procedure: update notes to self

README.md

@@ -1,30 +1,61 @@
-# Void Linux Minecraft Setup for USB Sticks
+# Void Linux Setup for USB Sticks
 
-This repository holds a bunch of scripts for installing and customizing
-Void Linux to run off a USB stick.
+This repository holds scripts for installing a Void Linux setup specialized to run off a USB stick.
 
-There are a couple manual steps to get started before this script can take over:
+This is only for USB sticks (thumb drives, pen drives, whatever you wanna call them).
+You don’t need this if you want to use a USB HDD or SSD because these devices tend to just work normally.
+If you want to use a USB HDD/SSD, just download the installer for the Linux distro of your choice and
+install it on that drive. Most modern distros know how to cope with external drives.
+
+The reason this is useful for USB sticks is that most of them are a bit shit.
+Trying to run an operating system off a USB drive typically results in a corrupted drive pretty quickly
+(if you can get the system to install properly in the first place).
+
+## Installation
+
+You need the following:
+- Computer (duh)
+  - 8G of RAM or more
+  - Can boot off USB (most computers made after 2003)
+- USB stick (at least 8G)
+- Internet connection
+
+There are a couple manual steps to get started before the installer scripts can take over:
 - Set up a Void live medium
   - Download here: https://voidlinux.org/download/
     - The following instructions assume you downloaded the "base" image
-  - Burn to a CD/DVD or flash it to a USB stick
+  - Burn to CD/DVD or flash it to USB stick
     - Windows should have a built-in thing for burning ISOs.
     - You can use something like Win32DiskImager or Rufus for USB sticks.
       - This will delete what’s on the stick.
 - Boot into Void live and prepare things
-  - Two things I can’t help you with (sorry):
+  - Things I can’t help you with (sorry):
     - How to boot off CD/USB depends on your computer, so you’ll have to find out elsewhere.
     - Be aware that Void uses a US keymap until you change it. If your keyboard is different, you might need to look up an image of a US keyboard to find the right keys.
-  - If you are booting off the USB stick you want to install to, use the (RAM) option.
+  - If booting off the USB stick you want to install to, use (RAM) option
   - Log in as `root`, password `voidlinux`
   - If you need to use WiFi, run `void-installer`
-    - set your keyboard layout (optional)
-    - connect to your network
-    - abort the installation
+    - Set your keyboard layout (optional)
+    - Connect to your network
+    - Abort the installation (don’t touch anything else)
 - Download and run stage 1 of the USB installation script
   - The base image doesn’t come with a way to download files so you need to install that first: `xbps-install -S wget`
-    - if it yells at you about updating xbps, do that, then try again
+    - If it yells at you about updating xbps, do that, then try again
   - `wget https://lostcave.ddnss.de/git/BodgeMaster/void-minecraft-usb/raw/branch/master/install-stage1.sh`
   - `bash install-stage1.sh`
 
-The script will take it from there, asking you for information as needed.
+The scripts will take it from there, asking you for information and downloading things as needed.
+
+## How It Works
+
+`//TODO:` Add detailed documentation
+
+## Files
+
+- `install-stage1.sh`: sets up the base system and prepares for installation stage 2
+- `install-stage2.sh`: continues setting up things after booting into the freshly installed base system
+- `opt/grub-config`: the custom grub config generator to be installed in /opt/void-usb
+- `procedure.txt`: notes to self, will disappear once finished
+- `bootup.sh`: script that sets up the overlay
+- `bashrc`: just a custom bashrc
+- `update-squashfs.sh`: runs at shutdown, allows user to back up the system

install-stage1.sh

@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ function yesno {
   done
 }
 
+function run_in_target {
+  xchroot /mnt/target "$@"
+}
+
 clear
 echo "
 This script will now download and install Void Linux on your USB stick.
@@ -169,7 +173,7 @@ XBPS_ARCH="$TARGET_TYPE" xbps-install --yes --sync --rootdir /mnt/target --repos
   wifi-firmware traceroute grep gzip file sed gawk less coreutils findutils \
   diffutils pciutils usbutils tzdata base-files ncurses mdocml procps-ng \
   kbd xbps sudo ethtool kmod eudev runit-void removed-packages nano acpid \
-  squashfs-tools grub grub-i386-efi grub-x86_64-efi
+  squashfs-tools grub grub-i386-efi grub-x86_64-efi dracut
 
 echo "repository=$TARGET_MIRROR" > /mnt/target/etc/xbps.d/00-repository-main.conf
 
@@ -184,7 +188,7 @@ echo "# See fstab(5).
 # TODO: add script path
 
 UUID=$(blkid --output value --match-tag UUID $TARGET_PART_BOOT) /boot f2fs defaults,nodev,nosuid 0 2
-UUID=$(blkid --output value --match-tag UUID $TARGET_PART_EFI) /boot/efi vfat defaults 0 2
+UUID=$(blkid --output value --match-tag UUID $TARGET_PART_EFI) /boot/efi vfat defaults,fmask=0077,dmask=0077 0 2
 /container/home /home none bind 0 0
 " > /mnt/target/etc/fstab
 
@@ -262,6 +266,15 @@ done
 
 echo "$TARGET_HOSTNAME" > /mnt/target/etc/hostname
 
+mkdir /mnt/target/boot/efi/LOADER
+echo "GRUB has been deliberately installed to a non-standard location.
+This avoids default kernel hooks breaking the custom config." > /mnt/target/boot/efi/LOADER/README.TXT
+
+# no idea if any of these are even necessary/relevant but it can’t hurt...
+TARGET_PRELOAD_GRUB_MODULES="usb usbms uhci ehci ohci part_gpt f2fs"
+run_in_target grub-install --target=i386-pc --boot-directory=/boot/efi/LOADER --disk-module=native --modules="$TARGET_PRELOAD_GRUB_MODULES" "/dev/$TARGET_DISK"
+run_in_target grub-install --target=i386-efi --boot-directory=/boot/efi/LOADER --efi-directory=/boot/efi --removable --no-nvram --modules="$TARGET_PRELOAD_GRUB_MODULES" "/dev/$TARGET_DISK"
+run_in_target grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --boot-directory=/boot/efi/LOADER --efi-directory=/boot/efi --removable --no-nvram --modules="$TARGET_PRELOAD_GRUB_MODULES" "/dev/$TARGET_DISK"
 
 
 

opt/grub-config

@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+OS_NAME="Void Linux USB"
+GRUB_PREFIX="/boot/efi/LOADER/grub"
+CFG_CUSTOM_BEFORE="custom_before.cfg"
+CFG_CUSTOM_AFTER="custom_after.cfg"
+LINUX_CMDLINE=""
+
+DEFAULT_LINUX=/boot/vmlinu?
+if [ ! -f "$DEFAULT_LINUX" ]; then
+  # in cases where it’s a .gz or .xz or whatever
+  DEFAULT_LINUX=$(find /boot -type l -name "vmlinu*" 2>/dev/null | sort | head -n1)
+fi
+
+DEFAULT_INITRAMFS=/boot/initramfs.img
+if [ ! -f "$DEFAULT_INITRAMFS" ]; then
+  # hope to find anything named initramfs or initrd
+  DEFAULT_INITRAMFS=$(find /boot -type l -name "init*" 2>/dev/null | sort | head -n1)
+fi
+
+function make_menuentry {
+  # $1 is the kernel path
+
+  # We don’t want duplicate entries for /boot/vmlinuz symlink
+  if [ -L $1 ]; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  # exclude garbage globbing results
+  if [ ! -f $1 ]; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  LINUX="$(basename "$1")"
+  LINUX_VERSION="$(sed 's/^kernel//;s/^vm//;s/^linuz//;s/^linux//;s/^-//' <<< "$LINUX")"
+  if grep -e ".gz$" -e ".xz$" -e ".bz$" -e ".bz2$" -e ".lzma$" -e ".lz$" -e ".img$" >/dev/null 2>&1 <<< "$LINUX"; then
+    LINUX_VERSION="$(sed 's/[^.]*$//;s/.$//' <<< "$LINUX_VERSION")"
+  fi
+
+  INITRAMFS="$(basename "$(find /boot -name "init*$LINUX_VERSION*" 2>/dev/null | sort | head -n1)")"
+
+  # user output
+  echo "  -> Found $LINUX (version $LINUX_VERSION, initramfs $INITRAMFS)"
+
+  # grub.cfg
+  echo "
+  menuentry 'Linux $LINUX_VERSION' {
+    echo    'Loading $LINUX...'
+    linux   /$LINUX $LINUX_CMDLINE
+    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk...'
+    initrd  /$INITRAMFS
+  }" >> "$GRUB_PREFIX/grub.cfg"
+}
+
+# user output
+echo "Generating grub config..."
+
+# grub.cfg
+echo "# This file is auto-generated by $0.
+# Changes will be overwritten automatically.
+# If you want to add custom entries or other changes, add them to
+# $GRUB_PREFIX/$CFG_CUSTOM_BEFORE or
+# $GRUB_PREFIX/$CFG_CUSTOM_AFTER
+
+search --fs-uuid --set=root $(blkid --output value --match-tag UUID "$(grep " /boot " /proc/mounts | sed -e 's/ .*//')")
+
+set menu_color_normal=white/black
+set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
+
+timeout=5
+
+if [ -f  \${config_directory}/$CFG_CUSTOM_BEFORE ]; then
+  source \${config_directory}/$CFG_CUSTOM_BEFORE
+elif [ -z \"\${config_directory}\" -a -f  \$prefix/$CFG_CUSTOM_BEFORE ]; then
+  source \$prefix/$CFG_CUSTOM_BEFORE
+fi
+
+menuentry '$OS_NAME' {
+  echo 'Loading Linux...'
+  linux $DEFAULT_LINUX
+  echo 'Loading initial ramdisk...'
+  initrd $DEFAULT_INITRAMFS
+}
+
+submenu 'Choose kernel version...' {" > "$GRUB_PREFIX/grub.cfg"
+
+for FILE in /boot/{vm,}linu{x,z}* /boot/kernel*; do
+  make_menuentry "$FILE"
+done
+
+# grub.cfg
+echo "
+}
+
+if [ -f  \${config_directory}/$CFG_CUSTOM_AFTER ]; then
+  source \${config_directory}/$CFG_CUSTOM_AFTER
+elif [ -z \"\${config_directory}\" -a -f  \$prefix/$CFG_CUSTOM_AFTER ]; then
+  source \$prefix/$CFG_CUSTOM_AFTER
+fi" >> "$GRUB_PREFIX/grub.cfg"
+
+# user output
+echo "done"

procedure.txt

@@ -1,7 +1,17 @@
-make it bootable with UEFI and BIOS?
+TODO:
 compare sizes of glibc and musl installations
-try running multiple MC versions on musl
+try running multiple MC versions on musl (incl ThatModPack)
 need xdg menu maker?
+check if there are problems with GRUB’s --disk-module=native on real USB drives on real hardware
+test that the (RAM) boot option allows you to install to the stick the system booted off
+adjust required USB stick and RAM size in README
+
+musl downsides:
+  - no nvidia drivers
+  - may be janky in regards to running some Minecraft versions
+musl upsides:
+  - ??
+
 
 ideas:
 use shell script for init, call real init via exec
@@ -12,11 +22,13 @@ system lives on squashfs
     -> fstrim (if applicable)
 swap on zram
 f2fs for home
-tmpfs for package cache, /tmp, logs?
 
 when backing up
 - do not cross file system boundaries
 - exclude /tmp, package cache, logs
+- possibly only save the changes in separate squashfs images
+  - either until it takes up too much space or until a certain number of images exist
+  - consolidate when the user requests it or when exceeding the limit
 
 Steps to install:
   - (user does this:) boot Void installer
@@ -49,7 +61,7 @@ Steps to install:
     -> select installation type (x86_32/x86_64/aarch64, glibc/musl)
       -> if musl, add that bit to repo url
     -> install packages
-      -> linux bash shadow f2fs-tools dosfstools dbus NetworkManager iana-etc iw wpa_supplicant util-linux which tar man-pages iproute2 iputils wifi-firmware traceroute grep gzip file sed gawk less coreutils findutils diffutils pciutils usbutils tzdata base-files ncurses mdocml procps-ng kbd xbps sudo ethtool kmod eudev runit-void removed-packages nano acpid squashfs-tools
+      -> linux bash shadow f2fs-tools dosfstools dbus NetworkManager iana-etc iw wpa_supplicant util-linux which tar man-pages iproute2 iputils wifi-firmware traceroute grep gzip file sed gawk less coreutils findutils diffutils pciutils usbutils tzdata base-files ncurses mdocml procps-ng kbd xbps sudo ethtool kmod eudev runit-void removed-packages nano acpid squashfs-tools grub grub-i386-efi grub-x86_64-efi
     -> configure XBPS mirror
     -> configure sudo
       -> drop a file with "%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL" in /etc/sudoers.d/sudo_group
@@ -68,10 +80,18 @@ Steps to install:
       -> selection dialog?
       -> symlink /etc/localtime
     -> configure host name
-    -> configure and install bootloader
-      -> if x86 install for both UEFI and BIOS
-        -> Is there a way we can make this work with 32-bit AND 64-bit EFI at the same time?
-      -> if ARM install only UEFI
+    -> install and configure bootloader
+      -> install GRUB for i386-pc, i386-efi, x86_64-efi
+      -> --removable and --no-nvram for EFI
+      -> --boot-directory set to /boot/loader to prevent grub-mkconfig kernel hook from running
+        -> state as much in a text file in there
+      -> add kernel hooks
+        -> script to run /opt/void-usb/grub-config
+        -> a script that updates vmlinu{z,x} and initramfs.img symlinks
+          -> add symlinks for newly installed kernel
+          -> guess best choice when removing the currently symlinked kernel
+          -> ask whether to run vkpurge if disk space is low
+      -> download grub-config and its resources and drop them in /opt/void-usb
     -> xbps-reconfigure -fa
     -> prepare 2nd stage installation
       -> auto login root
@@ -94,6 +114,7 @@ Steps to install:
       -> pipewire (pulsemixer?)
       -> ask about nvidia driver
         -> install if needed
+        -> find out when and where to set `nvidia-drm.modeset=1`
       -> ask whether to use CTWM or IceWM
         -> short description of up and downsides
         -> if CTWM, also install