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[arch-general] Removing initrd (For use with GRUB2, LVM, GPT)
by Jonathan Vasquez 12 Jan '12

12 Jan '12

Hello everyone, So I've been experimenting on removing my use of initrd and using the kernel directly. My current setup is the following: GPT, LVM, GRUB2 (So I can boot my partitions that are inside the LVM). /dev/sda1 BIOS Boot Partition EF02 (GPT) /dev/sda2 Linux LVM (named arch) /dev/arch/boot - /boot /dev/arch/swap - swap /dev/arch/home - /home /dev/arch/root - / When I compiled my custom kernel (from upstream, and yes I did enable device mapper support compiled into the kernel, I've also experimented with it as a module), the kernel fails to see the / partition. So I turn on my computer, BIOS starts, then GRUB2 starts, GRUB2 sees the /boot partition inside of the `arch` lvm because GRUB2 has support for it (insmod lvm), then when the kernel (which is inside the /boot partition inside the lvm) starts, the kernel "loses" the ability to find the partitions inside of the lvm. Which leads me to believe that GRUB2's ability to see lvm partitions doesn't carry over to the kernel.. rightfully so, 2 seperate applications. Then the kernel panics and says that I need to set the correct root= parameter. The parameter is set but the parameter is /dev/arch/root .. a partition inside of the lvm which the kernel cannot see after GRUB2 boots the kernel. I'm assuming this is why we need an initrd. So that the /init script inside the initrd does what it needs (like `vgchange -a y` then mounting /dev/arch/root as newroot and transferring control back to the kernel with that new root parameter). I guess what I need to do is rethink my partition layout because I cannot see a way to boot my root LVM partition without initrd, without doing a few things. Here is a few drawings I've made to think about my layout: (Current Layout) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6664419375_2ee9a7b794_b.jpg (Pondering Sheet) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6664367587_6ca149cfb3_b.jpg As you can see in the second sheet, my thoughts are as follows: Scenario 1. GRUB 2 starts, it finds /boot inside of the lvm, that then triggers the kernel to start, which then finds the root partition that is on a regular partition on the hdd, therefore no dm-mod support needs to be compiled directly into the kernel or to use an initrd to set up the environment before hand, after that happens, the init scripts (also /etc/fstab) load up dm-mod and load up /home which is inside of the lvm as well. Scenario 2. GRUB 2 starts, it finds /boot which is now on a normal partition, that then triggers the kernel which also finds / on a normal partition as well, and then the kernel triggers the systems init scripts, and loads up all the other partitions back into the / filesystem layout. The point of the above set up is to minimize real partition usage, and maximize lvm usage for the benefits of flexibility (involving resizing, shrinking, and adding more space) without the need for initrd. In term simplifying the entire system. There are of course other ways to simplify the system, and I'm not against using initrd in any way, but it's something that I would not want to use, or learn not to be dependent on. -- Jonathan Vasquez

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[arch-general] update error
by Peter Nikolic 12 Jan '12

12 Jan '12

Hi i have just run pacman -Syu reasonable list of updates downloaded ok integrity check ok but then error : (conflicting files) filesystem: /etc/mtab exists in filesystem initscripts: /etc/profile.d/locale.sh exists in filesystem Cheers Pete .

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Re: [arch-general] [arch-dev-public] [RFC] removing /bin/arch
by Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi 11 Jan '12

11 Jan '12

On 01/11/2012 03:46 PM, Ionut Biru wrote: > On 01/11/2012 08:07 PM, Tom Gundersen wrote: >> Hi guys, >> >> /bin/arch was deprecated from util-linux back in 2007, in favor of `uname -m`. >> >> Any objections to not shipping it any longer? >> >> Cheers, >> >> Tom > Why don't we let upstream decide that? > > IMO if is installed by make install, then we should keep it. > Disabled by default[#1], we are enabling it [#2] [#1] http://git.kernel.org/?p=utils/util-linux/util-linux.git;a=blob;f=configure… [#2] http://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/tree/trunk/PKGBUILD?h=p… -- Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi \cos^2\alpha + \sin^2\alpha = 1

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[arch-general] Stage 5 , Arch Wiki?
by Jonathan Vasquez 11 Jan '12

11 Jan '12

Hello everyone, So for the past few days I've been playing with Gentoo and Funtoo. I've learned a lot. I learned about something called Stage 4 and 5, which you can basically do to your system in order to make a backup copy of it, and put it in a tarball. I don't see any Wiki pages for this, so I was thinking that maybe I can write one once I learn more about it. Anyone think this is necessary? -- Jonathan Vasquez

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[arch-general] it just works
by Peter Nikolic 11 Jan '12

11 Jan '12

Well I have just tried the laptop with Arch Linux installed at my car club meeting where we have some 50" LCD TV's for display use so i plugged one into the lappy's external VGA port booted up and Bingo worked perfectly instantly .. Well done to all involved i have never been able to just plug and play before always taken lots of messing to get it to work Cheers Pete .

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[arch-general] Chromium KDE4 optional dependencies
by Chris Sakalis 10 Jan '12

10 Jan '12

Hello everyone. I am not sure if this is the right place to post this, or if this is actually worth posting. I am using KDE4 (4.7.4-1) and Chromium 16, which added support for the native KDE file dialog. I think that 'kdebase-kdialog' should be added as an optional dependency, because without it, the file chooser does not work. No error message is displayed, but on my desktop computer the file chooser was broken (it simply would not appear) until I installed the 'kdebase-kdialog' package. I also tried removing the package on my laptop and it did broke the file chooser in Chromium. I didn't even have to restart Chromium for the changes to take effect. Thank you, Chris Sakalis

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[arch-general] New LTS kernel soon ?
by fredbezies 10 Jan '12

10 Jan '12

Read this : https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/1/9/418 So, is Arch going to move is LTS kernel to 3.0.x, instead of 2.6.32.x where x is something like 52 ? -- Frederic Bezies fredbezies(a)gmail.com

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[arch-general] java-7-openjdk has been splitted
by Andreas Radke 10 Jan '12

10 Jan '12

To satisfy server admins not forcing them install lots of typical desktop deps (FS#27621) I've reworked our (openjdk7) JRE pkg and now it's splitted into jre7-opnjdk-headless and an addon jre7-openjdk desktop package. (I've followed Debian here, they do a good job here). I expect some people crying again "hell no, no more splitting..." but who cares. I have to satisfy the KISS people and also those that want it slack and without useless crap on their disc. Packages are in testing. Please test them well. The packages are meant to prepare the 7u2 Icedtea update expected within the next few weeks. The update path should be smooth. Everything should work after an -Syu and if you don't need the desktop stuff feel free to -R jre7-openjdk. -Andy

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Re: [arch-general] [arch-dev-public] udev-compat update (was: [HEADSUP] Minimum kernel version bump)
by Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi 10 Jan '12

10 Jan '12

On 01/07/2012 02:11 PM, Tom Gundersen wrote: > Hi guys, > > On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Tom Gundersen<teg(a)jklm.no> wrote: >> I'll fix some minor issues I found (lacking static device nodes) when >> I push the next udev-compat release. > Following up on this, I pushed a fix to trunk, and a pkg is available > here:<http://dev.archlinux.org/~tomegun/>. I tested this briefly with > -lts and it seems to work as expected, but more testing would > definitely be nice. There might be that some of these device nodes > should not be added for some reason I'm not familiar with, so please > have a look. > > This will be included in udev-176 whenever that is released. > > Cheers, > > Tom > Anyway, new longterm kernel is 3.0: From Greg KH: > 3.0.y - this is the new "longterm" kernel release, it will be > maintained for 2 years at the minimum by me. > 2.6.32.y - this is the previous "longterm" kernel release. It is > approaching it's end-of-life, and I think I only have > another month or so doing releases of this. After I am > finished with it, it might be picked up by someone else, but > I'm not going to promise anything. http://lkml.org/lkml/2012/1/9/418 -- Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi \cos^2\alpha + \sin^2\alpha = 1

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[arch-general] Hi from a new Arch user
by Peter Nikolic 10 Jan '12

10 Jan '12

Morning all well installed Arch still a few small glitches to solve but looking good Pete . -- Powered by openSUSE 11.3 (x86_64) Kernel: 2.6.34.10-0.4-desktop KDE Development Platform: 4.6.5 (4.6.5) "release 7" 08:36 up 23:40, 4 users, load average: 0.29, 0.29, 0.31

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