TITLE: Install LFS next to existing systems on the same partition (v2)
LFS VERSION: 3.0 (but should work for later versions, too)
AUTHOR: Matthias S. Benkmann <m.s.b@gmx.net>
SYNOPSIS:
This hint explains how you can install your new LFS system on a
partition (typically the / partition) already occupied by another
Linux system.
Compared to the one-partition-hint.txt, this hint has the
following advantages:
-does not require the use of a loopback mounted filesystem. This means
that you never have to recompile your host kernel for this hint.
-does not require destroying or modifying the host system
-host and new LFS system will *both* be bootable without loss of
performance to either.
-can be used to install several LFS systems in parallel on the
same partition. Note that this hint does *NOT* require the
installation of a special boot manager to achieve this.
HINT:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOTE: I DO NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED BY THESE
INSTRUCTIONS! ALL THAT I GUARANTEE IS THAT I WROTE THEM WITH BEST INTENTIONS!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#############################################################################
CHANGELOG
#############################################################################
2002-02-18 -moved fixing of mount points to before reboot, to prevent
(harmless) mountfs failure when rebooting to make LFS the
primary system
-changed build instructions for static mount to something less
typo-prone
-minor textual changes
-submitted v2
#############################################################################
REQUIREMENTS
#############################################################################
This hint requires at least a 2.4.x kernel on the LFS system you want to
build (the host system's kernel can be anything).
Beginning with LFS 3.0, the book uses a 2.4.x kernel, so if you are building
by a recent version of the book, this requirement is met.
This hint assumes that you install your LFS system in a top-level directory
on the partition you want to use, such as /lfs or /mnt/lfs (assuming you
have a different partition mounted on /mnt, otherwise this would not be
a top-level dir)
Other directories are possible but may cause problems (e.g. installing in
/bin/lfs is a stupid idea). You should not use a subdirectory unless you
have used this hint at least once and understand what you have to change.
#############################################################################
BUILDING THE LFS SYSTEM
#############################################################################
You build the LFS system as described in the book (well, of course you
skip the creation of a new partition and filesystem). After installing bash
in chapter 5, make a backup copy of the static bash
cp $LFS/bin/bash $LFS/bin/static-bash
After installing sh-utils in chapter 5, make a backup copy of the static chroot
cp $LFS/usr/bin/chroot $LFS/usr/bin/static-chroot
No special precautions have to be taken when building the rest of chapter 5
and 6.
After installing all the packages in chapter 6, do the following
(outside of chroot):
1. compile a static version of the mount utility according to the following
instructions
cd util-linux-* &&
./configure &&
cp defines.h defines.h.old &&
sed /ENABLE_NLS/d defines.h.old >defines.h &&
make -C lib &&
make -C mount LDFLAGS=-static &&
cp mount/mount $LFS/bin/static-mount
2. create an empty directory $LFS/old-distro.
3. Now create the following script as $LFS/sbin/init2
You have to replace
"<LFS directory>" with the directory where your LFS system is located
RELATIVE TO THE PARTITION IT IS ON. If you installed in /mnt/lfs for
instance this would be just "/lfs". If you installed in /lfs (i.e. on
the / partition), this is "/lfs", too, of course.
Note that you can *NOT* use the
variable "$LFS" as it is not available when init2 is started.
------------------- $LFS/sbin/init2 ------------------------------------------
#!<LFS directory>/bin/static-bash
export PATH=<LFS directory>/sbin:<LFS directory>/bin:<LFS directory>/usr/sbin
export PATH=$PATH:<LFS directory>/usr/bin
static-mount -n --bind / <LFS directory>/old-distro
exec static-chroot <LFS directory> /usr/bin/env -i /sbin/init "$@"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make sure that env is located in $LFS/usr/bin (it usually is but you might
have moved it to /bin for some reason).
Make init2 executable with the command `chmod +x $LFS/sbin/init2'
#############################################################################
CREATING SYSTEM BOOT SCRIPTS
#############################################################################
You have to make the following changes to the checkfs and mountfs boot
scripts when creating them:
- in both the start) and the stop) section change
/bin/mount -? -o remount,r? /
to
/bin/mount -? -o remount,r? /old-distro
i.e. replace / with /old-distro
- in the stop) section of mountfs add the line
/bin/mount -o remount,ro /old-distro
before the line
/bin/umount -a -r
Make sure you did not forget to change the checkfs script, too!
#############################################################################
MAKING THE LFS SYSTEM BOOTABLE
#############################################################################
Execute the instructions from "Making the LFS system bootable" with
the following changes:
1. In the /etc/fstab file you create, *replace* "/" with "/old-distro"
IN THE ENTRY FOR THE ROOT FILESYSTEM (not everywhere!),
so that /etc/fstab does not have a / entry but only
a /old-distro entry. IMPORTANT! Give this entry the `noauto' option.
2. When preparing your boot loader, make the following changes:
If you use LILO (as the book):
- <partition> is the partition you new LFS system is located on, e.g. the
same as your host distro's / if you installed in /lfs, or the partition
mounted at /mnt if you installed in /mnt/lfs.
This is not really a change from the standard LFS instructions. I just
repeat it in case you were wondering if it still holds.
- "image=/boot/lfskernel" must be changed to
"image=<LFS directory>/boot/lfskernel"
<LFS directory> must be replaced with the appropriate directory as in
the creation of the init2 script above.
- make LILO pass "init=<LFS directory>/sbin/init2" to the kernel. You do
this by adding the line
append="init=<LFS directory>/sbin/init2"
to the boot entry for your new LFS in lilo.conf.
If you use GRUB:
- change the kernel line of the menu.cfg entry you created for your new LFS
system so that it uses <LFS directory>/boot/lfskernel as the kernel and
passes "init=<LFS directory>/sbin/init2". The line should look similar to
the following
kernel /lfs/boot/lfskernel root=/dev/hda1 ro init=/lfs/sbin/init2
Replace /lfs with the appropriate value for <LFS directory> as in the
creation of the init2 script above. Replace /dev/hda1 with the appropriate
partition (e.g. the same as your host system's / if you installed in /lfs,
or the partition mounted at /mnt if you installed in /mnt/lfs).
NOTE: Unless you reinstall GRUB, you have to add the entry for the LFS
system to the menu.lst OF YOUR HOST SYSTEM. Just creating a menu.lst
in $LFS/boot/grub won't achieve anything. It is best to sync the menu.lst
from your host system with that from your LFS system.
3. In the unlikely case that the partition of your new LFS system does not
already have a /dev directory (e.g. because you're installing on the /usr
partition of your host system), you have to create one.
The easiest way is to copy the one from your LFS
cp -a $LFS/dev $LFS/..
4. Now continue with the book. Everything should work as advertised and if you
did everything right, you should be able to boot into your LFS system
without problems.
Via the directory /old-distro you have access to the real / of the
partition and to the files of your host distribution. Note that the
files in /old-distro may belong to users that do not exist on the LFS
system so that ls only shows numeric UIDs and GIDs.
#####################
GOTCHAS
#####################
1. You may or may not see errors from umount regarding "/dev/root: not found"
and/or "/: not mounted" during shutdown. These are harmless.
2. If you want to remount the / partition, you have to actually remount
/old-distro
NEVER unmount /old-distro. If you do this, you won't be able to remount /
read-only anymore, i.e. you won't be able to shutdown cleanly.
Note that `umount -a' unmounts /old-distro, so don't use this command.
"mountfs stop" is safe because it remounts /old-distro (and hence /)
read-only prior to calling umount -a (provided you changed mountfs properly
as you were told above). However after `mountfs stop' there is
no way to remount / read-write anymore, so don't use `mountfs stop' unless
you're shutting down your computer.
If it happens to you that you do unmount /old-distro by
"accident" (read: "stupidity"), do the following:
1. kill all processes and log out on all terminals
2. log in as root
3. Issue the command
/bin/sync
3 times. Say "I don't want a corrupted filesystem" aloud and knock on your
head after each time (this is !important! Do not
complain to anyone about corrupted filesystems if you did not follow the
sync, speak, knock on head, sync, speak, knock on head, sync, speak,
knock on head order precisely)
4. /sbin/reboot
fsck should start automatically after the reboot, but there
should not be any corruption (at least if you did step 3 properly)
##############################################################################
SWAPPING HOST AND LFS SYSTEM
##############################################################################
Right now your LFS system is booted via chroot. This does not have any
adverse effects on performance but it doesn't "feel right" so once you are
content with your LFS system you will want to make it the primary system.
This is a bit tricky. The following instructions don't delete any
files but if something goes wrong, it is possible that neither your LFS nor
your host distro boots anymore. You should keep a Linux boot disk or CD
handy. Now this is what you have to do:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOTE: I DO NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED BY THESE
INSTRUCTIONS! ALL THAT I GUARANTEE IS THAT I WROTE THEM WITH BEST INTENTIONS!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. Boot into your LFS system.
Make sure that you don't have any mount points in /old-distro (why would
you want to?). Then do
cd /old-distro
mkdir old-distro #this creates directory /old-distro/old-distro
for dir in * ; do
if [ ! $dir -ef / -a ! $dir -ef ./old-distro -a ! $dir -ef ./boot \
-a ! $dir -ef ./lost+found ]; then
mv $dir old-distro
fi
done
THIS IS THE POINT OF NO RETURN! AFTER THE ABOVE COMMANDS, NEITHER YOUR
LFS NOR YOUR HOST ARE BOOTABLE ANYMORE! YOU HAVE TO COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING
INSTRUCTIONS SUCCESSFULLY!
cd /
for dir in * ; do
if [ $dir != old-distro -a $dir != boot -a $dir != lost+found ]; then
ln -s <LFS directory>/$dir /old-distro/$dir
fi
done
In the above, replace <LFS directory> as always with the directory of
your LFS system relative to its partition.
Note that these symlinks are currently broken.
They will work when booted without the init2 script, however.
2. Change the config file of your boot manager and remove the "2" from
"init=<LFS directory>/sbin/init2" , i.e. we now want to start the real
init program, not the init2 script.
MAKE SURE YOU EDIT THE CORRECT CONFIG FILE. Depending on how you have
your boot manager set up, this is either /boot or /old-distro/boot.
It is best to synchronize those 2 to avoid trouble.
3. If your boot manager requires being reinstalled after changing the config
file, reinstall it (e.g. run `/sbin/lilo' for LILO).
4. Unmount (or remount read-only) all filesystems EXCEPT /, /old-distro
and non-physical filesystems (such as proc, devfs, devpts,...).
Note that you MUST NOT use umount -a. You have to issue a `umount -r'
command for every filesystem listed in /proc/mounts except for the ones
mentioned above.
It may be necessary to kill some processes before the unmounting will
succeed. Switching to runlevel 1 should usually give you a system with no
processes running to keep your filesystems busy.
5. Change the /etc/fstab of your LFS system to list / instead of /old-distro.
Also change the `noauto' to `defaults' (or whatever you normally use).
6. Change checkfs and mountfs to what they are on a normal LFS system, i.e.
undo the changes you were told to make in CREATING SYSTEM BOOT SCRIPTS
above.
7. Now we have to fix the mount points. Check your /etc/fstab to find out
which directories are mount points in / (i.e. mount points that contain
only one "/". "/dev/pts" for instance does NOT count.).
One directory that is always a mount point in / is /proc. Let's fix it:
cd /old-distro
rm proc
mkdir proc
Now proceed with the other mount points. Remove the symlink in /old-distro
and create a real directory instead.
NOTE: You don't really need to do this for all mount points, only for those
that are mounted automatically at boot. Mount points marked "noauto" can
be skipped.
8. Now remount your root fs read-only with
/bin/mount -o remount,ro /old-distro
and then reboot and choose the boot entry for your new LFS system again
(your host system doesn't work anymore).
9. Your LFS system should work as usual but every directory <dir> in / (except
for old-distro/, <LFS directory> and some mount points) is just
a symlink to <LFS directory>/<dir>.
This is not pretty, so we are going to fix it now.
First we have to check the mount points. If you did everything right so
far, then there should be no mount points that are symlinks into
<LFS directory> anymore (at least none that have a filesystem currently
mounted).
Use the command
cat /proc/mounts
to get a list of all mounted filesystems. The dangerous entries will look
like this
foo <LFS directory>/bar type rw 0 0
Note that only mount points directly under <LFS directory> are dangerous.
A mount point "<LFS directory>/xyzzy/bar" is harmless because it's in a
subdirectory of <LFS directory>.
If you did indeed forget a mount point <LFS directory>/bar,
do the following
umount <LFS directory>/bar
cd /
rm bar
mkdir bar
Do the same with other mount points in <LFS directory>. Unmount, remove the
symlink and create a real directory instead.
NOTE: If you absolutely can't unmount a certain filesystem, this doesn't
matter AS LONG AS YOU REMOVE THE SYMLINK. THERE ***MUST NOT*** REMAIN ANY
SYMLINKS IN / THAT POINT TO MOUNT POINTS THAT ARE CURRENTLY IN USE!
WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!
TRIPLE CHECK THAT ALL SYMLINKS IN / POINT TO REAL DIRECTORIES AND ***NOT***
TO MOUNT POINTS THAT ARE CURRENTLY IN USE.
Okay, now that we have made *positively sure* that none of the symlinks in
/ point to mount points that are in use, we can continue.
First we have to turn /tmp into a real directory:
rm tmp
mv <LFS directory>/tmp .
Now we need a few preparations
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=<LFS directory>/lib:<LFS directory>/usr/lib
cp /bin/mv /tmp
cp /lib/ld-linux.so.2 /tmp
Finally we can get rid of the rest of the symlinks.
NOTE: If something goes wrong with the moving of the /lib directory,
don't panic. <LFS directory>/sbin/sln is a statically linked ln that
you can use to set up symlinks to make it work again.
cd /
for l in * ; do
if [ -L $l ]; then
source=$(find $l -printf "%l\n") &&
rm $l &&
/tmp/ld-linux.so.2 /tmp/mv $source $l
fi
done
rm /tmp/mv
rm /tmp/ld-linux.so.2
10. Finally change the entry in your boot manager's config file to what it is
really meant to be. Remove the "init=<LFS directory>/sbin/init"
and change "<LFS directory>/boot/lfskernel" to "/boot/lfskernel".
Note that if you followed the instructions exactly, /boot is still the
old /boot from the host distro. Synchronize with /lfs/boot if necessary.
Don't forget to run /sbin/lilo if you use LILO after you changed your
lilo.conf.
11. Just to be safe you should now unmount all filesystems or remount them
read-only. Then you can reboot and
everything should be fine. Your old distro can be found in /old-distro .