Handbook Talk:Parts/Installation/System

UUIDs on FAT formatted devices
The phrase and partition UUIDs (/dev/disk/by-uuid/ can be used on GPT formatted devices sounds like it cannot be used on msdos formatted devices. What exactly is the restriction?--Charles17 (talk) 07:39, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

Using PARTUUID (called partition UUIDs?) in fstab works well for me even with an msdos formatted disk:

Some nice examples are given on ArchWiki

--Charles17 (talk) 10:31, 15 October 2016 (UTC)


 * You are correct. UUIDs are not specific to GPT partitions. MBR partition tables and (even) FAT32 formatted partitions in MBR partition tables have UUIDs as well. Depending on the filesystem, the UUID can be just a bit shorter, but it is still unique non-the-less. There are no restrictions for which I'm aware. I have revised the wording. --Maffblaster (talk) 18:58, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Typo
Users who have gone the GTP route have

Users who have gone the GPT route have

--FabianP (talk) 15:54, 18 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Fixed. Thanks! --Maffblaster (talk) 18:08, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Move everything concerning /etc/conf.d/net to Handbook:Parts/Full/Networking
This highly sophisticated lesson in configuring the .net scripts should be merged into the Handbook:Parts/Full/Networking article, just leaving a reference for users having advanced networking requirements.

Using the .net scripts is an option. But who really needs them? In the majority of cases DHCPCD will get installed anyway as "... the majority of users will find that they need a DHCP client..." and DHCPCD is sufficient for most installations when it is run as a service.

--Charles17 (talk) 08:33, 18 June 2017 (UTC)


 * This section should be better now. Basic setup for typical LAN/DHCP situations are now covered fairly well. This section is still missing systemd static IP addressing information, but we do link to the systemd article for more details. See Special:Diff/1050101/1050103. I'll mark this discussion closed for now. --Maffblaster (talk) 08:36, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Add more options to the networking options
Configuring the network currently just mentions netifrc which: 1. assumes OpenRC (without saying so explicitly, which is confusing to users) 2. is confusing if you don't want to use netifrc, but instead e.g dhcpcd.

I'm fairly sure we have (a few?) better pages summarising DHCP clients and how to get started with simple setups which we should at least link to.

Right now, a few users have said they thought this step was mandatory and not just one way of configuring the network.

We should link to another page and/or replace it with a table summarising options.

--Sam (talk) 23:44, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

Done in Special:Diff/1037122.

--Sam (talk) 07:25, 9 December 2021 (UTC)

UUIDs and LVM volumes
It should be pointed out that the UUIDs of the filesystem on a LVM volume and its LVM snapshots are identical. Thus, using an UUID in /etc/fstab for the filesystem on a LVM volume may lead to unexpected behaviour.

--Duxsco (talk) 02:51, 6 February 2022 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the tip. Implemented here: Special:Diff/1050458/1050459. --Maffblaster (talk) 07:49, 22 February 2022 (UTC)


 * Please, recheck the change. Thx --Duxsco (talk) 21:56, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

"discard" mount option
The statement that the "discard" mount option makes "TRIM" work is false. The mount option just enables online discard. You still can use batch or periodic discard without using "discard" mount option. In general, mounting with the "discard" mount option shouldn't be recommended. See man pages, for example:


 * btrfs: Take a look at the last paragraph under discard, discard=sync, discard=async, nodiscard in man 5 btrfs.
 * ext4: Take a look at the last subset under discard, nodiscard(*) in the kernel admin guide or discard/nodiscard in
 * RedHats recommendations

--Duxsco (talk) 02:42, 6 February 2022 (UTC)


 * Good point. Suggestion has been implemented. Thank you! Special:Diff/1050459/1050474. --Maffblaster (talk) 08:13, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

/etc/fstab should use UUIDs, not device file names.
Since device filenames can change, it is dangerous to write device filenames in /etc/fstab. Since device file names can change, writing /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, etc. should be deprecated in the documentation.

Ubuntu, Debian, Manajaro, and other recent installations use UUIDs in /etc/fstab instead of device file names.

It would be better to use the blkid command to check the UUID and change the description to write it in /etc/fstab.