Any suggestions to auto-install the kernel into the EFI?

SlackCoder · 04-18-2024, 10:24 AM

What are some good ways on upgrade to automatically install the kernel into the EFI?

The Arch linux wiki describes a number of ways. Bind mounting the EFI onto /boot would be nice, but it would need to use the soft-links created by Slackware's kernel package on install. The EFI's FAT filesystem format does not support soft-links.

wpeckham · 04-18-2024, 11:25 AM

Also, soft links only work when the storage spaces for both source and target are mounted which is not the expected situation pre-boot.

colorpurple21859 · 04-18-2024, 12:14 PM

Assuming you are using elilo with Slackware, switch over to grub bootlloader after running grub-mkconfig edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg to use vmlinuz-huge symlink and change root=UUID=xxxx-cxxx to root=/dev/xxxxx
If can boot the huge kernel without an initrd this should work

GazL · 04-18-2024, 01:01 PM

I use a 'slackup' post-install script triggered by kernel-modules package updates to copy them over to the efi partition:
https://github.com/glangshaw/slacksc...kernel-modules

SlackCoder · 04-22-2024, 11:03 AM

The simplest without having to install any packages is to add this to your /etc/rc.d/rc.local. It only works if updating only the kernel without the initrd is sufficient. You'll need to replace [EFI kernel location] to the one used by your system.

Code:

EFI_KERNEL="[EFI kernel location]"

>/dev/null 2>&1 nohup bash -c "inotifywait /boot --event CREATE --event MOVED_TO --quiet --monitor --include \"vmlinuz$\" | xargs -I {} cp -H /boot/vmlinuz $EFI_KERNEL" &

Note: Edited to remove installpkg patch

breaker · 04-24-2024, 05:32 PM

Are you using an EFI stub loader to directly boot the kernel? If so, I just copy the new files to the EFI system partition after booting with the old kernel, then reboot. As long as the file names remain the same. Just make a script to do this.

This assumes you don't use ELILO, GRUB, nor any other bootloader.

denydias · 04-25-2024, 05:19 AM

I have a script to update many things I need to use. One of its functions is upkernel(). It does exactly what you are looking for and many more. It's not pretty but serves me well for many years. If you want to take a look:

https://gitlab.com/-/snippets/2012761#L145

You may safely remove many of its extra features to fit your needs.

hazel · 04-25-2024, 05:54 AM

I wouldn't feel safe automating such a vital function. I copy my kernel and initrd to the ESP by hand and then edit elilo.conf. It only takes a minute or so.

rizitis · 04-25-2024, 10:27 AM

...

EDIT: I use this script just in case you like something like this https://github.com/rizitis/siab

henca · 04-25-2024, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hazel

I wouldn't feel safe automating such a vital function. I copy my kernel and initrd to the ESP by hand and then edit elilo.conf. It only takes a minute or so.

Yes, but that is some minute(s) per machine. If you are responsible for keeping many machines up to date automation like that script is really a must. You will feel safe with automation if you first test the update on some (possible virtual) machine(s) and know that you are comfortable booting from installation media or some other live media to fix anything that has been messed up.

On the other hand, with only a single machine to care about you would spend more time configuring and testing an automated routine than to fix your single machine.

regards Henrik