-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 01:17:48AM +0200, Wojtek Porczyk wrote: > On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 12:22:28AM +0200, Marek Marczykowski-Górecki wrote: > > There is a problem with our shiny new templates for Qubes 4.0. Partition > > table there make it hard to resize root filesystem. > > > > Current partition layout of a template in Qubes 4.0 is: > > 1. xvda1: root filesystem (almost all available space) > > 2. xvda2: EFI system partition (empty, prepared for PVHv2 boot with > > VM-provided kernel) > > 3. xvda3: BIOS boot (grub2 installed, used when `kernel=''`) > > > > This makes resizing root volume hard, because one need to move xvda[23] > > data to the (new) end of the disk first. Also, having partitions at all > > (de facto required by grub2), makes online resize of root volume > > hard/impossible. > > > > Proposed solution: reorder partitions to 1. ESP, 2. BIOS boot, 3. root > > filesystem. This will not solve online resize problem, but will allow > > offline one (with VM restart in the middle). > > Why won't it solve online resizing? If you're growing the last partition, it > works OK.
You can't reload partition table while it is used (something from there is mounted). At least Linux doesn't support it. > > The problem is, it is a bit late for changing such fundamental thing... > > Affected components: > > - template builder[1] > > - initrd[2] (responsible for mounting root filesystem) > > > > So, at this stage, changing partition layout (dropping support for the > > current one, adding support for the new one) IMO is out of the options. > > The only possibility (if at all) is to add support for new layout and > > keep support for the current one. In a way not breaking the current > > setup. > > > > Alternatively, we can keep it as is (and change later - like in Qubes > > 4.1). And for now document how to extend root volume manually. Something > > like: > > 1. Shutdown VM (TemplateVM/StandaloneVM) > > 2. Use `qvm-volume` to extend root volume > > 3. Set VM kernel to some version (if was set to empty - i.e. VM provided) > > 3. Start VM > > 4. Launch fdisk, remove all partitions > > 5. Re-create partition 1 with new size - almost the whole disk - minus > > 202M, set its type to "Linux" > > 6. Re-create partition 2 with size 200M, set its type to "EFI system > > partition" > > 7. Re-create partition 3 with size 2M, set its type to "BIOS boot" > > 8. Restart VM (to reload partition table) > > 9. Re-install grub (`grub2-install /dev/xvda`) > > 10. Restore original kernel property (if changed in step 3) > > > > A lot of things can go wrong in the process. > > > > Yet another option would be to automate the above in initrd, before > > mounting root filesystem - so it is possible to reload partition table > > there, without VM restart. This would require copying data of partitions > > 2 & 3. Not sure if grub will survive such thing (because of moving BIOS > > boot partition). It is fragile operation, too. > > > > Any preference, or maybe another solution? > > > > Tracking issue: > > https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/3173 > > > > [1] > > https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-linux-template-builder/blob/master/prepare_image#L59-L76 > > - and other places there assuming root fs is on the first partition > > [2] https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-linux-utils/tree/master/dracut > - -- Best Regards, Marek Marczykowski-Górecki Invisible Things Lab A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2 iQEcBAEBCAAGBQJZ37jdAAoJENuP0xzK19csF4MH/RE9ZON//Yc7YIpVqXNompJq aKzh5xgcsVjG+BrGymim23yMEFVlwXz0jE/UOb4otefW4MPLxEb8EzuwPjeo4kCY 7gJzzbvxJ3O71iSxCjHoVoCS7NGiuJbjM61mI+y8LqWHRTv5a7gRoTbnim9p1q82 2mVACgvSMTRoYVuoBRw78mb6741Y35OCpdYnpRQOve2VZS6B5GcEev/Xm1W2KVz4 uU6i9CbZ6er3Vf3mNeQrOZaiu3yCkVW9f6hk6ZKG3tSBC2QYWGODW50an04SavPS ymM3OhwLfZ4DDbLwWAEbEVwjqYIu93BFXBDVxDjSrzgo3ncJF+5t/fGVmIyPKXU= =1nep -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "qubes-devel" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to qubes-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to qubes-devel@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qubes-devel/20171013232013.GN1059%40mail-itl. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
