partition table on guix system

partition table on guix system

[christophe.pisteur]

Hello,
I am trying to install guix system 1.3 on a lenovo t400 (libreboot) and 
I have a problem with the manual partition table during the 
installation.
I want an encrypted /home on a separate sata drive and the rest on the / 
partition (no encryption). But the installer fails when formatting and I 
don't understand the error message.

Here is the partition table I made:

ATA ... /dev/sda 128 GB msdos
1. normal 8GB linux-swap (v1)
2. normal 120GB ext4 boot/                       -> bootable: yes, 
encrypton: no

ATA .... /dev/sdb 1000GB msdos
1. normal 1000GB ext4 /home crypthome

When I confirm the table, the installer asks me for the key to encrypt, 
then starts to format, then aborts with a error message and starts again 
at the beginning of the installation process.

where is the error I made?

Thanks for your help

Christophe

Re: partition table on guix system

[Nikolay Velyurov]

Hi Christophe,

On Sat, Jun 12, 2021 at 10:03 PM <christophe.pisteur@posteo.net> wrote:

> then aborts with a error message

What's in the error message?

> normal 120GB ext4 boot/

Did you mean /boot instead? Be sure you haven't forgotten to make the
root (/) partition.

In cases with a complex partitioning I would recommend doing the
manual installation...

Regards, Nikolay.

Re: partition table on guix system

[christophe.pisteur]

Le 13.06.2021 00:35, Nikolay Velyurov a écrit :
> Hi Christophe,
> 
> On Sat, Jun 12, 2021 at 10:03 PM <christophe.pisteur@posteo.net> wrote:
> 
>> then aborts with a error message
> 
> What's in the error message?

unexpected error (The detail fits on one page..)

> 
>> normal 120GB ext4 boot/
> 
> Did you mean /boot instead? Be sure you haven't forgotten to make the
> root (/) partition.

In the partitioning menu, I simply entered / as the mount point. It is 
the graphical intallator that displays this in the columns shown in my 
email:

2. normal   120GB ext4    boot      /

> In cases with a complex partitioning I would recommend doing the
> manual installation...

I had already done this partitioning with the graphical installer of 
guix 1.2 and it worked. But I can't remember the details of what I did.

> 
> Regards, Nikolay.

Re: partition table on guix system

[Mathieu Othacehe]

Hello Christophe,

This is most likely yet another installer partitioning issue. Do you
think you could send us a copy of the error page? You can do it by
taking a picture of your screen, or better, by accessing the
"/tmp/last-installer-error" file that should contain the backtrace after
the crash.

You can then send it with scp to another machine of your local network
running an SSH server, or use a flash drive for instance.

If you manage to fetch the error message, sending a bug report at
bug-guix@gnu.org would be great.

Thanks for your help,

Mathieu

Re: partition table on guix system

[Christophe Pisteur]

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Le dimanche 13 juin 2021 à 10:46 +0200, Mathieu Othacehe a écrit :
> Hello Christophe,
> 
> This is most likely yet another installer partitioning issue. Do you
> think you could send us a copy of the error page? You can do it by
> taking a picture of your screen, or better, by accessing the
> "/tmp/last-installer-error" file that should contain the backtrace
> after the crash.
> 
> You can then send it with scp to another machine of your local
> network
> running an SSH server, or use a flash drive for instance.
> 
> If you manage to fetch the error message, sending a bug report at
> bug-guix@gnu.org would be great.
> 
> Thanks for your help,
> 
> Mathieu

Hello,

please find attached a picture of my screen of the error page. 

Sorry: It is difficult for me to follow the indicated procedure to
attach the file "/tmp/last-installer-error"

Thanks for your help

Christophe



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Re: partition table on guix system

[Mathieu Othacehe]

Hello,

> please find attached a picture of my screen of the error page. 

Great, thanks. This looks very much like this issue:
https://issues.guix.gnu.org/44872 and could be fixed by
154a4e046281c28e39b5016e965d3d937a2ea4a1.

Would it be possible for you to try to reproduce the issue with this
installation image: https://ci.guix.gnu.org/download/331.

Thanks,

Mathieu

Re: partition table on guix system

[Christophe Pisteur]

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Le dimanche 13 juin 2021 à 13:58 +0200, Mathieu Othacehe a écrit :
> This looks very much like this issue:
> https://issues.guix.gnu.org/44872 and could be fixed
> by154a4e046281c28e39b5016e965d3d937a2ea4a1.
> Would it be possible for you to try to reproduce the issue with
> thisinstallation image: https://ci.guix.gnu.org/download/331

Hello,
I tested the above version, still in graphic mode and manual
partitioning. I did two tests:1) three unencrypted partitions on the
same disk /dev/sda : 1. / 2. swap 3. /home. (picture 1)2) two
unencrypted partitions on the same disk /dev/sda : 1. / 2. swap
(picture 2)
Both tests fail with the strange message that the installer cannot
access the sdb2 partition  where the guix installer is (see picture 3)
It seems similare issue here: https://issues.guix.gnu.org/44872#20
The installer works fine in graphic mode and automatic partitioning.
The guix installer 1.2 works in graphic mode and manual partitioning.
Kind regards,
Christophe

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Re: partition table on guix system

[Mathieu Othacehe]

Hey,

> Both tests fail with the strange message that the installer cannot access the sdb2 partition  where the guix installer is (see picture 3)

Oh, I see. It should now be fixed with:
e12be802e02b3345a753e7ec1287852a7337a0a5.

It would be great if you could test this new installation image:
https://ci.guix.gnu.org/download/357.

Thanks for your patience,

Mathieu

Re: partition table on guix system

[Christophe Pisteur]

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Le vendredi 18 juin 2021 à 17:49 +0200, Mathieu Othacehe a écrit :
> Hey,
> > Both tests fail with the strange message that the installer cannot
> > access the sdb2 partition  where the guix installer is (see picture
> > 3)
> 
> Oh, I see. It should now be fixed
> with:e12be802e02b3345a753e7ec1287852a7337a0a5.
> It would be great if you could test this new installation image:
> https://ci.guix.gnu.org/download/357.
Hello,

1. I made the following tests with the proposed image, with the graphic
installer and the manual partitioning. 
Here are the partitions I made:
/dev/sda: 1. swap		2. / bootable
/dev/sda: 1. swap	 	2. /   			3. /home
/dev/sda: 1. swap		2. / bootable   			
	/dev/sdb: 1. /home
Without and with encrypted /home

Everything works perfectly! (notice: I only tried until the installer
generated the /etc/config.scm file). 

2. I found a problem: if, during the manual partitioning, you delete a
free space (by mistake), the installation crashes  (see picture) and
you have to start again from the beginning (language choice). I had the
same problem with the official 1.3 installation image.

Besides, I have three things to share (either with the 1.2, 1.3 or the
one tested today). I hesitated to do three separate emails, but I may
have misunderstood something about the installation process and don't
want to pollute the guix email.

A. About the time zone configuration: when you start the installation
process from a reboot, you have to select the city with the arrows (and
not by typing the first letter of the city: example Europe/Zurich) but
when you interrupt an installation and start again from the beginning
(= the choice of the installation language), when you get to the choice
of the time zone, you can type in the first letter of the city and the
installer selects directly the city that starts with this letter. It is
not a problem concerning the choice of the time zone but rather that
the process of resuming the installation from the language does
probably not completely start from the beginning (?). I just wanted to
point it out.

B. I would find it very useful if the installer offered to set up a
print cups service when selecting services. Editing the /etc/config.scm
file to set up cups is the first thing I do after any installation. 

C. About the choice of the keyboard layout "fr_CH.utf8":  strangely
(i.e. contrary to debian installer for example), you have to choose
"German (Switzerland)" first and then the variant "French
(Switzerland)". It is not intuitive to choose a "French (Switzerland)"
keyboard in the "German (Switzerland)" category. The debian installer
proposes directly the keyboard "fr_CH.utf8" when you choose the
regional settings Switzerland / French. 

Thanks for your hard work! 

Christophe



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Re: partition table on guix system

[Mathieu Othacehe]

Hey,

> Everything works perfectly! (notice: I only tried until the installer generated the /etc/config.scm file). 

Glad to hear that :).

> 2. I found a problem: if, during the manual partitioning, you delete a free space (by mistake), the installation crashes  (see picture) and you have to start again from the beginning (language choice). I had the same problem with the official 1.3 installation image.
>
> Besides, I have three things to share (either with the 1.2, 1.3 or the one tested today). I hesitated to do three separate emails, but I may have misunderstood something about the installation process and don't want to pollute the guix email.

No that's a legitimate bug report! Could you please send a mail to
bug-guix@gnu.org about that one, so that it is easier for us to track
it?

> A. About the time zone configuration: when you start the installation process from a reboot, you have to select the city with the arrows (and not by typing the first letter of the city: example Europe/Zurich) but when you interrupt an installation and start again from the beginning (=
> the choice of the installation language), when you get to the choice of the time zone, you can type in the first letter of the city and the installer selects directly the city that starts with this letter. It is not a problem concerning the choice of the time zone but rather that the process
> of resuming the installation from the language does probably not completely start from the beginning (?). I just wanted to point it out.

That's strange, letter based selection is supposed to be active from the
start, I'll check why.

> B. I would find it very useful if the installer offered to set up a print cups service when selecting services. Editing the /etc/config.scm file to set up cups is the first thing I do after any installation. 

It has been reported here: https://issues.guix.gnu.org/38161. We should
definitely add it.

> C. About the choice of the keyboard layout "fr_CH.utf8": strangely (i.e. contrary to debian installer for example), you have to choose "German (Switzerland)" first and then the variant "French (Switzerland)". It is not intuitive to choose a "French (Switzerland)" keyboard in the
> "German (Switzerland)" category. The debian installer proposes directly the keyboard "fr_CH.utf8" when you choose the regional settings Switzerland / French. 

We are following the structure dictated by the xkeyboard-layout package,
I don't remember exactly how the Debian installer deals with it, but
I'll check it.

Thanks for your help,

Mathieu