Arch Linux

justdanyul

Member

Registered: 2011-09-29

Posts: 133

Few questions about using the guided installer to do automated install

In the following example: https://github.com/archlinux/archinstal … llation.py , when PartitionType.Boot type exists, why is the type of the boot partition set to primary in the below snippet?

# create a new boot partition
boot_partition = disk.PartitionModification(
	status=disk.ModificationStatus.Create,
	type=disk.PartitionType.Primary,
	start=disk.Size(1, disk.Unit.MiB, device.device_info.sector_size),
	length=disk.Size(512, disk.Unit.MiB, device.device_info.sector_size),
	mountpoint=Path('/boot'),
	fs_type=disk.FilesystemType.Fat32,
	flags=[disk.PartitionFlag.Boot]
)

Second question. I'm struggling finding examples how to configure swap? I can see the json configuration, it can be turned on or off. But I cant figure out how to add it to my partition layout. Does it automatically uses the size of the system memory or ?

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 13,033

Re: Few questions about using the guided installer to do automated install

Is that code snippet for an MBR formatted drive ?

If yes, BIOS (what we used before efi) could only boot from a primary partition .
It is likely that efi in legacy/CSM mode still has the same limitation.

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cgb_spender

Member

Registered: 2024-01-15

Posts: 48

Website

Re: Few questions about using the guided installer to do automated install

For archinstall, it is important that the disk is empty (contains no partitions). The partition table can be MBR (also known as msdos), GPT, or absent, this does not seem to matter. The code you posted is for an MBR-formatted disk. You can skip swap altogether, do not install it. I have used archinstall successfully about a dozen times at this point and never selected swap.

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Only one thing is certain: nothing is certain.

RandomRanger

Member

Registered: 2023-06-26

Posts: 42

Re: Few questions about using the guided installer to do automated install

For archinstall, it is important that the disk is empty (contains no partitions). The partition table can be MBR (also known as msdos), GPT, or absent, this does not seem to matter. The code you posted is for an MBR-formatted disk. You can skip swap altogether, do not install it. I have used archinstall successfully about a dozen times at this point and never selected swap.

I haven't used the guided installer yet. Can it not auto-wipe a drive that has data/partitions on it?

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Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from science.

cgb_spender

Member

Registered: 2024-01-15

Posts: 48

Website

Re: Few questions about using the guided installer to do automated install

I haven't used the guided installer yet. Can it not auto-wipe a drive that has data/partitions on it?

In theory, yes, but sometimes, it outputs error messages. Even if you create custom partitions and do not select the whole disk, either other partitions will be deleted by archinstall or there will be some python-related error messages from archinstall. My optimized procedure for archinstall is described here.

Last edited by cgb_spender (2024-01-19 02:07:38)

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Only one thing is certain: nothing is certain.