Limine Installer PET

[BarryK]

Thanks for the help in the other thread:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=6284

Although I am posting in the EasyOS section of this forum, Limine Installer is intended to work on any Linux OS. It requires bash, lsblk utility from util-linux package, and gtkdialog.

Version 0.1.5 is attached, install it. Or, for any other Linux:

# tar -xf limine-installer-0.1.5.pet

...will expand to folder 'limine-installer-0.1.5'. tar will complain, because PET packages have a checksum appended to the file, but they are really only gzipped tarballs.

It does not yet do actual install, just generates menu entries that can be put into 'limine.cfg'.
I will post to my blog with more explanation and photos.

Here is the blog post for 0.1.4:

https://bkhome.org/news/202207/limine-i ... n-014.html

And a photo:

limine-installer-scan.png (29.19 KiB) Viewed 1209 times

0.1.5 brings fixes and improvements.

Also, attached is Limine itself, version 3.11.1. It includes a executable, 'limine-deploy', that is x86_64 and linked with glibc 2.33. If you want to run in a 32-bit environment or old glibc, you will have to compile it.

Note, "nocona" architecture is an x86_64 CPU, about the first Intel 64-bit released.

[BarryK]

Just realized that some of the generated menu entries should have "PROTOCOL=linux"
But the pups still boot without it. Anyway, fixed.

[williwaw]

Barry,

the pet found all installed here, at least the frugals that were not too many directories deep.

could you comment on the psubok=TRUE option included in the puppy stanzas? is this parameter new to puppy or specific for use with limine?

and also, it seems the installer makes some presumptions regarding the pup mode when generating the entries?

tx

[bigpup]

You do not need the false .gz to attach a pet.
As long as it is no bigger than 512KiB in size, it should attach as a pet.

In the forum FAQ -> Attachments
What attachments are allowed on the board?
https://forum.puppylinux.com/help/faq#f9r0

[BarryK]

Barry,

the pet found all installed here, at least the frugals that were not too many directories deep.

could you comment on the psubok=TRUE option included in the puppy stanzas? is this parameter new to puppy or specific for use with limine?

and also, it seems the installer makes some presumptions regarding the pup mode when generating the entries?

tx

"psubok" is a Puppy thing. I read about it here:

https://wikka.puppylinux.com/BootParametersPuppy

I don't know about any presumptions. Just looks for frugal installs.
Can you give an example of an inappropriate presumption?

I left out "pmedia". As far as I know, it isn't essential.

[BarryK]

limine-installer runs "defaulttexteditor" at the end, to display the generated menu entries.

That's at /usr/local/bin/defaulttexteditor

That's fine for the pups and pup-derivatives, but for other Linuxes, how do we determine what is the default text editor?
is there some way, or will the script have to do a search for a suitable text editor?

[williwaw]

I don't know about any presumptions. Just looks for frugal installs.
Can you give an example of an inappropriate presumption?
I left out "pmedia". As far as I know, it isn't essential.

nothing inappropriate, as without "pmedia" the frugal will boot to pupmode 12 by default
Perhaps a comment in the generated puppy stanza instructing the user to uncomment # pmedia=ataflash if they wish to use the save at exit option? guess that is the only other possibility if the installer only searches internal drives

will the script have to do a search for a suitable text editor?

Rather than open an editor, generate a complete limine.cfg?
tee it to somewhere in the users home dir?
echo ~ returns the users home, dunno if it works with all distros, though.

[BarryK]

Barry,

the pet found all installed here, at least the frugals that were not too many directories deep.

could you comment on the psubok=TRUE option included in the puppy stanzas? is this parameter new to puppy or specific for use with limine?

and also, it seems the installer makes some presumptions regarding the pup mode when generating the entries?

tx

"psubok" is a Puppy thing. I read about it here:

https://wikka.puppylinux.com/BootParametersPuppy

I don't know about any presumptions. Just looks for frugal installs.
Can you give an example of an inappropriate presumption?

I left out "pmedia". As far as I know, it isn't essential.

I have looked at the 'init' script in the initrd, at woof-ce on github, testing, master and legacy branches, none of them support "psubok", so I have taken it out of the menu.

"pupsfs" would be good to specify. The format is:

partition:<path><sfs filename>
for example:
sda2:/wary071/war_071.sfs

However, master and testing support <partition> as also format fsuuid or fslabel, legacy doesn't.
As we are only finding internal drives, partition names probably won't change, so could just use sda2:/wary071/war_071.sfs format.

Decided to only put in "psubdir=<path>" and "pmedia=atahd"

Not entirely happy with the name "atahd" as I don't think nvme drives are ata drives. But that is just a technical point. Looking at the init scripts, pmedia=atahd will restrict the search to all internal drives, excluding usb and optical.

[BarryK]

As williwaw commented, Puppy will run in PUPMODE 12. PUPMODES supported in woof-ce testing are:

Code: Select all

#aufs layers:            RW (top)      RO1             RO2              PUPMODE
#First boot (or pfix=ram):  tmpfs                         pup_xxx.sfs      5
#Normal running puppy:      pup_save.3fs                  pup_xxx.sfs      12
#ditto, but flash drive:    tmpfs         pup_save.3fs    pup_xxx.sfs      13
#Multisession cd/dvd:       tmpfs         folders         pup_xxx.sfs      77

I have added code into 'generate-menu-entry' script to detect flash media, here is an extract:

Code: Select all

 if [ "$iROTA" == "1" ];then #20220712 detect whether hdd or flash.
  PMEDIA='atahd'
 else
  PMEDIA='ataflash'
 fi
 #note ${CAT^} capitalizes the first letter...
 echo ":${CAT^} ${xiNAME} (partition ${iKNAME}, path ${iPATH})
    PROTOCOL=linux
    KERNEL_CMDLINE=psubdir=${iPATH} pmedia=${PMEDIA}" > /tmp/limine-installer/gen-menu-entry

So now it will run with a tmpfs at top level of aufs, if running on a SSD.
Users could of course change that menu entry to "atahd" if they want to run with PUPMODE 12.

[BarryK]

I have added improved MBR chainload to generated menu entry, see:

https://bkhome.org/news/202207/new-feat ... e-311.html

Will upload a new PET soon.

[BarryK]

Limine-installer 0.1.5 attached to first post.

[BarryK]

Had a coding marathon last night, and into the wee small hours, and finished the installer.
Have to do some testing before releasing it.

Uninstalling it should be easy, both for legacy-bios and uefi installs, except for one case, which I have asked about:

https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/issues/197

[williwaw]

from https://bkhome.org/news/202207/first-te ... aller.html

The Limine EFI file is installed at /EFI/limine/BOOTX86.EFI in the ESP partition. It is installed OK, and efibootmgr set it as the default choice; however, somehow the Debian and/or Mint install was stuffing things up. After a reboot, the limine entry in UEFI nvmram had been relegated to last on the priority list, and the Mint entry has gone back to the first. The Limine entry wasn't even listed.

after a reboot of debian or mint? Behaving like windows if they run their own efibootmanager config when booted?
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-manage-e ... s-on-linux

[bigpup]

I am not sure if the Puppy security key will work for EasyOS.
It may need it's own security key.

Something to consider providing.

The ability to boot when UEFI secure boot is enabled.

For a Puppy version install.
The Puppy security key, needs to be installed on the computer, alongside the other operating systems, security keys.

You can look at how Frugalpup Installer does it.
https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=337
http://www.fishprogs.software/puppy/fru ... index.html

uefi - Secure Boot:

The easiest way to allow Puppy Linux to boot on a uefi computer is to disable Secure Boot in UEFI/firmware.

If Secure Boot is enabled, every boot has to be authenticated with a key.
The key for Puppies installed with FrugalPup is not installed in the UEFI/firmware by the computer manufacturer.
But it is installed by FrugalPup as the file puppy.cer in the root directory of the "fat32" install partition.
It is necessary to use the Enroll key from disk option of MOK manager, on this file, once.
A screen providing an option to run MOK manager will be shown before the Grub2 menu, whenever it is needed.

Once the Puppy MOK has been "enrolled", subsequent boots of any Puppy installed by FrugalPup should proceed directly to the Grub2 menu.

As I understand this.
Frugalpup installer installs the UEFI Grub2 as the boot loader.
It installs the MOK manger and the Puppy security key.
So when needed, when secure boot is enabled in UEFI.
MOK manger can run and install the Puppy security key on the computer.

[BarryK]

from https://bkhome.org/news/202207/first-te ... aller.html

The Limine EFI file is installed at /EFI/limine/BOOTX86.EFI in the ESP partition. It is installed OK, and efibootmgr set it as the default choice; however, somehow the Debian and/or Mint install was stuffing things up. After a reboot, the limine entry in UEFI nvmram had been relegated to last on the priority list, and the Mint entry has gone back to the first. The Limine entry wasn't even listed.

after a reboot of debian or mint? Behaving like windows if they run their own efibootmanager config when booted?
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-manage-e ... s-on-linux

What happened, is efibootmgr had installed Limine, and just running "efibootmgr" showed the "limine" entry and it was first in the boot order.
Immediately rebooting, and pressing the UEFI hot-key to bring up the boot menu, only "debian" and "ubuntu" were listed ("ubuntu" is actually Mint). "limine" was not listed in the boot menu.

Plugging in the EasyOS usb-stick and doing a ctrl-alt-del than hot-key to bring up the UEFI boot menu, then choose to boot the usb-stick, then running "efibootmgr" showed the "limine" entry is now last in the boot order.

I did an online search and found others have reported that same experience as me.

I fixed it by using efibootmgr to remove some entries, including limine, then recreated the limine entry, then got "limine" in the UEFI boot-menu.

I did not pay close enough attention to what entries I deleted, so not sure how I fixed it.

Anyway, I cannot see how the limine entry created by efibootmgr can be ignored at bootup, and relegated to last in the boot order.
Reading experiences of others, I could not see any definite cause for this problem.

[BarryK]

bigpup,
Yeah, I will probably have to consider supporting secure-boot.

[BarryK]

Significant enhancements to Limine:

https://bkhome.org/news/202207/limine-3 ... in-oe.html

I will be incorporating these into the Installer, plus more enhancements.
Hoping to get a new PET out in a couple of days.

[williwaw]

I did not pay close enough attention to what entries I deleted, so not sure how I fixed it.

sounds like a headache I remember on some early efi implementations. maybe there is not enough ram for an excessive number of entries, and just trimming the list down some helped.

[BarryK]

Limine Installer PET version 1.0 is on-the-way. Just sorting out a bug with Alfons. We are sending emails back and forth.