This is an easy to follow guide to installing Devuan from the CD/DVD
images for supported hardware. The general advise accompanying this
guide is that you should always backup your data before you begin.
Prerequisites
Supported architectures
Installation images
Installing Devuan
At minimum you should know how to write an ISO image to CD/DVD
or USB, and make your computer boot from it. For those already using
GNU/Linux or similar we can cover the steps for that.
These are currently the ways of getting installation images.
If you have access to the network it's suggested to use a single full DVD image
for installation, otherwise you will want the full set.
Please use mirrors or torrents where possible.
Those not using the command line can skip to installation.
Before you write an image to your removable device, it's best to check the
integrity so that you can be sure the image is in a good state. This avoids many
problems that may later occur during installation otherwise.
Download the SHA256SUMS
from the release archive and verify image integrity.
user@hostname:~$ sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS
Installation images distributed by Devuan are signed so that they can be verified
as coming from Devuan. Verifying images lets you know they have not been
altered prior to you receiving them.
Get the Devuan developers signing keys and import them to your keychain.
user@hostname:~$ gpg --import devuan-devs.gpg
Use the signed SHA256SUMS.asc
from the release archive to verify the image.
user@hostname:~$ gpg --verify SHA256SUMS.asc
A report of a good signature indicates everything is fine.
Images can be written to a CD or DVD using wodim.
user@hostname:~$ wodim dev=/dev/sr0 -eject filename.iso
All Devuan ISO images are hybrid ISOs and may be written to a USB drive using dd.
root@hostname:~# dd if=filename.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=1M && sync
For the install we are going to use a non graphical installer. This is generally faster
than a graphical install and needs less resources. This should be suitable for installing
in a virtual machine as well as on physical hardware. Whilst this may be intimidating
for new users, there is nothing to be feared as you will be guided through this process.
1) Boot from the CD/DVD or USB drive, and choose the regular Install
option.
2) The next few steps will ask about your language, location and keyboard layout.
3) The installer will automatically configure the network, wireless network users will
have to provide an SSID and passphrase. You will then be asked to choose a host name
for your new system. By all means get creative but remember not to use any spaces or
special characters.
4) You will also be asked to provide a domain name. If you don't need this or don't
know what it is for you should leave it blank.
5) It's recommended that you set a root password for Devuan. It's good security
practice to use a strong password. You will have to type your password again to make
sure that you've set it correctly.
6) You will now be asked to configure a user account, which you should do in most
cases. Unless there is a need to do otherwise leave your full name blank and continue
to providing a username.
7) You will need to enter a password and type it again as you did before for root.
8) The installer will now set the clock using NTP. Enter your time zone information,
and continue with the install.
9) Before you can install Devuan the disk need to be partitioned. If it's available as
an option choosing to use the largest continuous space is recommended. This will
preserve existing partitions and not alter them. Otherwise you should use the whole
disk if you have no data you need to save.
If you need full disk encryption see here before continuing.
10) Choosing all files in one partition is a sensible option for newcomers. Manual disk
partitioning is beyond the scope of this discussion.
11) It's time to write those partitions to the disk and format them with file systems.
If you are happy with the changes choose write to disk and continue. You will need
to confirm this before the changes are made.
12) The base system will now install. Depending on your hardware this may take
some time.
13) The installer will now ask if you want to use a network mirror. If you have network
access this is recommended because you will have access to the latest versions of
packages. If you choose to use a network mirror, select your country from the list.
14) Either of the provided mirrors will be fine. If there is a mirror close to you then
you will be redirected automatically when installing packages.
15) Devuan can use popularity contest (popcon) to collect information about the
most used packages. This is purely on an opt-in basis and will only collect statistics
about packages that are installed from here on in.
16) The install provides some preset packages you can choose from. Generally the
defaults are a good option and you should stick with those.
17) The installer will now install the packages you selected. This will take a little time.
18) Now that all the sofware you need is installed, the GRUB bootloader will be
installed. This allows the operating system to boot after installation. If you are asked
to install to the MBR then you should do this usually.
Some setups will require no configuration and the install will now finish.
19) It's important to choose the correct bootloader location. It should not be installed
to a partition, but to the MBR area which is located on the hard disk.
In this case /dev/sda
is the only hard disk so we will install it there.
20) The install is finished, remove your installation media to continue to boot in to the
Devuan graphical environment.