
> --- a/Makefile.am
> +++ b/Makefile.am
> @@ -632,14 +632,15 @@ release: dist
>           image=`$(top_builddir)/pre-inst-env                                           \
>             guix system disk-image                                                      \
>              --system=$$system                                                          \
> +            --file-system-type=iso9660                                                  \
>             gnu/system/install.scm` ;                                                   \
>           if [ ! -f "$$image" ] ; then                                                  \
>             echo "failed to produced GuixSD installation image for $$system" >&2 ;      \
>             exit 1 ;                                                                    \
>           fi ;                                                                          \
> -         xz < "$$image" > "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.xz.tmp" ;       \
> +         xz < "$$image"/guixsd.iso > "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.xz.tmp" ;    \
>           mv "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.xz.tmp"                       \
> -            "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.xz" ;                         \
> +            "$(releasedir)/$(GUIXSD_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.iso.xz" ;                     \
>         done
>         for system in $(GUIXSD_VM_SYSTEMS) ; do                                         \
>           image=`$(top_builddir)/pre-inst-env                                           \

Yes, but what about removing the “/guixsd.iso” suffix first, as
discussed in another thread?

We also need to pay attention to “System Installation” in guix.texi.

Ludo’.