Arch Linux

antonio

Member

Registered: 2013-12-17

Posts: 14

[Solved] Automate Arch Linux install in libvirt/KVM

I would like to automate Arch Linux install via `virt-install` as suggested here in plain QEMU.

https://fadeevab.com/how-to-setup-qemu- … ll-script/

The first step is booting the ISO and redirecting the guest input/output to the host's terminal.
With a CentOS ISO I could redirect the guest input/output like so:

virt-install -n arch --memory=2048 --location=/home/test/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1908.iso \
 --disk ~/arch.img,size=2 --nographics \
 --extra-args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'

However:

virt-install -n arch --memory=2048 --location=/home/test/archlinux-2019.06.01-x86_64.iso \
 --disk ~/arch.img,size=2 --nographics \
 --extra-args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'

gives:

    ERROR    Error validating install location: Could not find an installable distribution at
     '/home/test/archlinux-2019.06.01-x86_64.iso'
    The location must be the root directory of an install tree.
    See virt-install man page for various distro examples.

Based on `man virt-install`, for non-supported ISOs, one could locate the kernel with:

--location my-unknown.iso,kernel=kernel/fookernel,initrd=kernel/fooinitrd

However replacing:

--location /home/test/archlinux-2019.06.01-x86_64.iso,kernel=/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz,initrd=/arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img 

gives:

ERROR    Command '['isoinfo', '-J', '-i', '/home/test/archlinux-2019.06.01-x86_64.iso', '-f']' returned non-zero exit status 1.

In fact the Arch ISO does not support Joliet:

isoinfo -J -i /home/test/archlinux-2019.06.01-x86_64.iso -f
Setting input-charset to 'UTF-8' from locale.
Unable to find Joliet SVD

It should also be noted that `--location` requires `isoinfo` from cdrtoos, which is not listed in  `virt-install` package dependences.

There are other arguments with with `kernel_args` sub-options, such as `--install` and `--boot`. But they still require locating the kernel.

Using:

virt-install -n arch --memory=2048 -c /home/test/archlinux-2019.06.01-x86_64.iso \
 --disk ~/arch.img,size=2 --nographics \
 --console pty,target_type=serial

Gives just a very limited initial output.

I tried to mount the ISO

sudo mount /home/test/archlinux-2019.06.01-x86_64.iso /mnt

and use the mounted path:

virt-install -n arch --memory=2048 \
 --location /mnt,kernel=/mnt/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz,initrd=/mnt/arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img \
 --disk ~/arch.img,size=2 --nographics \
 --install kernel_args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'

The console worked, but the bootstrap image looks for the Arch disk to mount by label (`ARCH_201906` in my case):

:: Mounting '/dev/disk/by-label/' to '/run/archiso/bootmnt'
ERROR: '/dev/disk/by-label/' device did not show up after 30 seconds...
   Falling back to interactive prompt

If you have any idea to redirect the console, the second step would be to redirect it through a named pipe, such as

mkfifo /tmp/guest.in /tmp/guest.out

Last edited by antonio (2019-11-16 22:38:48)

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: [Solved] Automate Arch Linux install in libvirt/KVM

This doesn't really answer your questions, but I've always just used pacstrap directly to create any Arch VM's that I need. I don't bother with libvirt at all I just use...
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/QE … es_on_boot

---

No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

Tarqi

Member

From: Ixtlan

Registered: 2012-11-27

Posts: 180

Website

Re: [Solved] Automate Arch Linux install in libvirt/KVM

This may help: Bootparams

---

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment. ~Lao Tse

antonio

Member

Registered: 2013-12-17

Posts: 14

Re: [Solved] Automate Arch Linux install in libvirt/KVM

@Tarqi
I tried to fiddle with kernel boot parameters, such as `archisodevice`,  but  Arch boot sequence requires '/run/archiso/bootmnt' to be mapped to  a device and `virt-install --location` provides a path.

antonio

Member

Registered: 2013-12-17

Posts: 14

Re: [Solved] Automate Arch Linux install in libvirt/KVM

@Slithery
I converted the virt-install command (without network) in plain qemu via `domxml-to-native`. There are so many optimisations which make virt-install worth trying. 

That is (code hard wrapped for readeability):

/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 -name guest=arch,debug-threads=on -object
secret,id=masterKey0,format=raw,file=/home/test/.config/libvirt/qemu/lib/domain--1-arch/master-key.aes
-machine pc-q35-4.1,accel=kvm,usb=off,dump-guest-core=off -cpu
Skylake-Client-IBRS,ss=on,hypervisor=on,tsc-adjust=on,clflushopt=on,umip=on,md-clear=on,stibp=on,ssbd=on,xsaves=on,pdpe1gb=on,skip-l1dfl-vmentry=on
-m 2048 -overcommit mem-lock=off -smp 1,sockets=1,cores=1,threads=1
-uuid e569ff76-a614-433c-b459-6efde9207ff5 -display none
-no-user-config -nodefaults -chardev
socket,id=charmonitor,path=/home/test/.config/libvirt/qemu/lib/domain--1-arch/monitor.sock,server,nowait
-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=control -rtc
base=utc,driftfix=slew -global kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=delay -no-hpet
-no-shutdown -global ICH9-LPC.disable_s3=1 -global
ICH9-LPC.disable_s4=1 -boot strict=on -device
pcie-root-port,port=0x8,chassis=1,id=pci.1,bus=pcie.0,multifunction=on,addr=0x1
-device
pcie-root-port,port=0x9,chassis=2,id=pci.2,bus=pcie.0,addr=0x1.0x1
-device
pcie-root-port,port=0xa,chassis=3,id=pci.3,bus=pcie.0,addr=0x1.0x2
-device
pcie-root-port,port=0xb,chassis=4,id=pci.4,bus=pcie.0,addr=0x1.0x3
-device
pcie-root-port,port=0xc,chassis=5,id=pci.5,bus=pcie.0,addr=0x1.0x4
-device
pcie-root-port,port=0xd,chassis=6,id=pci.6,bus=pcie.0,addr=0x1.0x5
-device qemu-xhci,p2=15,p3=15,id=usb,bus=pci.1,addr=0x0 -device
virtio-serial-pci,id=virtio-serial0,bus=pci.2,addr=0x0 -drive
file=/home/test/arch.img,format=qcow2,if=none,id=drive-virtio-disk0
-device
virtio-blk-pci,scsi=off,bus=pci.3,addr=0x0,drive=drive-virtio-disk0,id=virtio-disk0,bootindex=1
-chardev pty,id=charserial0 -device
isa-serial,chardev=charserial0,id=serial0 -chardev
socket,id=charchannel0,path=/home/test/.config/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/domain--1-arch/org.qemu.guest_agent.0,server,nowait
-device
virtserialport,bus=virtio-serial0.0,nr=1,chardev=charchannel0,id=channel0,name=org.qemu.guest_agent.0
-device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.4,addr=0x0 -object
rng-random,id=objrng0,filename=/dev/urandom -device
virtio-rng-pci,rng=objrng0,id=rng0,bus=pci.5,addr=0x0 -sandbox
on,obsolete=deny,elevateprivileges=deny,spawn=deny,resourcecontrol=deny
-msg timestamp=on

Last edited by antonio (2019-11-16 15:40:04)

antonio

Member

Registered: 2013-12-17

Posts: 14

Re: [Solved] Automate Arch Linux install in libvirt/KVM

The Joliet support might be just a bug, since isoinfo works and can manually extract the kernel/initrd.

From my understanting of Arch bootparams they  want a boot device, not a path (unless it is a remote path)

So my solution is to extract the vmlinuz/archiso.img to run them via `virt-install --location` and attach the ISO for the sake of passing the `archisodevice` kernel param.

tdir=$(mktemp -d)
iso=~/archlinux-2019.06.01-x86_64.iso

isoinfo -i$iso -x'/ARCH/BOOT/X86_64/VMLINUZ.;1' >${tdir}/vmlinuz
isoinfo -i$iso -x'/ARCH/BOOT/X86_64/ARCHISO.IMG;1' >${tdir}/archiso.img

virt-install -n arch --memory=2048 \
  --location ${tdir},kernel=${tdir}/vmlinuz,initrd=${tdir}/archiso.img \
  --disk $iso,device=cdrom --disk ~/arch.img,size=2 --nographics \
  --install kernel_args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial archisodevice=/dev/sr0' 

Last edited by antonio (2019-12-21 18:52:21)

seanvk

Member

Registered: 2012-09-19

Posts: 6

Re: [Solved] Automate Arch Linux install in libvirt/KVM

Following your example, I attempted to add support for UEFI booting.  So I added:

--boot uefi

Secondly I also installed ovmf:

sudo pacman -S ovmf

Next, I edited /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf to specify the nvram to the ovmf files:

sudo vim /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf
  nvram = [
  "/usr/share/ovmf/OVMF_CODE.fd:/usr/share/ovmf/OVMF_VARS.fd"
]

Finally, I restarted libvirtd:

systemctl restart libvirtd

However, it fails to fully boot with an unusual error about /dev/sr0:

:: running early hook [udev]
Starting version 245.3-2-arch
:: running early hook [archiso_pxe_nbd]
:: running hook [udev]
:: Triggering uevents...
:: running hook [memdisk]
:: running hook [archiso]
:: running hook [archiso_loop_mnt]
:: running hook [archiso_pxe_common]
:: running hook [archiso_pxe_nbd]
:: running hook [archiso_pxe_http]
:: running hook [archiso_pxe_nfs]
:: Mounting '/dev/sr0' to '/run/archiso/bootmnt'
Waiting 30 seconds for device /dev/sr0 ...
ERROR: '/dev/sr0' device did not show up after 30 seconds...
   Falling back to interactive prompt
   You can try to fix the problem manually, log out when you are finished
sh: can't access tty; job control turned off

This doesn't happen if I remove --boot uefi

Any ideas what's going on?

Thanks,

Sean

seanvk

Member

Registered: 2012-09-19

Posts: 6

Re: [Solved] Automate Arch Linux install in libvirt/KVM

I figured it out.

The nvram setting is deprecated, instead do this:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/qemu
sudo cp /usr/share/qemu/firmware/60-edk2-ovmf-x86_64.json /etc/qemu
sudo systemctl restart libvirtd.service