On 13/05/2019 01.14, Stephen Berman wrote:
On Sun, 12 May 2019 23:15:33 +0200 "Carlos E. R." <> wrote:
...
Possibly... but I would make a backup of what the shop installed, just in case.
I already did that before repartitioning the Leap root partition and installing TW.
Good :-)
Also, don't confuse the EFI partition with the /boot partition or the BIOS BOOT partition. Each one is different. And nowdays, /boot is usually a directory of "/". In fact, if you partition "/" as btrfs, you must not use a separate boot partition, or reverting to a previous snapshot will not be able to boot the previous kernel.
Are you sure? If so, why does openSUSE propose a separate /boot partition but also btrfs for the root partition?
Absolutely sure. And you must be confused: the installer did not propose a separate /boot partition. It wanted a bios partition and an efi partition.
I didn't write down or photograph what was on the screen during the installation, but I have a very clear memory that it proposed a separate /boot partition, and have no memory of an efi partition. I think it referred to there being no BIOS partition when I tried to use the existing /boot partition, and also when I tried to make an new /boot partition. If and when I reinstall, I will capture what's on the screen.
(the proper filesystem for /boot, if it exists, is ext2).
I seem to recall that advice from older installations; is it still considered valid?
Sure. Reasoning is that on such a small partition (250 MB?) it is a waste to use space on a journal; and anyway, being small fsck goes fast if needed, even without a journal. But if you do want a journal, go for ext4. I do not understand why the install would want a separate /boot.
The EFI partition is formatted as vfat, and is mounted inside /boot. There is only one per disk. It is however very strange to have Leap using bios mode and TW using EFI mode.
By strange do you mean unusual but not otherwise dangerous or do you mean it increases the risk of not being able to boot?
It should not happen. Not dangerous, but possibly unbootable.
Ok.
When you do not know how to create the bios partition, just look at the initial proposal, and replicate the choices for that partition on a different spot. It doesn't use any filesystem, it is raw. And it is tiny, 8..16 mega bytes.
That's what I first did, as I wrote in my OP, but to everything I tried the installer said there was no bootable partition. If there is some way during installation to create a bios partition without accepting the intaller's proposal, it remained hidden to me.
Then it was referring to something else I don't see.
I don't see the BIOS partition in your layout. Anyway, IIRC that partition is only used when Grub is installed in the MBR in BIOS mode, which is not your case. However, the installer will not be happy till you make it "just in case" you change your mind one day and want to put grub in the mbr. It is a real tiny partition, so it doesn't matter to have it.
It looks like this in fdisk:
lesar:~ # fdisk -l /dev/sdc Disk /dev/sdc: 3.7 TiB, 4000787030016 bytes, 7814037168 sectors Disk model: ST4000DM004-2CV1 Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes Disklabel type: gpt Disk identifier: 1C7EE0A7...
Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/sdc1 2048 32767 30720 15M BIOS boot <====== /dev/sdc2 32768 1261567 1228800 600M Linux filesystem
I was confused by the installer's and your references to the BIOS boot partition, and now I understand why:
"The BIOS boot partition is a partition on a data storage device that GNU GRUB uses on legacy BIOS-based personal computers in order to boot an operating system, when the actual boot device contains a GUID Partition Table (GPT)." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS_boot_partition)
Yes. Apparently on GPT disks grub has no hidden place to install its loader (when installing to the MBR), so uses instead a dedicated partition. It is a bit confusing, but on the other hand, is a better design. You can even back it up on image backups :-)
Prior to this new computer I'd never installed on a machine with a GPT.
If I remember correctly, there is some point at the partitioner where you can choose which partitions to overwrite and which to leave intact, and then ask the installer to make a new proposal.
Yes, I think I tried that but the installer said something like the partition scheme I wanted was unsupported.
It certainly failed to boot...
That's misleading; I installed no bootloader in TW, but there's no problem booting TW from the GRUB2 installed in Leap.
Indeed. Thus TW does not boot on its own. If you do a kernel update on it, you need to run os-prober on Leap to update the entry. Ah! Unless you add an entry using the kernel symlink. ;-)
Note that when I open the Boot Loader module in Leap, it shows GRUB2 as the boot loader, and "Boot from Partition", "Set active Flag in Partition Table for Boot Partition" and "Write generic Boot Code to MBR" are checked and "Protective MBR flag" is set to "do not change". Is this display expected even if the bootloader is using EFI?
It is not using EFI, IMO. The settings are what I would do on a BIOS machine.
Your current setup is, I think, that Leap os-prober found the TW partition and added entries for it in its own grub. You have currently no way to boot by default the second grub - in bios mode. If you switch the computer to EFI mode, it is possible that Leap will not boot, and the the TW boot was incomplete and might not boot. The latter is just a feeling.
You should check your bios, what mode it is in.
The BIOS has UEFI CSM support enabled "to support a legacy PC boot process."
So, you are in BIOS mode, I think. :-??
Either that or the computer sees there is no proper EFI boot system and defaults to Legacy.
Maybe it is some sort of dual mode, TW detected EFI and tried to install in EFI mode... :-?
(confused)
You're not the only one who's confused. You're previous reply had almost convinced me that the system was booting in legacy mode (despite what Felix said), and that BIOS setting seems to confirm that. But then I found this (http://www.rodsbooks.com/linux-uefi/):
"You should verify an EFI-mode boot by dropping to a Linux shell and typing ls /sys/firmware/efi. If you see a list of files and directories, you've booted in EFI mode [...]".
And indeed, this is in the running Leap:
steve@linux-tuxedo:~> ls -l /sys/firmware/efi/ total 0 -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 May 12 23:44 config_table drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 May 12 15:12 efivars drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 May 12 23:44 esrt -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 May 12 23:44 fw_platform_size -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 May 12 23:44 fw_vendor -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 May 12 23:44 runtime drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 0 May 12 23:44 runtime-map drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 May 12 23:44 secret-key -r-------- 1 root root 4096 May 12 23:44 systab drwxr-xr-x 96 root root 0 May 12 23:44 vars
Ah, I didn't know that. But I think your computer has a dual stack, EFI/Legacy. EFI is there, but the machine booted as legacy. Leap is installed in legacy mode...
And since that is enabled, that permits configuring "whether to enable the UEFI or legacy option ROM for the storage device controller" and also "for the PCI device controller other than the LAN, storage device, and graphics controllers"; both are set to enable "UEFI option ROM only."
If you are going to install again, disable legacy and go for pure EFI, and wipe the disk. Just install then Leap but not using the entire disk to leave space for TW.
With everything I've understood you to have said before, this advice surprises me. Why pure EFI? Legacy seems much simpler, and it's worked fine for me till now for booting multiple systems installed on the same machine. Or is it really inadvisable to keep CSM support enable in the BIOS, installing Leap and TW using EFI but leaving the option of legacy booting for other systems that may not support EFI the was openSUSE does?
Well, EFI was designed from the start to support booting several different operating systems, while legacy uses hacks. There is an "EFI" menu that allows you to choose what to boot each time. Of course, we understand legacy better ;-) However, if you do want to use old systems, then you need legacy.
And if you don't have another computer, make sure to have the XFCE aka Rescue image installed in an USB stick (4GB suffices) and boot it at least once to know it works. Even if you have another computer :-)
I'm using the SSD for system installation only; all my data are on other disks and I have installation media on USB and DVDs.
Of course, not saying that. I mean that if the machine breaks and you need repairing or accessing things, better be prepared and have another system you can boot and work with. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from openSUSE, Leap 15.1 x86_64 (ssd-test)) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org