Arch Linux

archisominimalist

Member

Registered: 2023-02-11

Posts: 22

[SOLVED] 02/2023 archiso basics

Thanks to everybody that is contributing to make open-source software possible.
I see your point of view and respect your time.

Last edited by archisominimalist (2023-02-13 14:05:48)

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Thanks to everybody that is contributing to make open-source software possible.
Apparently I still manage to offend people, even while trying to be as empathic as possible and search/try to learn before posting.
I love y'all.

mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,344

Website

Re: [SOLVED] 02/2023 archiso basics

There is no dedicated section. That kind of a post goes to the category, which best suits what ArchISO is used for or the kind of ArchISO problem you are experiencing.

Please post question also in the message itself, not in the topic only. In this case, if you also explained what kind of a question you want to ask, I could point you to some specific place. Without that… I can not.

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Sometimes I seem a bit harsh — don’t get offended too easily!

archisominimalist

Member

Registered: 2023-02-11

Posts: 22

Re: [SOLVED] 02/2023 archiso basics

I've managed to create an iso with archiso which I'm quite proud of as a non-tech guy.
In combination with Ventoy, I tested the .iso on bare metal and it works, that was an achievement for me.
I documented all the changes that I've made.
Because the work directory was messy, I decided to start over with a clean copy of ../config/baseline.

Now, I ran in a couple of issues and decided to take a step back, get a better understanding and dive deeper.
To be clear, I'm most interested in the soft skills to research, learn and troubleshoot on my own.
If you find yourself confused on my approach please share your point of view, because my lack of knowledge most likely makes me ask the wrong questions.
Let's to focus on the issues at hand.

Framework:
I have base arch with gnome installed. I create the .iso with mkarchiso and test it as liveUSB without virtual hard drive in virtualbox or qemu.

The goal:
.iso in combination with Ventoy = liveUSB with the packages, configurations I need.

First issue:

The baseline config is supposed to be the bare minimum.
Are those really the essential packages?

base
cloud-init
syslinux
edk2-shell
memtest86+
memtest86+-efi
linux
mkinitcpio
mkinitcpio-archiso
qemu-guest-agent
virtualbox-guest-utils-nox
 

Second issue:
My successful project used syslinux as bootloader, I don't remember modifying anything besides the kernelparameters in the syslinux-linux.cfg.
Now without even having grub in the packages, grub is the bootloader, lol.

Third issue:
During boot in virtualbox the system get's stuck after [ OK ] Finished Load/Save random seed.
During boot in qemu the system get's stuck after [ OK ] Finished Monitoring of LVM2 mirrors, snapshots etc. using dmeventd or progress polling.
After some research, my best guess is that there is something in the background, maybe a missing driver, but I can't figure it out.
Since it's not possible to do CTRL + ALT + F2 to switch to one of the 6 other VT's, I have no idea how to troubleshoot in virtualbox or qemu directly.

Any ideas are welcome.

Thanks to everybody that is contributing to make open-source software possible.
I see your point of view and respect your time, please do so in return.

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Thanks to everybody that is contributing to make open-source software possible.
Apparently I still manage to offend people, even while trying to be as empathic as possible and search/try to learn before posting.
I love y'all.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,513

Website

Re: [SOLVED] 02/2023 archiso basics

Since it's not possible to do CTRL + ALT + F2 to switch to one of the 6 other VT's, I have no idea how to troubleshoot in virtualbox or qemu directly.

For QEMU see https://askubuntu.com/questions/54814/h … mu-session

No idea about virtualbox though, or ventoy. Sorry.

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Freedom for Öcalan!

nl6720

The Evil Wiki Admin

Registered: 2016-07-02

Posts: 653

Re: [SOLVED] 02/2023 archiso basics

First issue:

The baseline config is supposed to be the bare minimum.
Are those really the essential packages?

base
cloud-init
syslinux
edk2-shell
memtest86+
memtest86+-efi
linux
mkinitcpio
mkinitcpio-archiso
qemu-guest-agent
virtualbox-guest-utils-nox

Not really. One could make do with just these:

base
linux
mkinitcpio
mkinitcpio-archiso
syslinux

Second issue:
My successful project used syslinux as bootloader, I don't remember modifying anything besides the kernelparameters in the syslinux-linux.cfg.
Now without even having grub in the packages, grub is the bootloader, lol.

Both baseline's and releng's profiledef.sh instruct to use syslinux for BIOS and GRUB for UEFI.
And yes, even without grub in the package list, it will be the UEFI boot loader. Due to GRUB's bloat it cannot simply taken from the work directory and installed in the correct places like syslinux. It needs to be constructed by running its binaries (grub-mkstandalone in this case) on the host system which makes it unreproducible. A solution would be to implementing multistage bootstrapping.

Third issue:
During boot in virtualbox the system get's stuck after [ OK ] Finished Load/Save random seed.
During boot in qemu the system get's stuck after [ OK ] Finished Monitoring of LVM2 mirrors, snapshots etc. using dmeventd or progress polling.
After some research, my best guess is that there is something in the background, maybe a missing driver, but I can't figure it out.
Since it's not possible to do CTRL + ALT + F2 to switch to one of the 6 other VT's, I have no idea how to troubleshoot in virtualbox or qemu directly.

Do you see something like this?

Welcome to your new installation of Arch Linux!
Please configure your system!
-- Press any key to proceed --

If so, then it's the https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … issues/205 issue.

archisominimalist

Member

Registered: 2023-02-11

Posts: 22

Re: [SOLVED] 02/2023 archiso basics

mpan,  Head_on_a_Stick and nl6720

I want to thank you for your excellent replies.
Special thanks to nl6720 for taking the time to answer each question individually and providing the resources to solve the issues.
You are indeed correct that it's /issues/205

I propose a vote to exchange GRUB and syslinux with something that works with both BIOS and UEFI, like systemd-boot or reFIND, *ducks*

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Thanks to everybody that is contributing to make open-source software possible.
Apparently I still manage to offend people, even while trying to be as empathic as possible and search/try to learn before posting.
I love y'all.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,513

Website

Re: [SOLVED] 02/2023 archiso basics

I propose a vote

I think most open source projects are a do-ocracy rather than a democracy — the people doing the actual work get to decide the direction of development.

Expecting votes from people here who don't contribute to the project to force the people who do contribute to do work they don't agree with seems entirely unreasonable to me.

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Freedom for Öcalan!

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,199

Re: [SOLVED] 02/2023 archiso basics

something that works with both BIOS and UEFI, like systemd-boot or reFIND, *ducks*

Yeah, you might want to check if those work for BIOS before making a statement like this.

archisominimalist

Member

Registered: 2023-02-11

Posts: 22

Re: [SOLVED] 02/2023 archiso basics

[SOLVED]
*ducks*
receives more hits to the head
*ducks again*

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Thanks to everybody that is contributing to make open-source software possible.
Apparently I still manage to offend people, even while trying to be as empathic as possible and search/try to learn before posting.
I love y'all.