Arch Linux

kts

Member

From: Burma

Registered: 2016-12-20

Posts: 23

esp to /boot or /boot/efi

I'm attempting to install Arch on UEFI. EFI System Partition wiki page "mount the partition" section has two options: esp to /boot or /boot/efi.
If I follow the "esp to /boot", there's no confusion. Format the esp and mount that to /boot, fine.
If I mount esp partition to /boot/efi, I'd to mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi and mount to it.
On which condition do I need to mount esp to /boot/efi?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of either?
Which options is better?
I will use grub and lvm.

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What you know about computing other people will learn.  Don't feel as if the key to successful
computing is only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence:
the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.
—Alan J. Perlis (April 1, 1922 – February 7, 1990)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: esp to /boot or /boot/efi

If /boot is mounted to the ESP then systemd-boot and EFI_STUB booting can be used, this cannot be done if /boot/efi is mounted to the ESP (unless further workarounds are employed).

Some prefer to mount /boot/efi to the ESP because the kernel image is then not stored on a frangible FAT filesystem but systemd-boot auto-unmounts the ESP after 120 seconds of inactivity and will re-mount it automatically on demand, which is nice.

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Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

drcouzelis

Member

From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

Website

Re: esp to /boot or /boot/efi

I, too, setup my computer with UEFI for the first time last year. It looks like I have my ESP (FAT32) mounted to "/boot".

But I also have a directory "/boot/EFI". Did that get created automatically when I used "bootctl update"?

By the way, I also have the "systemd-boot-pacman-hook" packages installed from the AUR, to automatically update my boot stuff when systemd gets updated.

kts

Member

From: Burma

Registered: 2016-12-20

Posts: 23

Re: esp to /boot or /boot/efi

Thank you! I'm done installing it. Lost a big chunk of data in the process. Lessons learned, not again.

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What you know about computing other people will learn.  Don't feel as if the key to successful
computing is only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence:
the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.
—Alan J. Perlis (April 1, 1922 – February 7, 1990)

Blasphemist

Member

From: Colorado

Registered: 2013-01-17

Posts: 160

Re: esp to /boot or /boot/efi

UEFI can only launch a UEFI executable and only on the ESP. It has to hand off the boot process to a file on the ESP. When you use /boot to mount the ESP, /boot and all of its child directories are on the ESP. That includes the kernel which by default in Arch is EFISTUB enabled and always installs and updates in /boot.

If you use /boot/efi as the mount point for the ESP, /boot then exists on the root partition, not the ESP. The /boot/esp and its child directories are then on the ESP. Since the kernel files (installed on /boot) then aren't on the ESP they can't be launched by UEFI unless you do something to copy them to /boot/efi after all installation and updates to them.

When you install a boot loader or boot manager, you tell the install process where the ESP is mounted and it creates it's files and directories on the ESP so that the entry it creates in UEFI for that boot option is accessible for UEFI on the ESP. That boot loader or boot manager will have to provide it's own ability to access (file system drivers) any OS kernel not on the ESP and not all boot loaders and boot managers have this capability.

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Simple and Open

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: esp to /boot or /boot/efi

I also have a directory "/boot/EFI". Did that get created automatically when I used "bootctl update"?

Yes, I think so — `bootctl update` will copy the systemd-boot .efi loader to $ESP/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI to cover defective UEFI implementations that do not "remember" NVRAM entries.

More here: https://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloade … ive-naming

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Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

Maniaxx

Member

Registered: 2014-05-14

Posts: 761

Re: esp to /boot or /boot/efi

When going for ESP->/boot/efi you can keep it unmounted in the regular system and updating kernel and grub still works (if /boot is on main partition). Good for 1 partition systems without lvm2.

Last edited by Maniaxx (2018-01-23 19:47:30)

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sys2064