Install Arch from within another distro

abhaysahai · 2007-12-26 12:10:00

Hi,
I have a working OpenSUSE 10.3 installation which I really like. However, I miss the sleekness and configurability of Arch and wanted to try it again. I have a free partition on my hard drive so I followed the Wiki http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … her_distro to install Arch on it.
I already have grub installed ( an a beautiful one) so I did not install the grub, simply made changes to the grub menu.lst of OpenSUSE and Added an entry for Arch.

I have installed Arch on /dev/sda3 and grub entry reflects it.
However, now when I try to boot to Arch, I get an error that root partition not found. I am brought t oa default shell with limited functionality.
I checked the /dev and found that there is no entry to /dev/sda3.
Infact there is not entry begining with sda in /dev, neither is any entry with hda.

I repeated the install procedure and found a step

mount /dev/ /newarch/dev/ --bind

which creates all the /dev entries, but these entries are erased ( vanishes) on reboot.

I also tried
# grep -v rootfs /proc/mounts > /etc/mtab.
but no go.

Please help me with this. Not sure how to retain /dev entries.

P.S:: another thing I noted was that kdenel26 is installed as part of base package group.

jacko · 2007-12-26 21:34:11

fdisk -l

then post your grub menu.lst here as well as fdisk -l output so I can look at it. I recommend using UUID to boot partions.

Look up persistent block device naming in the wiki for a good explanation.

Last edited by jacko (2007-12-26 21:38:22)

abhaysahai · 2007-12-26 23:25:53

Hi jacko,
Thanks for the reply. Here is the details

linux:~ # fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d675f
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1275 10241406 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 1276 4513 26008762+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 4514 4865 2827440 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 1276 3464 17575110 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 4443 4513 569488+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 3464 4117 5253192 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 4118 4442 2610531 83 Linux
Partition table entries are not in disk order
linux:~ # cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Tue Dec 25 23:38:14 IST 2007
default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,6)/boot/message
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title OpenSUSE
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22.13-0.3-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_ST340015ACE_5LACDVLB-part7 vga=0x317 splash=silent
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.22.13-0.3-default
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Arch
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 vga=0x317
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 10.3 - 2.6.22.13-0.3
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22.13-0.3-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_ST340015ACE_5LACDVLB-part7 vga=normal showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.22.13-0.3-default
# Arch Linux
title Arch Linux
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 vga=773 ro
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/kernel26.img

For Arch Linux I use the last entry, the Entry with title "Arch" was created while trying to copy an existing grub entry. Will delete it once I get things working.

I did a little more probing
I am trying to install Arch on /dev/sda3.
I mount /dev/sda3 to /newarch and then proceed with instructions in Wiki.
and found that /dev entries are deleted from /dev/sda3 the moment I unmount /dev/sda3.

The commands

mount /dev/ /newarch/dev/ --bind
mount /sys/ /newarch/sys/ --bind
mount /proc/ /newarch/proc/ --bind

mount /dev on /newarch/dev
/proc on /newarch/proc and
/sys on /newarch/sys.

On unmounting /dev again becomes almost blank and has only three entries
linux:/newarch/dev # ls
console null zero

Thanks again for the help.

Last edited by abhaysahai (2007-12-26 23:27:55)

abhaysahai · 2007-12-28 07:21:34

Guys planning to install during New Year holidays.
Please reply ASAP.

iphitus · 2007-12-28 12:09:21

/dev entries are created dynamically by udev when a system boots. So when your Arch isn't running, there should only be two files there, zero, console, and null (I forget which 2 of those 3). When udev starts, it creates the files.

The 'missing files' are not 'missing' -- that is normal.

What is the exact error you get at boot, and at what stage do you get it?

Last edited by iphitus (2007-12-28 12:11:31)

abhaysahai · 2007-12-29 07:15:44

Hi iphitus,
Thanks for the reply. I think that was the input I needed. Now that I knew that /dev is not the issue, I probed a little further.
I thought that maybe Arch does not support /dev/sdaX and instead has /dev/hdaX. I tried putting root=/dev/hda3 and the boot was successful. I just had to make similar changes to my /etc/fstab and voila I have Fluxbox running on Arch.

Question:: On the same machine I have OpenSUSE reporting /dev/sdaX with Kernel 2.6 and Arch having /dev/hdaX again with kernel 2.6. Could you please tell me what is the industry standard /dev/hdaX or /dev/sdaX ?

byte · 2007-12-29 16:01:27

There is no real standard, it just depends on how modern your kernel is and if it defaults to either the old ide (hda) subsystem or to the newer libata (sda).
What's the version of your install cd? Arch was probably one of the very first distributions to switch to libata, so I'm a bit surprised you got a hda device.

Last edited by byte (2007-12-29 16:02:32)

abhaysahai · 2007-12-30 02:20:57

Hi Byte,
I have followed this wiki http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … her_distro to install Arch from within OpenSUSE.
I got the latest pacman from ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/core/os/i686 and ran the command to install the base Arch system

./pacman.static -Sy base -r /newarch

I am in Bangalore, India and not sure which mirror was used, but I guess all the mirrors should be updated.
Thanks for clearing about IDE vs ATA. Will look more into this.

jacko · 2008-01-04 05:40:45

byte wrote:

There is no real standard, it just depends on how modern your kernel is and if it defaults to either the old ide (hda) subsystem or to the newer libata (sda).
What's the version of your install cd? Arch was probably one of the very first distributions to switch to libata, so I'm a bit surprised you got a hda device.

I have hda as well, I also did a OS installation of arch.

sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 20.4 GB, 20491075584 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2491 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x271e271d

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        2371    19045026   83  Linux
/dev/hda2            2372        2491      963900   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80060424192 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9733 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x106c106b

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        9358    75168103+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2            9359        9733     3012187+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            9359        9733     3012156   82  Linux swap / Solaris

arch is installed on the hda drive and if I remove the UUID in menu.lst and use the device location I have to use /dev/hda1 as well. Even in fstab. Funny though, when I installed arch with install CD it came up as sda and sdb. Now I am wondering what is so different and maybe what I am missing as well. I know aghay and I do not use the same mirrors. I am in the states.

Could it be that because my starting OS see's it as hda arch linux somehow got confused and used some settings from my that OS? I just figured it was me and was not gonna say anything, but abhay is not alone on this.

Last edited by jacko (2008-01-04 05:48:27)

stingray · 2008-02-01 17:21:38

I just installed arch using the same Wiki but I was already running arch, and just wanted to install a clean arch on another disk... I had the same problems. The way I fixed it was to copy my /etc/mkinitcpio.conf to the new system and then reinstall kernel26 which runs mkinitcpio on the new system.

Edit: I had a chance to test it, and it turned out that it only worked if I reinstall kernel26 or run mkinitcpio after a chroot to the new system... in which case it would just be "pacman -S kernel26"

pacman.static -Sy kernel26 -r /newarch

The problem was that the default mkinitcpio.conf uses ide instead of pata. When using the install CD, it changes this for you.

Here are the differences in the default mkinitcpio.conf and the one the install CD setup for me... It might work to just change ide to pata, but I haven't tested that...
Edit: I did test it and just changing ide to pata in the HOOKS worked for me

MODULES=""
HOOKS="base udev autodetect ide scsi sata filesystems"

MODULES="pata_sis ata_generic"
HOOKS="base udev autodetect pata scsi sata keymap filesystems"

Last edited by stingray (2008-02-01 20:49:52)

stingray · 2008-02-01 21:12:59

I've updated the wiki to try and address this. Feel free to change any of it if needed...

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … her_distro

byte · 2008-02-01 23:49:51

http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/9433 ... hope you don't mind.

stingray · 2008-02-02 05:05:52

byte wrote:

http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/9433 ... hope you don't mind.

That would be great, but I think it would break a lot of installs on different hardware. Unless the install CD detects that the hardware still needs ide and sets it... I suspect it will stay defaulted to ide for awhile.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-12-26 12:10:00

Install Arch from within another distro

#2 2007-12-26 21:34:11

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#3 2007-12-26 23:25:53

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#4 2007-12-28 07:21:34

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#5 2007-12-28 12:09:21

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#6 2007-12-29 07:15:44

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#7 2007-12-29 16:01:27

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#8 2007-12-30 02:20:57

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#9 2008-01-04 05:40:45

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#10 2008-02-01 17:21:38

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#11 2008-02-01 21:12:59

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#12 2008-02-01 23:49:51

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

#13 2008-02-02 05:05:52

Re: Install Arch from within another distro

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