From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic =?utf-8?Q?Court=C3=A8s?=) Subject: System installation from a USB stick Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 22:39:28 +0200 Message-ID: <87y4xdhgn3.fsf@gnu.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:45584) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WrvUi-0001nh-1p for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 03 Jun 2014 16:39:49 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WrvUZ-0004if-0V for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 03 Jun 2014 16:39:39 -0400 Received: from hera.aquilenet.fr ([2a01:474::1]:56711) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WrvUY-0004iX-PF for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 03 Jun 2014 16:39:30 -0400 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by hera.aquilenet.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 548E62BB3 for ; Tue, 3 Jun 2014 22:39:29 +0200 (CEST) Received: from hera.aquilenet.fr ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (hera.aquilenet.fr [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id VkWV1pv+z3Hm for ; Tue, 3 Jun 2014 22:39:29 +0200 (CEST) Received: from pluto (reverse-83.fdn.fr [80.67.176.83]) by hera.aquilenet.fr (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 06D5128A2 for ; Tue, 3 Jun 2014 22:39:28 +0200 (CEST) List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: guix-devel Hello! There=E2=80=99s been some progress towards having an image for installing t= he GNU system from a USB stick. Here=E2=80=99s a summary of the things recent= ly introduced toward that goal: =E2=80=A2 =E2=80=98guix system disk-image FILE=E2=80=99 generates a raw d= isk image of the operating system declared in FILE (info "(guix) Using the Configuration System"). The image contains a DOS partition table and a single partition, ext4-formatted. The idea is that it can be copied as is on a USB stick that is large enough: sudo dd if=3D$(guix system disk-image FILE) of=3D/dev/sdXX =E2=80=A2 The (guix system install) module provides a (very basic) operat= ing system declaration corresponding to the system that would run on the installation USB stick: it has all the useful packages (Guix, disk partitioning tools, networking, etc.), tty2 has the Info reader opened on the right section of the manual (though it needs to be expanded), etc. =E2=80=A2 =E2=80=98guix system init FILE DIR=E2=80=99 populates DIR with = the store and additional files corresponding to the operating system declaration in FILE (info "(guix) Invoking guix system"). =E2=80=A2 The boot/initrd code has been improved. For instance, it=E2=80= =99s able to mount file systems specified by label instead of by device node, which is useful for the USB stick. (And it does that all in Scheme, without resorting to libblkid. :-)) I plan to upload an image for the brave with a spare machine to sacrifice for testing purposes. :-) Note that it=E2=80=99s also possible to GNUify an existing system by running =E2=80=98guix system init FILE /=E2=80=99, which basically installs GRUB wi= th a menu entry pointing to a kernel, initrd, etc. from /gnu/store. There=E2=80=99s more work ahead, but it=E2=80=99s becoming pretty exciting. Ludo=E2=80=99.