Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

Lysander · 2019-03-16 20:50:22

Hi, all. I am not talking about installing Devuan on all machines - just on this particular one that I'm working on at the moment. All my machines run Slackware apart from my converted Chromebook which can only acceptably run Xubuntu. And then there's this machine I'm working on now, it's a Dell Ultrabook which currently has no hard drive but an SDXC card instead.

I've been running this Devuan install for a few hours now and I'm quite impressed. It's more stable and things are easier to install than I thought they would be. This Ultrabook is very fast and sturdy, it's a very well-built machine, it's great to touch-type on and as well as being light it would be excellent to take around for academic work. The reason I am thinking of going with Devuan for a long-term install is that so far pretty much everything has 'just werked' and things have been easier to set up than anticipated. Also, when I'm in the middle of academic work I don't really want to be compiling stuff from source or hunting down dependencies. That IS fun, but I don't want it to get in the way.

So far things are going well, but suspend by closing the lid doesn't really work. That's no issue for me though. I seem to have overestimated the size of the root partition though. My 64GB SD card, which Devuan is installed on and is lightning-quick via, so far looks like this:

lysander@lysultra-ii:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /dev
tmpfs           363M  824K  363M   1% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p1   23G  4.3G   18G  20% /
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           1.7G  111M  1.6G   7% /run/shm
/dev/mmcblk0p3   31G  5.8G   24G  20% /home
tmpfs           1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           363M   12K  363M   1% /run/user/1000

I have nearly everything I want installed and I am staggered that / is not even 5GB full. That is a huge waste of space with 18GB so far unused. Would it be reasonable to shave down the root partition to 10GB therefore giving me a much-appreciated larger /home partition?

One criticism so far - the installer feels a bit clunky. I worked through it fine but it did give me a couple of errors and felt rather experimental. However, everything feels OK so far, but I'm interested in how I should go forward with partitioning this thing in the future. I'm not someone who uses a lot of space since my desktop drive is only an 80GB SSD, so I'm used to being quite frugal with space. I may soon, if all goes well, go for a fresh install after a re-partition.

Last edited by Lysander (2019-03-17 23:18:43)

golinux · 2019-03-16 21:21:35

Great to see you here Lysander! You didn't give us much info to go on. Which iso did you use and for what release - jessie or ascii? Are you using a WM or DE? A search brings up quite a few threads about lid suspension but you might start with this thread.

PedroReina · 2019-03-16 22:49:46

Lysander wrote:

/dev/mmcblk0p1   23G  4.3G   18G  20% /
Would it be reasonable to shave down the root partition to 10GB therefore giving me a much-appreciated larger /home partition?

Of course. In my experience I've never go to more than 10 GB. And 4.3 is very similar to my standard install of a full desktop.

Lysander wrote:

One criticism so far - the installer feels a bit clunky.

May be just a matter of taste. I think that it is powerful and simple. (I always use the "Expert install").

Lysander wrote:

felt rather experimental.

No, it is not experimental. It is old code by now. It get new options, but I've been using it (with Debian and Devuan) more than 10 years. 15? No glitchs. Some times hardware has errors and they get up to the installer.

golinux · 2019-03-16 22:55:53

PedroReina wrote:

Lysander wrote:
One criticism so far - the installer feels a bit clunky.
May be just a matter of taste. I think that it is powerful and simple. (I always use the "Expert install").
Lysander wrote:
felt rather experimental.
No, it is not experimental. It is old code by now. It get new options, but I've been using it (with Debian and Devuan) more than 10 years. 15? No glitchs. Some times hardware has errors and they get up to the installer.

He never said which iso he used so comments/discussion of an installer are pointless. Was it the Debian installer or refractainstaller? We have no way of knowing.

Lysander · 2019-03-16 23:47:21

golinux wrote:

Great to see you here Lysander! You didn't give us much info to go on. Which iso did you use and for what release - jessie or ascii? Are you using a WM or DE? A search brings up quite a few threads about lid suspension but you might start with this thread.

Wow, I should really know better. Thanks for the welcome, by the way. It's the live .iso of ASCII with Xfce. I had a look at that topic but it doesn't look very promising. It's no big issue for me as I said, manual suspending is absolutely fine since it takes about a second longer to set up. This is a good OS, nice work on it. Also thank God you don't have the ridiculous names that Debian does. Beowulf is a very cool name for 3.0.

PedroReina wrote:

Lysander wrote:
/dev/mmcblk0p1   23G  4.3G   18G  20% /
Would it be reasonable to shave down the root partition to 10GB therefore giving me a much-appreciated larger /home partition?
Of course. In my experience I've never go to more than 10 GB. And 4.3 is very similar to my standard install of a full desktop.

Yes, OK, so that's going to be one of my many jobs tomorrow, to repartition this SD and give 10GB to /. I really can't imagine it needing more than that at this rate. Funny how an OS can run so fast off one of those things these days. Really indiscernable from an internal drive as far as my experience in the last 24 hours goes.

PedroReina wrote:

Lysander wrote:
felt rather experimental.
No, it is not experimental. It is old code by now. It get new options, but I've been using it (with Debian and Devuan) more than 10 years. 15? No glitchs. Some times hardware has errors and they get up to the installer.

Well, seeing as this is the ASCII live .iso I think this is refracta. I'm quite familiar with the Debian installer, which is superior in my opinion. I think you thought I was talking about the Debian one, which I quite like.

Last edited by Lysander (2019-03-16 23:48:39)

ChuangTzu · 2019-03-17 00:05:40

Hi Lysander.

The net install .iso is identical to the Debian installer. Refracta/Live installer is neat, but yes very different from the ncurses or graphical Debian installer(s).

PS: ahem, Beowulf is very stable so far, still techinically testing...but you may want to give that a whirl, save you a future dist-upgrade.

Last edited by ChuangTzu (2019-03-17 00:06:44)

golinux · 2019-03-17 00:16:58

Lysander wrote:

PedroReina wrote:
Lysander wrote:
/dev/mmcblk0p1   23G  4.3G   18G  20% /
Would it be reasonable to shave down the root partition to 10GB therefore giving me a much-appreciated larger /home partition?
Of course. In my experience I've never go to more than 10 GB. And 4.3 is very similar to my standard install of a full desktop.
Yes, OK, so that's going to be one of my many jobs tomorrow, to repartition this SD and give 10GB to /. I really can't imagine it needing more than that at this rate. Funny how an OS can run so fast off one of those things these days. Really indiscernable from an internal drive as far as my experience in the last 24 hours goes.

That depends on your usecase. When I do extensive audio and video editing things get stored in /tmp which quick;y runs out of room so I've had to increase / to 20GB on several installs over the years.

Lysander wrote:

Well, seeing as this is the ASCII live .iso I think this is refracta. I'm quite familiar with the Debian installer, which is superior in my opinion. I think you thought I was talking about the Debian one, which I quite like.

The index page of devuan.org has a description of the various isos. There is a truncated version of that on the download page as well as links to these Visual Install Guides:
https://devuan.org/os/documentation/ins … -here.html

Navigation to the various install procedures is at the bottom.

golinux · 2019-03-17 00:22:33

ChuangTzu wrote:

PS: ahem, Beowulf is very stable so far, still technically testing...but you may want to give that a whirl, save you a future dist-upgrade.

There are still some rough edges on beowulf but it's getting close. For example, I'm not clear that's it's possible to avoid the /usr merge on an upgrade but it is an option on the beowulf test mini.iso. If that's an important consideration, it will require a fresh install because I don't know that it's possible to unmerge.

fsmithred · 2019-03-17 06:13:49

Welcome to devuan. I used zenwalk for a year before switching to debian (etch) for its vast repository, so I understand where you're coming from.

The live installer has grown rather clunky, especially since adding support for uefi. It's due for an overhaul. I'm pleased you were able to install to an mmc device. I assume you used the graphical installer, and it showed your partitions correctly. You're the first I've heard of doing that, and I've been wondering if it really works.

Upgrade to beowulf will not mess with /usr or /sbin. It won't change your directories.

golinux · 2019-03-17 06:20:40

fsmithred wrote:

Upgrade to beowulf will not mess with /usr or /sbin. It won't change your directories.

I thought the merge was automatic. I do know that KatolaZ put that option into the installer specifically to give users a choice. Do you have a reference for a mechanism that prevents the merge on an upgrade?

PedroReina · 2019-03-17 08:47:25

Lysander wrote:

think you thought I was talking about the Debian one

Yes. My bad. Sorry.

KatolaZ · 2019-03-17 08:49:53

Hi All,

there is *no* automatic conversion to merged-usr during update or anywhere else in Devuan. The only way to force a transition to merged-usr at the moment is to install the package `usrmerge`, which is not installed by default. In beowulf there will be the option to have a merged-usr in expert install, but the default will remain a non-merged usr.

HTH

KatolaZ

PedroReina · 2019-03-17 08:50:21

golinux wrote:

things get stored in /tmp which quicky runs out of room

Indeed. I have a separate partition for /tmp in some boxes.

Lysander · 2019-03-17 11:10:49

My initial enthusiasm has waned on this reinstall. On the first reinstall, I couldn't get past the login screen for my user account. Root account was fine though.

On a second reinstall the installer crashed twice, then after I managed to get it to do its thing, the same problem. I can't get past the login screen and yes, the password is correct.

Dropping into a console, and after logging in, the issue seems to be:

No directory, logging in with HOME=/

So I can log in fine, but I can't start x. And when I log in as my user, it logs me straight into /. /home does exist and is mounted on the correct partition, but there is nothing inside it.

EDIT: I had to use adduser lysander as root in a console. Now I can log in and get to desktop. The only thing is I'm now told that I'm not a member of netdev. I need to work out how to specify all groups. I'm halfway there but I feel I shouldn't have to do this. Still, I didn't opt in to any sudo entries on installation since I prefer to do things via su -

EDIT2: added myself to audio, video, plugdev and netdev. There may be more I've missed out. A reboot was required after. I can now access the internet, at least. What a mess. Still, the installer did say that putting /home on a separate partition was an experimental feature.

Last edited by Lysander (2019-03-17 12:19:45)

fsmithred · 2019-03-17 14:28:52

Putting home on a separate partition is not the experimental feature. That's been there since around 2011 and does exactly what it's supposed to do - it formats a separate partition, mounts it at /home and copies the live home to it. If you change the user name during the install, it will rename things in your home, including instances of /home/user inside some files that will be changed to /home/your-new-name.

The experimental feature is for re-using an existing home. It does not do what you or anyone else thinks it does, and I think that feature will be gone before next week. All it does is mount your old home partition to /home (adds an entry to fstab). The fact that your home is empty worries me. The installer should not have formatted the re-used partition. Was it a new, empty partition to begin with , or did all your files get wiped?

You're better off just installing to a single partition and then making the changes after first reboot. That way, there will be new config files in the new home that can be moved over to the old home if needed.

golinux · 2019-03-17 15:01:59

KatolaZ wrote:

Hi All,
there is *no* automatic conversion to merged-usr during update or anywhere else in Devuan. The only way to force a transition to merged-usr at the moment is to install the package `usrmerge`, which is not installed by default. In beowulf there will be the option to have a merged-usr in expert install, but the default will remain a non-merged usr.
HTH
KatolaZ

Hmmmm . . . so where did I get that. Is the merge automatic with an upgrade in Debian and we are reversing it in Devuan? Or is my memory really starting to fail!

*edit* All that stuck in my feeble old memory were the endless threads that went on about this on DNG.

Lysander · 2019-03-17 15:29:44

fsmithred wrote:

I'm pleased you were able to install to an mmc device. I assume you used the graphical installer, and it showed your partitions correctly. You're the first I've heard of doing that, and I've been wondering if it really works.

It works very well indeed and yes, it was the graphical installer. Devuan absolutely flies on this SD card. After a reinstall and repartition, things are looking like this:

lysander@lysultra-iv:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /dev
tmpfs           363M  1.1M  362M   1% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p1  9.9G  3.9G  5.6G  42% /
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           1.8G   55M  1.7G   4% /run/shm
/dev/mmcblk0p3   44G  3.7G   38G   9% /home
tmpfs           1.8G     0  1.8G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           363M   12K  363M   1% /run/user/1000

So that's a lot more room on /home. I almost feel spoilt.

fsmithred wrote:

Upgrade to beowulf will not mess with /usr or /sbin. It won't change your directories.

I'm going to stick with ASCII for now. I'm on a capped connection so can't do much downloading. I have to really watch my bandwidth most of the time, and I tend to do software updates and any heavy downloading in the pub [which is where the Devuan .iso was downloaded].

fsmithred wrote:

Putting home on a separate partition is not the experimental feature. That's been there since around 2011 and does exactly what it's supposed to do - it formats a separate partition, mounts it at /home and copies the live home to it.

No, I think I understand that, leaving the /home partition untouched for the user is the experimental feature.

fsmithred wrote:

If you change the user name during the install, it will rename things in your home, including instances of /home/user inside some files that will be changed to /home/your-new-name.

Well, unless I'm misunderstanding, something is going wrong somewhere. This was a new live install and a new /home partition. Of course I created a user during the install, but it didn't seem to want to create a directory for that user in /home so I had to do it manually.

fsmithred wrote:

The installer should not have formatted the re-used partition. Was it a new, empty partition to begin with , or did all your files get wiped?

Oh it didn't. Yesterday it worked as intended, by keeping the files intact, but today I formatted it, there was nothing in there really worth keeping.

Last edited by Lysander (2019-03-17 15:35:25)

fsmithred · 2019-03-17 16:03:15

Lysander wrote:

Well, unless I'm misunderstanding, something is going wrong somewhere. This was a new live install and a new /home partition. Of course I created a user during the install, but it didn't seem to want to create a directory for that user in /home so I had to do it manually.

If you got a refractainstaller log in your home, I'd like to see it and try to figure out what went wrong. You can send it to me at gmail or paste it somewhere and provide the link.

Thanks.

Lysander · 2019-03-17 20:11:56

fsmithred wrote:

If you got a refractainstaller log in your home, I'd like to see it and try to figure out what went wrong. You can send it to me at gmail or paste it somewhere and provide the link.
Thanks.

Yes of course, how would I go about finding it?

Last edited by Lysander (2019-03-17 20:12:13)

fsmithred · 2019-03-17 22:25:18

Lysander wrote:

fsmithred wrote:
If you got a refractainstaller log in your home, I'd like to see it and try to figure out what went wrong. You can send it to me at gmail or paste it somewhere and provide the link.
Thanks.
Yes of course, how would I go about finding it?

It should be in the primary user's home directory, named refractainstaller_error.log (or something close to that.) If it's not there, get the one from /var/log/, but that one won't be complete. (it gets copied with the rest of the system, before the installer is finished.)

Lysander · 2019-03-17 22:53:44

fsmithred wrote:

It should be in the primary user's home directory, named refractainstaller_error.log (or something close to that.) If it's not there, get the one from /var/log/, but that one won't be complete. (it gets copied with the rest of the system, before the installer is finished.)

No, nothing that I can see in the /home directory. Here's the one from /var/log, as you say it's not complete, but maybe there's something of use there.

+ echo 'Version:	Refracta UEFI/BIOS Installer (Yad) 9.4.2 (20180523)'
+ [[ -f /usr/bin/yad ]]
++ yad --version
++ cut -d. -f2
+ yadversion=38
+ [[ 38 < 17 ]]
+ [[ ! -d /lib/live/mount/medium ]]
+ yad '--title=Refracta UEFI/BIOS Installer (Yad) 9.4.2 (20180523)' --width=480 --button=Continue:0 --button=Exit:1 --center --borders=10 '--text=

 This utility will install a running live-CD or live-USB to your hard drive.

 This is free software that comes with no warranty or guarantee of any 
 type, including but not limited to express, implied, merchantability or 
 fitness of purpose. 

 Copyright 2011-2018 fsmithred@gmail.com, 
 based on refractainstaller-8.0.3 by Dean Linkous. \n Version: Refracta UEFI/BIOS Installer (Yad) 9.4.2 (20180523) \n\n KNOWN BUG:\n\tIf you run the graphical installer in a VirtualBox VM\n\tAND you are using yad-0.38 (from stretch/ascii) you might\n\tnot see some of the windows. Use the text-only installer.\n\t(Run '\''refractainstaller'\'' from root terminal.)\n

 '
+ mode=0
+ case $mode in
+ install=expert
+ [[ -f /usr/lib/refractainstaller/installer_exclude.list ]]
++ dpkg -l
++ egrep 'ii  grub|hi  grub'
++ awk '$2 ~ "grub-[eglp]" { print $2}'
++ grep -v doc
++ grep -v bin
+ grubversion=grub-efi-amd64
++ env LC_ALL=C fdisk -l
++ awk '/Disklabel type/ { print $3 }'
++ grep gpt
+ gpt_list=
++ env LC_ALL=C fdisk -l
++ awk '/BIOS boot/ { print $1 }'
+ bios_grub_dev=
++ env LC_ALL=C fdisk -l
++ awk '/EFI System/ { print $0 }'
++ wc -l
+ esp_count=0
+ [[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ]]
++ env LC_ALL=C fdisk -l
++ awk '/EFI System/ { print $0 }'
+ esp_list=
+ '[' 0 -eq 1 ']'
+ '[' 0 -gt 1 ']'
+ '[' -n '' ']'
+ [[ grub-efi-amd64 =~ grub-efi ]]
+ grub_package='grub-pc*.deb'
++ ls /grub-pc_2.02~beta3-5_amd64.deb
+ grub_debs=/grub-pc_2.02~beta3-5_amd64.deb
+ [[ -n /grub-pc_2.02~beta3-5_amd64.deb ]]
+ grub_package_message='grub package(s) found in '
+ grub_efi_warning='				### WARNING ### 
	grub-pc is not installed but you booted in bios mode.

If you have the grub-pc deb packages, you will be given a chance to install them into the new system.

	grub package(s) found in 
/grub-pc_2.02~beta3-5_amd64.deb
'
+ yad '--title=Refracta UEFI/BIOS Installer (Yad) 9.4.2 (20180523)' --width=480 --button=Help:0 --button=Continue:1 --button=Abort:2 --center --borders=10 '--text=
				### WARNING ### 
	grub-pc is not installed but you booted in bios mode.

If you have the grub-pc deb packages, you will be given a chance to install them into the new system.

	grub package(s) found in 
/grub-pc_2.02~beta3-5_amd64.deb

You can skip creating the uefi bootloader, finish the installation, and
use another installed linux to boot this one.

DO NOT FORMAT A PRE-EXISTING EFI PARTITION!!!
	'
+ answer=1
+ case "$answer" in
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ var15=TRUE
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ var16=TRUE
++ ls -m /usr/lib/refractainstaller/pre-install
+ pre_install_list=loc-timezn.sh
++ ls -m /usr/lib/refractainstaller/post-install
+ post_install_list=cleanup-install.sh
++ blkid -c /dev/null
++ grep swap
+ [[ -n /dev/mmcblk0p2: UUID="43a780d4-71ee-4cb3-8366-0cdafa02f78e" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="a8ca9901-02" ]]
+ var3=TRUE
+ [[ expert = \e\x\p\e\r\t ]]
++ yad --list '--title=Installation Options' --center --borders=10 '--text=Check the options you want for the installation.\n
If you don'\''t understand an option, you probably don'\''t need it.\n' --checklist --column Choose --column :HD --column Option --width=590 --height=555 --button=OK:0 --button=Exit:1 FALSE 01 'Create a new, separate /home partition' FALSE 08 'EXPERIMENTAL: Use an existing /home partition. (Keep old files)' FALSE 02 'Create a separate /boot partition' TRUE 03 'Use existing swap partition instead of swapfile.' FALSE 04 'Encrypt the root filesystem (with or without separate /boot)' FALSE 05 'Encrypt the /home partition (separate /home required)' FALSE 06 'Write random data to encrypted partitions (more secure)' FALSE 07 'Write zeroes to all partitions (to erase previous data)' FALSE 09 'Do not format filesystems. I'\''ll handle it myself.' TRUE 10 'Use UUID in fstab and crypttab. (Useful if drive order changes.)' FALSE 11 'Use filesystem labels (disk labels) in /etc/fstab.' TRUE 12 'Disable automatic login to desktop.' TRUE 13 'Disable automatic login to console. (sysvinit only)' FALSE 14 'Move selected directories to separate partitions.' TRUE 15 'Run pre-install scripts (listed below)
loc-timezn.sh' TRUE 16 'Run post-install scripts (listed below)
cleanup-install.sh'
+ opts='TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL: Use an existing /home partition. (Keep old files)|
TRUE|03|Use existing swap partition instead of swapfile.|
TRUE|10|Use UUID in fstab and crypttab. (Useful if drive order changes.)|
TRUE|12|Disable automatic login to desktop.|
TRUE|13|Disable automatic login to console. (sysvinit only)|
TRUE|15|Run pre-install scripts (listed below)
loc-timezn.sh|
TRUE|16|Run post-install scripts (listed below)
cleanup-install.sh|'
+ [[ 0 = 1 ]]
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
++ grep -q 01
++ grep -q 08
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
+ sep_home=yes
+ keep_old_home=yes
+ old_home_message='Existing /home partition will be used; old files will be preserved.'
++ grep -q 02
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
++ grep -q 03
+ use_existing_swap=yes
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
++ grep -q 04
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
++ grep -q 05
++ grep -q 06
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
++ grep -q 07
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
++ grep -q 09
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
+ no_format=
++ grep -q 10
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
+ use_uuid=yes
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
++ grep -q 11
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
+ '[' '' = yes ']'
++ grep -q 12
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
+ disable_auto_desktop=yes
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
++ grep -q 13
+ disable_auto_console=yes
++ grep -q 14
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
+ [[ -h /usr/lib/refractainstaller/post-install/move-dir-mount-gui.sh ]]
++ grep -q 15
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
+ run_preinstall=yes
++ grep -q 16
++ echo 'TRUE|08|EXPERIMENTAL:' Use an existing /home partition. '(Keep' old 'files)|' 'TRUE|03|Use' existing swap partition instead of 'swapfile.|' 'TRUE|10|Use' UUID in fstab and crypttab. '(Useful' if drive order 'changes.)|' 'TRUE|12|Disable' automatic login to 'desktop.|' 'TRUE|13|Disable' automatic login to console. '(sysvinit' 'only)|' 'TRUE|15|Run' pre-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'loc-timezn.sh|' 'TRUE|16|Run' post-install scripts '(listed' 'below)' 'cleanup-install.sh|'
+ run_postinstall=yes
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ '' != \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ list_disks
+ env LC_ALL=C fdisk -l
+ egrep '^Disk|^/dev'
+ echo
+ env LC_ALL=C blkid -c /dev/null
+ partition_disk
+ '[' -n '' ']'
+ '[' '' = yes ']'
+ cli_partition_tool=cfdisk
+ yad --title=Partitioning '--button=Run GParted:0' '--button=Run cfdisk:1' --width=650 '--button=Skip this step:2' --button=Exit:3 --center --borders=10 '--text=  You need to have at least one partition ready for the installation, plus one for each separate  
  partition that you chose. If you already have the partition(s) ready, you can skip this step.

  Run the partitioner now?'
+ yad --text-info --title=Disks --borders=10 --width 550 --height 400 --button=Close:0
+ cat /tmp/diskinfo
+ ans=0
+ case $ans in
+ gparted
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ -z grub-pc*.deb ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ -n '' ]]
+ choose_root
++ find /dev -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1
++ egrep '*[shv]d[a-z][1-99]|*nvme[0-9]n[0-9]p[1-99]|*mmcblk[0-9]p[1-99]'
++ awk '{if ($0 != "") {print "\n" $0 }}'
++ yad --list '--title=Root Partition' --center --borders=10 '--text=Choose a partition to use for the installation of the operating system.' --separator= --column ' ' --column Partitions --height 380 --width 200 --button=OK:0
++ sort
+ install_dev=/dev/mmcblk0p1
+ [[ -z /dev/mmcblk0p1 ]]
+ [[ -b /dev/mmcblk0p1 ]]
+ [[ /dev/mmcblk0p1 = '' ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ choose_fs_os
++ yad --list '--title=Root Filesystem' --center --borders=10 '--text=What type of filesystem would you like on /dev/mmcblk0p1?' --separator= --column Format --height=200 --button=OK:0 ext4 ext3 ext2
+ fs_type_os=ext4
+ [[ -z ext4 ]]
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ choose_home
++ find /dev -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1
++ egrep '*[shv]d[a-z][1-99]|*nvme[0-9]n[0-9]p[1-99]|*mmcblk[0-9]p[1-99]'
++ awk '{if ($0 != "") {print "\n" $0 }}'
++ yad --list '--title=/home partition' --center --borders=10 '--text=Select a partition for /home' --separator= --column ' ' --column Partitions --height=380 --width=200 --button=OK:0
++ sort
+ home_dev=/dev/mmcblk0p3
+ [[ -n /dev/mmcblk0p3 ]]
+ [[ -b /dev/mmcblk0p3 ]]
+ [[ /dev/mmcblk0p1 = /dev/mmcblk0p3 ]]
+ [[ '' = /dev/mmcblk0p3 ]]
+ [[ -n /dev/mmcblk0p3 ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
++ blkid -s TYPE /dev/mmcblk0p3
++ awk '-F"' '{ print $2 }'
+ fs_type_home=ext4
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ choose_swap
++ /sbin/blkid
++ grep swap
++ awk '{if ($0 != "") {print "\n" $0 }}'
++ yad --list '--title=swap partition' --center --borders=10 '--text=Select a partition for swap.' --separator= --column ' ' --column Partitions --height=180 --width=600 --button=OK:0
+ swap_info='/dev/mmcblk0p2: UUID="43a780d4-71ee-4cb3-8366-0cdafa02f78e" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="a8ca9901-02"'
++ echo /dev/mmcblk0p2: 'UUID="43a780d4-71ee-4cb3-8366-0cdafa02f78e"' 'TYPE="swap"' 'PARTUUID="a8ca9901-02"'
++ awk -F: '{ print $1 }'
+ swap_dev=/dev/mmcblk0p2
+ [[ -z /dev/mmcblk0p2 ]]
+ [[ '' = \g\r\u\b\-\e\f\i ]]
+ [[ -n grub-pc*.deb ]]
+ grub_dev_message='--> You will be asked about a bootloader later.'
+ [[ -n '' ]]
+ [[ '' = yes ]]
+ [[ -z /dev/mmcblk0p3 ]]
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ home_dev_message='Existing /home partition will be used; old files will be preserved.'
+ [[ -n /dev/mmcblk0p3 ]]
+ [[ '' = yes ]]
+ [[ -n '' ]]
+ proceed_message='*** If it seems like the installer stopped, check the terminal for messages. ***'
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ desktop_message='Desktop autologin will be disabled.'
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ console_message='Console autologin will be disabled.'
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ install_dev_message='--> Operating system will be installed on /dev/mmcblk0p1 and formatted as ext4'
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ preinstall_message='pre-install scripts are enabled.'
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ postinstall_message='post-install scripts are enabled.'
+ yad --info --title=Summary --center --borders=10 '--button=Proceed with the installation.:0' --button=Exit:1 '--text=Please CLOSE any running applications NOW.

Here is a summary of what will be done. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO EXIT before the system is installed.

--> You will be asked about a bootloader later.
--> Operating system will be installed on /dev/mmcblk0p1 and formatted as ext4
Existing /home partition will be used; old files will be preserved.

Desktop autologin will be disabled.
Console autologin will be disabled.

pre-install scripts are enabled.
post-install scripts are enabled.

*** If it seems like the installer stopped, check the terminal for messages. ***'
+ [[ 0 != \0 ]]
+ [[ yes = \y\e\s ]]
+ for file in /usr/lib/refractainstaller/pre-install/*
+ [[ -x /usr/lib/refractainstaller/pre-install/loc-timezn.sh ]]
+ bash /usr/lib/refractainstaller/pre-install/loc-timezn.sh
+ cleanup
+ echo -e '\n @@@ Cleaning up...\n'
+ tee /dev/fd/63
++ grep -q /target/proc/
++ yad --progress --pulsate --width=350 --auto-close --title=Cleanup
++ df
++ df
++ grep -q /target/dev/
++ df
++ grep -q /target/sys/
++ df
++ grep -q
Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]...
Try 'grep --help' for more information.
++ df
++ grep -q
Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]...
Try 'grep --help' for more information.
++ df
++ grep -q /target_boot/efi
++ df
++ grep -q /target_boot
++ df
++ grep -q /target_home
++ df
++ grep -q /dev/mmcblk0p3
++ df
++ grep -q '\/dev\/mapper\/home_fs'
+ [[ -h /dev/mapper/home_fs ]]
++ df
++ grep -q /target
++ df
++ grep -q /dev/mmcblk0p1
++ df
++ grep '\/dev\/mapper\/root_fs'
+ [[ -h /dev/mapper/root_fs ]]
+ [[ -d /target ]]
+ [[ -d /target_home ]]
+ [[ -d /target_boot ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ '' = \y\e\s ]]
+ mkdir /target
+ check_exit
+ exit_code=0
+ [[ 0 -ne 0 ]]
+ [[ '' = yes ]]
+ install_part=/dev/mmcblk0p1
+ [[ '' != \y\e\s ]]
+ mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p1
mke2fs 1.43.4 (31-Jan-2017)

(yad:4550): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_source_remove: assertion 'tag > 0' failed
+ mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /target
+ check_exit
+ exit_code=0
+ [[ 0 -ne 0 ]]
+ [[ -n /dev/mmcblk0p3 ]]
+ mkdir /target_home
+ check_exit
+ exit_code=0
+ [[ 0 -ne 0 ]]
+ [[ '' = yes ]]
+ home_part=/dev/mmcblk0p3
+ [[ '' != \y\e\s ]]
+ [[ -z yes ]]
+ [[ -z yes ]]
+ sep_home_opt='--exclude=/home/*'
+ [[ -n '' ]]
+ tee /dev/fd/63
++ yad --progress --pulsate --width=350 --auto-close '--title=Copying system to new partition.'
+ rsync -av / /target/ '--filter=P lost+found' '--filter=H lost+found' --exclude-from=/usr/lib/refractainstaller/installer_exclude.list '--exclude=/home/*' --delete-before --delete-excluded

fsmithred · 2019-03-18 04:21:36

That log shows that you chose to re-use an existing home partition. If you did that with a new (empty) partition, it would have remained empty. If instead you had chosen the option to "Create a new separate home" it would have copied the files from /home in the live system to the home partition on the sd card.

You're not the first to be confused by this, but I hope you're the last. The option to re-use an existing home as been removed in the next version. 9.5.3 is in ceres, and I plan for it to be in the ascii point-release.

Lysander · 2019-03-18 11:12:26

Thank you for clarifying this - but my question was not necessarily about that, but do you know why it did not set up a /home user's directory [twice], I had to add one after install via adduser and then manually add myself to audio, video, netdev and plugdev?

Last edited by Lysander (2019-03-18 12:30:17)

fsmithred · 2019-03-18 14:58:30

The re-use home option was set up so that the installer would exclude /home from the rsync copy of the live system. I think the installer did exactly what it was told to do, which is not the same as doing what anyone needs it to do.

I'm not sure why you had to add a user. Is there still a user in /etc/passwd named devuan with id 1000?

Lysander · 2019-03-18 15:13:58

fsmithred wrote:

The re-use home option was set up so that the installer would exclude /home from the rsync copy of the live system. I think the installer did exactly what it was told to do, which is not the same as doing what anyone needs it to do.

Indeed.

fsmithred wrote:

I'm not sure why you had to add a user. Is there still a user in /etc/passwd named devuan with id 1000?

No, just me:

lysander:x:1000:44:,,,:/home/lysander:/bin/bash

And this is interesting as well:

nobody:x:65534:65534:nobody:/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin

I note that I was there after the initial install as 1000:1000 but I still couldn't start x. So it seemed to set it up in /etc/passwd but it didn't create the user properly. Strange.

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 2019-03-16 20:50:22

Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#2 2019-03-16 21:21:35

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#3 2019-03-16 22:49:46

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#4 2019-03-16 22:55:53

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#5 2019-03-16 23:47:21

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#6 2019-03-17 00:05:40

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#7 2019-03-17 00:16:58

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#8 2019-03-17 00:22:33

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#9 2019-03-17 06:13:49

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#10 2019-03-17 06:20:40

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#11 2019-03-17 08:47:25

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#12 2019-03-17 08:49:53

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#13 2019-03-17 08:50:21

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#14 2019-03-17 11:10:49

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#15 2019-03-17 14:28:52

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#16 2019-03-17 15:01:59

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#17 2019-03-17 15:29:44

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#18 2019-03-17 16:03:15

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#19 2019-03-17 20:11:56

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#20 2019-03-17 22:25:18

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#21 2019-03-17 22:53:44

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#22 2019-03-18 04:21:36

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#23 2019-03-18 11:12:26

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#24 2019-03-18 14:58:30

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

#25 2019-03-18 15:13:58

Re: Possible long-term install of Devuan and initial post-install thoughts

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