Arch Linux

teo3201

Member

Registered: 2020-03-27

Posts: 1

Can you approve my archlinux install?

Just installed a windows/arch dual boot config with refind bootloader. I was wondering if anyone with a bit more knowledge than me could approve my current setup, you can see my files here: Replaced imgur link with text below:

This is the contents of my boot folder in root. Notice the efi folder:

[teo@archstudent boot]$ ls
efi   initramfs-linux-surface-fallback-img   initramfs-linux-surface.img  intel-ucode.img  refind_linux.conf  vmlinuz-linux-surface

Inside the efi folder. The EFI boot disk is mounted to /boot/efi and this is its contents:

[teo@archstudent efi]$ ls
EFI  initramfs-linux-surface-fallback.img  'System Volume Information'
initramfs-linux-fallback.img  initramfs-linux-surface.img  vmlinuz-linux
initramfs-linux  refind_linux.conf  vmlinuz-linux-surface

My /etc/fstab file. As you can see I mount the EFI partition to /boot/efi :

#<file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# /dev/nvme0n1p5
UUID=b18aef9a-950d-43cb-ac29-8c73aa367f6d    /    ext4    rw,relatime    0 1

# /dev/nvme0n1p1 LABEL=SYSTEM
UUID=029D-A5C8    /boot/efi    vfat    rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437, iocharset=iso8859-1, shortname=mixe...

/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0

refind_linux.conf - This is the conf file that is on the EFI partition:

"Boot with defaults"    "root=/dev/nvme0n1p5 rw quiet add_efi_memmap initrd=/initramfs-linux-surface.img"
"Boot with standard options"    "archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_202003"
"Boot to single-user mode"    "archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_202003 single"
"Boot with minimal options"    "ro root=/dev/nvme0n1p5"

(nvme0n1p5 is my main root partition, nvme0n1p1 is my EFI partition)

I have installed a new kernel that is configured for Microsoft Surface Devices, as I have a Surface Laptop 3 13" i7.
I know that you should mount the EFI boot partition to /boot not /boot/efi, but I had some trouble configuring refind, and found a forum post saying you should do this instead. Is it bad?

As you can see the kernel images, like initramfs-linux-surface.img, have been placed both in my EFI boot partition and in my /boot folder in root by pacman. Refind has also created two refind_linux.conf files. Why is this? Can I delete one or the other images/conf-file? Where should they be?

Is this a good setup, or is there anything I should change to make it more robust or "best-practice"?

Last edited by teo3201 (2020-03-27 23:54:09)

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,534

Website

Re: Can you approve my archlinux install?

I'm not sure about your install, but we don't approve of photos of text.  Post the output here if you want it reviewed. (edit: thanks)

Last edited by Trilby (2020-03-28 12:53:03)

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"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

Lone_Wolf

Forum Moderator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 11,925

Re: Can you approve my archlinux install?

By mounting the esp at that location, you're making life difficult for yourself.
Everytime an installed kernel is updated you'll have to copy the files from /boot to the esp manually.
(Maybe you could write pacman hooks to do it for you, but it's still an extra step) .

The first option listed in the "Typical mount points" section on the efi system partition page is very simple and works great as long as your bootloader can access the filesystem where /boot resides .
refind supports many filesystems, including ext4 which appears to be your root-filesystem.

Other then that , many people prefer to have a separate partition for /home .
Separating system (/)  and user data (/home) tends to makes re-installation & managing backups a lot easier.

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

hainjedaf

Member

From: Amsterdam, NL

Registered: 2020-03-27

Posts: 7

Re: Can you approve my archlinux install?

Change 'relatime' to 'noatime' in /etc/fstab. It will improve SSD/NVMe lifespan.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 11,561

Re: Can you approve my archlinux install?

Change 'relatime' to 'noatime' in /etc/fstab. It will improve SSD/NVMe lifespan.

Not in any appreciable way.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,732

Website

Re: Can you approve my archlinux install?

I know that you should mount the EFI boot partition to /boot not /boot/efi, but I had some trouble configuring refind, and found a forum post saying you should do this instead. Is it bad?

The Arch rEFInd package includes EFI drivers for the ext{2,4}, btrfs, hfs, ntfs & reiserfs filesystems so you can keep your kernel & initramfs images under /boot, no need to copy them to the ESP.

And don't bother adding the relatime option to /etc/fstab, it's been the default since kernel 2.6.30.

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