Full Disk Encryption

Full Disk Encryption

[sullentrapdoor]

Hello! I was happy to see that lvm support was recently added to Guix 
System. This brings two questions.

The documentation is not clear on what LVM can even be used for at the 
moment. In the file `/gnu/tests/install.scm` from Guix, it mentions 
"guix currently doesn't allow root-on-LVM". I do not see a mention of 
this anywhere else in the documentation. I am not sure if this is true 
and if it, why it is true. Will support for "root-on-LVM" come soon?

If the above situation is possible, I would like to install Guix System 
with full disk encryption. Currently, I have two partitions on my disk, 
one the EFI and the other one a LUKS partition with LVM. On LVM I have a 
root, home, and swap partition. Is there any way at the moment that I 
can simply install Guix System to my root partition without modifying my 
luks/lvm setup?


Thank you!

Re: Full Disk Encryption

[Joshua Branson]

Hey sullentrapdoor@airmail.cc!

Thanks for sharing that LVM support was added to guix!  I had not heard
about that!  That's awesome!  And thanks Mikhail Tsykalov for committing
it!  I'm pretty sure with a name like Mikhail, you have to be a genius.
Am I right?

For the commit message, it looks like LVM support was added on
11/25/2020.  So like, really recently.  It also looks like there has
only been one commit:  The commit to package LVM, which includes the
comment that guix currently doesn't support root-on-LVM.

My intuition tells me that currently guix does not support /root on
LVM.  I suppose it's just a little difficult to get that support set up
at the moment.  But you could always give Mikhail a financial tip to add
LVM /root support!  I'll chip in $5 toward this goal if you do!  Anyone
else that wants this support, feel free to respond with however much you
would donate for this support.

Man this is super cool news!  I've really wanted to play around with LVM
for quite some time now!

--
Joshua Branson
Sent from Emacs and Gnus
  https://gnucode.me
  https://video.hardlimit.com/accounts/joshua_branson/video-channels
  https://propernaming.org
  "You can have whatever you want, as long as you help

enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar

Re: Full Disk Encryption

[sullentrapdoor]

Thank you Joshua!

I appreciate you tracking down the commit (and committer). Searching 
Mikhail Tsykalov I did not find any way to give him a tip, but I did 
find a relevant issue that he published.

> Guix System in  current state can't boot from lvm partition because grub can't find 
kernel and initrd. This also applies to systems where /gnu/store is on 
lvm partition. Grub has lvm support in the form of "lvm" module, but it 
isn't loaded currently. Making grub config generator emit "insmod lvm" 
before grub starts accessing stuff on /gnu/store (so immediately after 
initial commit) will fix this.

https://issues.guix.info/44877


I am very new to Guix and Scheme so I am not sure how the aforementioned 
fixed can be implemented.

On 12/22/20 6:21 PM, Joshua Branson wrote:
> Hey sullentrapdoor@airmail.cc!
>
> Thanks for sharing that LVM support was added to guix!  I had not heard
> about that!  That's awesome!  And thanks Mikhail Tsykalov for committing
> it!  I'm pretty sure with a name like Mikhail, you have to be a genius.
> Am I right?
>
> For the commit message, it looks like LVM support was added on
> 11/25/2020.  So like, really recently.  It also looks like there has
> only been one commit:  The commit to package LVM, which includes the
> comment that guix currently doesn't support root-on-LVM.
>
> My intuition tells me that currently guix does not support /root on
> LVM.  I suppose it's just a little difficult to get that support set up
> at the moment.  But you could always give Mikhail a financial tip to add
> LVM /root support!  I'll chip in $5 toward this goal if you do!  Anyone
> else that wants this support, feel free to respond with however much you
> would donate for this support.
>
> Man this is super cool news!  I've really wanted to play around with LVM
> for quite some time now!
>
> --
> Joshua Branson
> Sent from Emacs and Gnus
>    https://gnucode.me
>    https://video.hardlimit.com/accounts/joshua_branson/video-channels
>    https://propernaming.org
>    "You can have whatever you want, as long as you help
>
> enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar

Re: Full Disk Encryption

[Martin Flack]

I would also be willing to tip for this! Someone do let us know if that's
possible.

Martin

On Thu, Dec 24, 2020 at 3:44 PM sullentrapdoor <sullentrapdoor@airmail.cc>
wrote:

> Thank you Joshua!
>
> I appreciate you tracking down the commit (and committer). Searching
> Mikhail Tsykalov I did not find any way to give him a tip, but I did
> find a relevant issue that he published.
>
> > Guix System in  current state can't boot from lvm partition because grub
> can't find
> kernel and initrd. This also applies to systems where /gnu/store is on
> lvm partition. Grub has lvm support in the form of "lvm" module, but it
> isn't loaded currently. Making grub config generator emit "insmod lvm"
> before grub starts accessing stuff on /gnu/store (so immediately after
> initial commit) will fix this.
>
> https://issues.guix.info/44877
>
>
> I am very new to Guix and Scheme so I am not sure how the aforementioned
> fixed can be implemented.
>
> On 12/22/20 6:21 PM, Joshua Branson wrote:
> > Hey sullentrapdoor@airmail.cc!
> >
> > Thanks for sharing that LVM support was added to guix!  I had not heard
> > about that!  That's awesome!  And thanks Mikhail Tsykalov for committing
> > it!  I'm pretty sure with a name like Mikhail, you have to be a genius.
> > Am I right?
> >
> > For the commit message, it looks like LVM support was added on
> > 11/25/2020.  So like, really recently.  It also looks like there has
> > only been one commit:  The commit to package LVM, which includes the
> > comment that guix currently doesn't support root-on-LVM.
> >
> > My intuition tells me that currently guix does not support /root on
> > LVM.  I suppose it's just a little difficult to get that support set up
> > at the moment.  But you could always give Mikhail a financial tip to add
> > LVM /root support!  I'll chip in $5 toward this goal if you do!  Anyone
> > else that wants this support, feel free to respond with however much you
> > would donate for this support.
> >
> > Man this is super cool news!  I've really wanted to play around with LVM
> > for quite some time now!
> >
> > --
> > Joshua Branson
> > Sent from Emacs and Gnus
> >    https://gnucode.me
> >    https://video.hardlimit.com/accounts/joshua_branson/video-channels
> >    https://propernaming.org
> >    "You can have whatever you want, as long as you help
> >
> > enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar
>


-- 

Martin

Re: Full Disk Encryption

[Joshua Branson]

For those curious, I just opened the relevant file
'/gnu/tests/install.scm', navigated to the section about LVM support,
and ran M-x magit-blame.  Super cool command.  :)

--
Joshua Branson
Sent from Emacs and Gnus
  https://gnucode.me
  https://video.hardlimit.com/accounts/joshua_branson/video-channels
  https://propernaming.org
  "You can have whatever you want, as long as you help

enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar