Arch Linux

merlock

Member

Registered: 2018-10-30

Posts: 262

[SOLVED] Convert to systemd-boot

When I installed Arch, I put the $esp to /efi.

Now, I'm wanting to convert to systemd-boot, hopefully without the additional steps to update.

Questions: 

Do I just copy the contents of /boot over to /efi, and if so, *where* do I copy it to?

ls -la /efi
total 12
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root 4096 Dec 31  1969 .
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Jul  5 16:23 ..
drwxr-xr-x  6 root root 4096 Jul  2 21:54 EFI

ls -la /efi/EFI
total 24
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Jul  2 21:54 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Dec 31  1969 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul  2 21:54 ARCH
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 27  2019 boot
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 30  2018 manjaro
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 30  2018 manjaron

I'm not worried about the manjaro entries...they are just old cruft.

After copying, change my fstab to mount $esp to /boot?

Last edited by merlock (2019-10-14 03:26:51)

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Alber

Member

From: Spain - España

Registered: 2011-11-11

Posts: 227

Re: [SOLVED] Convert to systemd-boot

Hello.

What are those "additional steps to update"?
...If the ESP is not mounted to /boot, the kernel and initramfs files must be copied onto that ESP...

To install systemd-boot:
There is a -path option when installing systemd-boot if the ESP is not in /boot.
And for update (manually), it automatically checks /efi, /boot, and /boot/efi.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … ot_manager

Last edited by Alber (2019-10-01 14:33:45)

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Because not all of us are native English speakers, try no to use slang or abbreviations, thank you.

Alber

Member

From: Spain - España

Registered: 2011-11-11

Posts: 227

Re: [SOLVED] Convert to systemd-boot

I'm not a expert. So don't do that, only think about.

I'll try:
   Mount EFI partition on /boot. Before was it mounted in /efi? This way all in this partition is under /boot. (Yes, change fstab).
   Following the wiki install systemd-boot...

Edit:
  From your system. Maybe you can unmount and mount the ESP. And then install systemd-boot.
  Or maybe using arch installing media doin a chroot etc....

Edit2:
  Before mount ESP on /boot, the previous contents of dir /boot, I think they must be moved to the ESP partition.

  In /boot (where is mounted my ESP) I have:

     loader/
          entries/
          loader.conf
          random-seed
     initramfs-linux.img
     intel-ucode.img
     initramfs-linux-fallback.img
     vmlinuz-linux
     EFI/
         systemd/
              systemd-bootx64.efi

Last edited by Alber (2019-10-01 15:21:04)

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Because not all of us are native English speakers, try no to use slang or abbreviations, thank you.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,410

Re: [SOLVED] Convert to systemd-boot

I think you are misinterpreting the question, from what I'm getting the question isn't how to install systemd-boot but where to move the kernel files that reside in /boot (which is not yet the ESP partition).

@merlock
Copy over the content of your current /boot (most importantly, vmlinuz, initramfs of respective kernels and the relevant intel-ucode or amd-ucode) to /efi (as in the root of your ESP partition) then you can unmount/remove /boot and mount the ESP to /boot (and of course install, configure systemd-boot)

FWIW if your current setup works, for what reason do you intend to switch?

Alber

Member

From: Spain - España

Registered: 2011-11-11

Posts: 227

Re: [SOLVED] Convert to systemd-boot

@V1del
Yes, I think so. In my second post I was trying to answer that, but in pieces and in a very messy way. Your answer is much clearer.

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Because not all of us are native English speakers, try no to use slang or abbreviations, thank you.

merlock

Member

Registered: 2018-10-30

Posts: 262

Re: [SOLVED] Convert to systemd-boot

Thanks for the replies!  The file moving was my concern.

@V1del:  since I’m not dual-booting anymore, I thought I’d give systemd-boot a whirl.  I did it in a VM once, so why not try on the bare metal?  And, I might learn something new in the process.

---

Eenie meenie, chili beanie, the spirits are about to speak -- Bullwinkle J. Moose
It's a big club...and you ain't in it -- George Carlin
Registered Linux user #149839
perl -e 'print$i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10); '