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:
/etc/fatab#<fs> <mountpoint> <type> <opts> <dump pass>
PARTUUID=123a123a-12 / reiserfs noatime 0 1
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 none-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)
"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
man 5 ext4 - 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. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by KatsutoshiOtogawa (talk • contribs) 21:03, January 28, 2023
- I want add: " ... or use PARTLABEL= ... " --Pietinger 20:19, 29 January 2023 (UTC)
- We can mention
PARTLABEL=, but I think I'll work on an effort to align with FreeDesktop's Discoverable Partitions Specification instead, which applies for GPT/EFI systems. This will move the Handbook forward in this regard and make Gentoo installations more uniform and discoverable. I've added this to the Handbook's team 2023 todo list... --Maffblaster (talk) 09:27, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
- We can mention
- Setting PARTUUID is now also exampled for each system architecture. We may circle back around to add PARTLABEL values as well. Closing this discussion since the original request was for UUIDs. See Special:Diff/1281444/1281510 and for AMD64 this special page: Handbook:AMD64/Blocks/Fstab. --Maffblaster (talk) 11:58, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
Typo in Anchor
Set_the_hostnname_(OpenRC_or_systemd) should be Set_the_hostname_(OpenRC_or_systemd)
Mathis Winterer (talk) 00:57, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
- Fixed. Thanks! See Special:Diff/1249622/1258315. --Maffblaster (talk) 09:17, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
"A full /etc/fstab example" broken
Example of full /etc/fstab broken - missing device names for swap and root. --Winterheart (talk) 11:58, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
- Where are you seeing this broken? as if you visit Handbook:AMD64/Installation/System it looks ok to me, so I assume the handbook just pulls the info from multiple places to create the full version for the end user. (I've added talk|open for you to keep the formatting correct as shown in Help:Talk_pages)
- Immolo (talk) 14:06, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
- At the moment it looks =>
- Adjust any formatting difference and additional partitions created from the Preparing the disks step
none swap sw 0 0 / defaults,noatime 0 1
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,user 0 0
This would be correct examples:
/dev/sda1 /boot vfat noauto,noatime 1 2 /dev/sda3 / ext4 noatime 0 1 /dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,user 0 0
PARTLABEL=Boot /boot vfat noauto,noatime 1 2 PARTLABEL=Root / ext4 noatime 0 1 PARTLABEL=Swap none swap sw 0 0 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,user 0 0
- pietinger 16:29, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
- You were looking at Handbook:Parts/Installation/System#Filesystem_labels_and_UUIDs, which is under Handbook:Parts and includes a big warning to NOT reference at the top of the page. Instead use any of the architecture pages, E.g.: Handbook:AMD64/Installation/System#Filesystem_labels_and_UUIDs. --Maffblaster (talk) 19:07, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
- Oh ... I am very sorry. Thank you very much Maffblaster. (Please let me explain what I did: I searched in "Recent changes" as always and saw this talk page ... and jumped in without scrolling to the top). Sorry again -- pietinger 19:42, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
Duplicate translation tag 18
Please remove one of them. --Winterheart (talk) 20:00, 28 September 2023 (UTC)
- I don't see it there anymore so I'll mark this as resolved.
- --csfore (talk) 18:24, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
Slight reword
If the init system being used is systemd, the partition UUIDs conform to the Discoverable Partition Specification as given in Preparing the disks, and the system uses UEFI, then creating an fstab can be skipped due to systemd auto-mounting partitions that follow the spec.
The highlighted portion is slightly ambiguous ("systemd auto-mounting partitions" can be interpreted in two ways).
If the init system being used is systemd, the partition UUIDs conform to the Discoverable Partition Specification as given in Preparing the disks, and the system uses UEFI, then creating an fstab can be skipped, since systemd auto-mounts partitions that follow the spec.
— Waldo Lemmer 18:11, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
- Fixed in Special:Diff/1298128/1298136, thanks!
- --csfore (talk) 18:16, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
systemd fail warning are expected
We should highlight that it is normal for failure warning to appear after
root #systemctl preset-all --preset-mode=enable-onlya lot clearer than we already do. Users are get scared but this and it's understandable really.