Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Martin Castillo]

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Hi guixers,

I want to dualboot into GuixSD. My main os is currently NixOS.
Currently, I don't want to let guixsd control my grub setup. So my
situation is similar to [1].

One solution is to use the unreliable chainloading with blocklists by
invoking grub-install --force /dev/sda3 after every guix system
reconfigure config.scm. (The config.scm has sda3 as grub target.)

The second (and IMHO the right) solution I am aware of is adding the
following in the grub.cfg which is handled by nix:
   menuentry "GuixSD - Configloader" {
     configfile (hd0,gpt3)/boot/grub/grub.cfg
   }

This way, grub loads the newest grub config file created from GuixSD.
There is only a minor annoyance:
guix system reconfigure config.scm returns non-zero and spits out an
error (because grub-install wants --force to use blocklists). But it
succeeds in everything else, especially in creating a new
/boot/grub/grub.cfg.
The alternative (guix system reconfigure --no-bootloader config.scm)
doesn't update /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
I'd like to have a way to have /boot/grub/grub.cfg updated without
reinstalling grub on the disk/partition and without having a command
return non-zero.

This could be done by adding a cli argument for reconfigure or allowing
an empty string in (grub-configuration (target "")).

WDYT?

Martin Castillo


[1]: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2014-12/msg00046.html
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Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Jelle Licht]

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2017-12-10 0:35 GMT+01:00 Martin Castillo <castilma@uni-bremen.de>:

> Hi guixers,
>
> I want to dualboot into GuixSD. My main os is currently NixOS.
> Currently, I don't want to let guixsd control my grub setup. So my
> situation is similar to [1].
>
> One solution is to use the unreliable chainloading with blocklists by
> invoking grub-install --force /dev/sda3 after every guix system
> reconfigure config.scm. (The config.scm has sda3 as grub target.)
>
> The second (and IMHO the right) solution I am aware of is adding the
> following in the grub.cfg which is handled by nix:
>    menuentry "GuixSD - Configloader" {
>      configfile (hd0,gpt3)/boot/grub/grub.cfg
>    }
>
> This way, grub loads the newest grub config file created from GuixSD.
> There is only a minor annoyance:
> guix system reconfigure config.scm returns non-zero and spits out an
> error (because grub-install wants --force to use blocklists). But it
> succeeds in everything else, especially in creating a new
> /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
> The alternative (guix system reconfigure --no-bootloader config.scm)
> doesn't update /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
> I'd like to have a way to have /boot/grub/grub.cfg updated without
> reinstalling grub on the disk/partition and without having a command
> return non-zero.
>
> This could be done by adding a cli argument for reconfigure or allowing
> an empty string in (grub-configuration (target "")).
>
> WDYT?
>
> Martin Castillo
>
>
> [1]: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2014-12/msg00046.html
> --
> GPG: 7FDE 7190 2F73 2C50 236E  403D CC13 48F1 E644 08EC
>

This seems like a useful change. I am currently running into a similar issue
using GuixSD on a laptop /w libreboot, in a way similar to what is done at
[2].
Reading your email just now reminded me that living in mediocrity is
something that can be changed when you run only/mostly free software :-).

Maybe the orphaned patch at [3] can be ad{o,a}pted to address both of these
use-cases?

- Jelle

[2]: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2017-04/msg00083.html
[3]: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2016-02/msg00116.html

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Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Mathieu Othacehe]

Hi Martin and Jelle,

>> This could be done by adding a cli argument for reconfigure or allowing
>> an empty string in (grub-configuration (target "")).
>>
>> WDYT?
>>

An already available option would be to override the grub-installer like
this :

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(define no-op-installer
  #~(lambda (bootloader device mount)
      (display "no op")))

(bootloader (bootloader
             (inherit grub-bootloader)
             (installer no-op-installer))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I admit this is not ideal, so I would propose two options :

* Allow for target field to be #f and do not call the installer when
this happends.
* Precise the --no-bootloader parameter of guix system to deal with
multiple cases, for example :

--bootloader=[default|no-config-file|no-install|...]

WDYT ?

Mathieu

Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello,

Mathieu Othacehe <m.othacehe@gmail.com> skribis:

>>> This could be done by adding a cli argument for reconfigure or allowing
>>> an empty string in (grub-configuration (target "")).
>>>
>>> WDYT?
>>>
>
> An already available option would be to override the grub-installer like
> this :
>
> (define no-op-installer
>   #~(lambda (bootloader device mount)
>       (display "no op")))
>
> (bootloader (bootloader
>              (inherit grub-bootloader)
>              (installer no-op-installer))

We could even define and document it as ‘no-bootloader’ or something
like that.

> I admit this is not ideal, so I would propose two options :
>
> * Allow for target field to be #f and do not call the installer when
> this happends.

Sounds reasonable.

> * Precise the --no-bootloader parameter of guix system to deal with
> multiple cases, for example :
>
> --bootloader=[default|no-config-file|no-install|...]
>
> WDYT ?

What would it do in the ‘no-config-file’ case?  Run ‘grub-install’ (or
similar) without regenerating ‘grub.cfg’?  Does that make sense?

Thanks,
Ludo’.

Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Martin Castillo]

Hi

On 11.12.2017 10:39, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Mathieu Othacehe <m.othacehe@gmail.com> skribis:
> 
>>>> This could be done by adding a cli argument for reconfigure or allowing
>>>> an empty string in (grub-configuration (target "")).
>>>>
>>>> WDYT?
>>>>
>>
>> An already available option would be to override the grub-installer like
>> this :
>>
>> (define no-op-installer
>>   #~(lambda (bootloader device mount)
>>       (display "no op")))
>>
>> (bootloader (bootloader
>>              (inherit grub-bootloader)
>>              (installer no-op-installer))
> 
> We could even define and document it as ‘no-bootloader’ or something
> like that.
> 
>> I admit this is not ideal, so I would propose two options :
>>
>> * Allow for target field to be #f and do not call the installer when
>> this happends.
> 
> Sounds reasonable.

+1

> 
>> * Precise the --no-bootloader parameter of guix system to deal with
>> multiple cases, for example :
>>
>> --bootloader=[default|no-config-file|no-install|...]
>>
>> WDYT ?
> 
> What would it do in the ‘no-config-file’ case?  Run ‘grub-install’ (or
> similar) without regenerating ‘grub.cfg’?  Does that make sense?

I realised a third option for dualbooting:
menuentry "GuixSD - grub core.img loader" {
  search --set root --label guix-root --hint hd0,gpt3
  multiboot /boot/grub/i386-pc/core.img
}

This loads the guixsd grub image from the filesystem instead of relying
on blocklists. If someone uses different bootloader for the main system
and for guixsd, where the later is multiboot compatible, this would be a
good way to do it. no-install should not forget to create core.img and
other files besides grub.cfg.
I think useful is 'default' (install new bootconfig or, if target is #f,
create it only), 'no-install' (like default with target == #f) and 'no'
(do nothing related to booting).

Martin

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Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello,

Martin Castillo <castilma@uni-bremen.de> skribis:

> I realised a third option for dualbooting:
> menuentry "GuixSD - grub core.img loader" {
>   search --set root --label guix-root --hint hd0,gpt3
>   multiboot /boot/grub/i386-pc/core.img
> }

Indeed, that should always work.

Note that if all you want is dual-boot, this should already be possible
by defining new menu entries in the GuixSD config:

  https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Bootloader-Configuration.html#index-dual-boot

HTH,
Ludo’.

Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Oleg Pykhalov]

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ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

> Note that if all you want is dual-boot, this should already be possible
> by defining new menu entries in the GuixSD config:
>
>   https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Bootloader-Configuration.html#index-dual-boot

Are linux linux-arguments initrd in menu-entry required?

Maybe we could have configfile field?
https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/html_node/configfile.html

Oleg.

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Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Ludovic Courtès]

Oleg Pykhalov <go.wigust@gmail.com> skribis:

> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:
>
>> Note that if all you want is dual-boot, this should already be possible
>> by defining new menu entries in the GuixSD config:
>>
>>   https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Bootloader-Configuration.html#index-dual-boot
>
> Are linux linux-arguments initrd in menu-entry required?

Currently yes: this is how you tell GRUB what to boot.

> Maybe we could have configfile field?
> https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/html_node/configfile.html

Yes, we could do that.  One question is how to integrated properly since
‘menu-entry’ is now bootloader-independent.  Perhaps Mathieu or Danny
have ideas?

Thanks,
Ludo’.

Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Oleg Pykhalov]

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Hello Ludovic,

ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

> Oleg Pykhalov <go.wigust@gmail.com> skribis:

[...]

>> Are linux linux-arguments initrd in menu-entry required?
>
> Currently yes: this is how you tell GRUB what to boot.

I see an issue with it, because not always you want them.

>> Maybe we could have configfile field?
>> https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/html_node/configfile.html
>
> Yes, we could do that.  One question is how to integrated properly since
> ‘menu-entry’ is now bootloader-independent.  Perhaps Mathieu or Danny
> have ideas?

We could start by adding a way to add anything.  Here is a patch.
Probably ugly, but as a draft and idea about additional-options.


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From 7d7162a8ec78c84e7eba3ae9f7c4fbf07703617e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Oleg Pykhalov <go.wigust@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2018 08:59:30 +0300
Subject: [PATCH] bootloader: Add additional-options to menu-entry.

* gnu/bootloader.scm (<menu-entry>)[additional-options]: New field.
* gnu/bootloader/grub.scm (grub-configuration-file): Handle this.
---
 gnu/bootloader.scm      | 19 +++++++++++--------
 gnu/bootloader/grub.scm | 27 +++++++++++++++++++--------
 2 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/gnu/bootloader.scm b/gnu/bootloader.scm
index 736f11952..9a3c29a88 100644
--- a/gnu/bootloader.scm
+++ b/gnu/bootloader.scm
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
             menu-entry-linux-arguments
             menu-entry-initrd
             menu-entry-device-mount-point
+            menu-entry-additional-options
 
             bootloader
             bootloader?
@@ -65,15 +66,17 @@
 (define-record-type* <menu-entry>
   menu-entry make-menu-entry
   menu-entry?
-  (label           menu-entry-label)
-  (device          menu-entry-device       ; file system uuid, label, or #f
-                   (default #f))
+  (label              menu-entry-label)
+  (device             menu-entry-device      ; file system uuid, label, or #f
+                      (default #f))
   (device-mount-point menu-entry-device-mount-point
-                   (default #f))
-  (linux           menu-entry-linux)
-  (linux-arguments menu-entry-linux-arguments
-                   (default '()))          ; list of string-valued gexps
-  (initrd          menu-entry-initrd))     ; file name of the initrd as a gexp
+                      (default #f))
+  (linux              menu-entry-linux)
+  (linux-arguments    menu-entry-linux-arguments
+                      (default '()))         ; list of string-valued gexps
+  (initrd             menu-entry-initrd)     ; file name of the initrd as a gexp
+  (additional-options menu-entry-additional-options
+                      (default '())))        ; list of string-valued gexps
 
 \f
 ;;;
diff --git a/gnu/bootloader/grub.scm b/gnu/bootloader/grub.scm
index 96e53c5c2..7613c2a84 100644
--- a/gnu/bootloader/grub.scm
+++ b/gnu/bootloader/grub.scm
@@ -324,22 +324,33 @@ entries corresponding to old generations of the system."
           (label (menu-entry-label entry))
           (kernel (menu-entry-linux entry))
           (arguments (menu-entry-linux-arguments entry))
-          (initrd (menu-entry-initrd entry)))
+          (initrd (menu-entry-initrd entry))
+          (additional-options (menu-entry-additional-options entry)))
       ;; Here DEVICE is the store and DEVICE-MOUNT-POINT is its mount point.
       ;; Use the right file names for KERNEL and INITRD in case
       ;; DEVICE-MOUNT-POINT is not "/", meaning that the store is on a
       ;; separate partition.
-      (let ((kernel  (strip-mount-point device-mount-point kernel))
-            (initrd  (strip-mount-point device-mount-point initrd)))
-        #~(format port "menuentry ~s {
+      (if (and (file-append? kernel) (file-append? initrd))
+          (let ((kernel  (strip-mount-point device-mount-point kernel))
+                (initrd  (strip-mount-point device-mount-point initrd)))
+            #~(format port "menuentry ~s {
   ~a
   linux ~a ~a
   initrd ~a
+  ~a
+}~%"
+                      #$label
+                      #$(grub-root-search device kernel)
+                      #$kernel (string-join (list #$@arguments))
+                      #$initrd
+                      (string-join (list #$@additional-options) "\n")))
+          #~(format port "menuentry ~s {
+  ~a
+  ~a
 }~%"
-                  #$label
-                  #$(grub-root-search device kernel)
-                  #$kernel (string-join (list #$@arguments))
-                  #$initrd))))
+                    #$label
+                    #$(grub-root-search device kernel)
+                    (string-join (list #$@additional-options) "\n")))))
   (mlet %store-monad ((sugar (eye-candy config
                                         (menu-entry-device
                                          (first all-entries))
-- 
2.15.1


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Which allows to use additional-options in menu-entry:
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(operating-system
…
 (bootloader
  (bootloader-configuration
   (bootloader grub-efi-bootloader)
   (target "/boot/efi")
   (menu-entries
    (list (menu-entry
           (label "Another distro")
           (linux "")
           (initrd "")
           (additional-options '("search --label --set another-disk-label"
                                 "configfile /boot/grub/grub.cfg")))))))
…)
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Will produce the following Grub menuentry:
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
menuentry "Another distro" {
  
  search --label --set another-disk-label
configfile /boot/grub/grub.cfg
}
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I successfully reconfigured and dualbooted with attached patch.

Oleg.

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Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Félicien Pillot]

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Hi Oleg,

Le Thu, 01 Feb 2018 09:14:54 +0300,
Oleg Pykhalov <go.wigust@gmail.com> a écrit :
> We could start by adding a way to add anything.  Here is a patch.
> Probably ugly, but as a draft and idea about additional-options.
> 

When I try your patch (to solve the dualboot problem I have too) I
get this error:

/etc/config.scm:17:10 : error: extraneous field initializers (additional-options)

Why me and not you?

--
Félicien Pillot
2C7C ACC0 FBDB ADBA E7BC 50D9 043C D143 6C87 9372
felicien@gnu.org - felicien.pillot@riseup.net

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Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Oleg Pykhalov]

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Hello Félicien,

Thank you for the report!

>>>>> "Félicien" == Félicien Pillot <felicien@gnu.org> writes:

    > Le Thu, 01 Feb 2018 09:14:54 +0300, Oleg Pykhalov
    > <go.wigust@gmail.com> a écrit :
    >> We could start by adding a way to add anything.  Here is a patch.
    >> Probably ugly, but as a draft and idea about additional-options.

    > When I try your patch (to solve the dualboot problem I have too) I
    > get this error:

    > /etc/config.scm:17:10 : error: extraneous field initializers
    > (additional-options)

What will “sudo guix --version” say?

Please, show a “(bootloader …)” record field from your config.scm.

    > Why me and not you?

:-)

Oleg.

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Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Oleg Pykhalov <go.wigust@gmail.com> skribis:

> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:
>
>> Oleg Pykhalov <go.wigust@gmail.com> skribis:
>
> [...]
>
>>> Are linux linux-arguments initrd in menu-entry required?
>>
>> Currently yes: this is how you tell GRUB what to boot.
>
> I see an issue with it, because not always you want them.
>
>>> Maybe we could have configfile field?
>>> https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/html_node/configfile.html
>>
>> Yes, we could do that.  One question is how to integrated properly since
>> ‘menu-entry’ is now bootloader-independent.  Perhaps Mathieu or Danny
>> have ideas?
>
> We could start by adding a way to add anything.  Here is a patch.
> Probably ugly, but as a draft and idea about additional-options.
>
> From 7d7162a8ec78c84e7eba3ae9f7c4fbf07703617e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> From: Oleg Pykhalov <go.wigust@gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2018 08:59:30 +0300
> Subject: [PATCH] bootloader: Add additional-options to menu-entry.
>
> * gnu/bootloader.scm (<menu-entry>)[additional-options]: New field.
> * gnu/bootloader/grub.scm (grub-configuration-file): Handle this.

[...]

> Which allows to use additional-options in menu-entry:
> 
> (operating-system
> …
>  (bootloader
>   (bootloader-configuration
>    (bootloader grub-efi-bootloader)
>    (target "/boot/efi")
>    (menu-entries
>     (list (menu-entry
>            (label "Another distro")
>            (linux "")
>            (initrd "")
>            (additional-options '("search --label --set another-disk-label"
>                                  "configfile /boot/grub/grub.cfg")))))))
> …)

I think we should keep ‘menu-entry’ bootloader-independent.  I’m
actually not sure what problem we’re trying to solve: is it that the
‘root’ variable in GRUB gets set to the wrong partition when you try to
dual-boot?

In that case, perhaps a solution would be to add a ‘root’ field to
<menu-entry>, that could default to 'auto to obtain the current
behavior?

Ludo’.

Re: Dualbooting with guixsd not handling grub installation

[Oleg Pykhalov]

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ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:
 
  > I think we should keep ‘menu-entry’ bootloader-independent.

What does mean “independent”?  Do you mean that it's working only for
Grub now?  I guess others bootloaders could have this if they need to
generate a configuration file like “/boot/grub/grub.cfg”.

  > I’m actually not sure what problem we’re trying to solve: is it that
  > the ‘root’ variable in GRUB gets set to the wrong partition when you
  > try to dual-boot?

The problem is I cannot get a Grub “menu-entry” in “/boot/grub/grub.cfg”
which should look like:
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
menuentry "Another distro" {
  search --label --set another-disk-label
  configfile /boot/grub/grub.cfg
}
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Also “linux” and “initrd” fields of “menu-entry” are required to be
defined which prevents from generating the snippet above.

Thoughts?

Oleg.

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