On traditional anaconda interface you can install fedora using a partition layout without a separate partition for the /boot mount point (using ext4 or even btrfs) and the installed system works normally, without problems. Now, with webUI, its impossible to go ahead with the install process without assigning a separate partition for the /boot mount point. It's strange when we realise that even /boot/efi option (wich is essencial to be on a specially formated separated partition) isn't present as "required" on the mount point assignment page but /boot is. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.start installation using "modify disk storage" for setting up a custom partition layout 2.go to mount point assingment 3.try to install without a separate /boot partition (hopping the system is installed with the /boot mount point on the same partition the root is Actual Results: Cannot go ahead with the installation process Expected Results: Complete installation succesfully, and get a system installed with /boot and / on the same partition (ext4 for example, or even btrfs, whatever) Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-39-20230824.n.0.iso anaconda-webui-39.32-1.fc39.x86_64
Hi, yes the /boot/efi is not required is a known issue. I wonder if we would like to allow installation of the system without /boot. As I understand it's a strong requirement to have separate partition for this. However, yes, we should allow to use BTRFS subvolume if that is not possible right now.
Yeah, I understand this is a recommendation (use separate partition for /boot), but as far as I know, and searching for the documentation, it isn't mandatory (I didn't find any rule on that) and may be a problem for people with previous fedora installs without this separate partition whanting to do a new install but keeping their files on old /home and reusing their old partitions but without separate /boot.
I think Geraldo is right, we don't really need to enforce the use of a /boot partition. I'm not sure it's even terribly useful, really, unless someone knows something I don't. Do you have any reference for it being a "strong requirement"? Let's pull in some bootloader-adjacent folks for an opinion...Peter, Robbie, the context here is there's a new UI for anaconda which is enforcing a hard requirement that /boot be a separate partition. What do you think about this?
Proposed as a Blocker for 39-beta by Fedora user geraldosimiao using the blocker tracking app because: Based on the criterion https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_39_Beta_Release_Criteria#Installer_customization "The WG or SIG responsible for each Edition has the definitive say on what is or is not considered a 'significant functional customization' for that Edition. " So if the workstation SIG have strong arguments to stop users from installing without a separate /boot partition then it must be document that.
Discussed during the 2023-09-04 blocker review meeting: [1] The decision to classify this bug as a RejectedBlocker (Beta) AcceptedFreezeException (Beta) was made: "This does not really violate any Beta criteria, though we see significant concerns with whether it's appropriate for anaconda to suddenly start enforcing a requirement for a separate /boot when it did not previously. Accepted as an FE - if we do change this, it makes sense to do so for Beta, not change it between Beta and Final." [1] https://meetbot-raw.fedoraproject.org/fedora-blocker-review/2023-09-04/f39-blocker-review.2023-09-04-16.00.log.txt
CCing some more bootloader folks, since Robbie left and Peter isn't always around.
(In reply to Adam Williamson from comment #3) > I think Geraldo is right, we don't really need to enforce the use of a /boot > partition. I'm not sure it's even terribly useful, really, unless someone > knows something I don't. The key point is that your boot loader must be able to read the linux kernel etc. So with a traditional fedora install using the grub boot loader (which comes with a set of filesystem drivers) booting works just fine even with /boot not being a separate file system. When using other bootloaders things might look different. When using systemd-boot[1] you are restricted to the filesystems the firmware is able to read, where the guaranteed baseline is only vfat. The ideal solution in that case would be to just make the ESP big enough and store everything there. Problem with this is that fedora assumes the ESP is mounted at /boot/efi and the kernels are stored in /boot, so that wouldn't work out. Second best solution is a separate /boot filesystem (using vfat like the ESP). That is compatible with fedora expectations and is also an option in case you have to deal with an pre-existing but small ESP. [1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/cleanup_systemd_install
Well, we know what bootloader we're installing with, I think. We already adjust the required partitions to the circumstances: /boot/efi is only required for UEFI installs, a BIOS boot partition is only required for BIOS-on-GPT, and so on. It seems reasonable that we could have a requirement for separate /boot if installing with systemd-boot, but that doesn't mean we need to require one all the time.
I opened a fesco ticket about this https://www.pagure.io/fesco/issue/3065
As webUI has been deferred to F40, deferring the FE status of this bug.
Gerd summarized the reasons why a separate partition for /boot is desirable. It is possible to do an install without separate /boot, and while it works in various scenarios, having a separate /boot covers various additional cases and is compatible with various changes we might want to do in the future. So I think it's reasonable for Anaconda to enforce this, to allow changes in the future and to make various different scenarios similar. People who do installs via kickstart or similar can adjust without too much problem.
I suppose one issue here is webUI does not currently have a way to *recommend* a partition. With GTK UI, there's the link you can click to 'create the partitions for me' (or whatever it says) which creates a /boot by default. Maybe what we really want here is a way for web UI to show a row on its mount point assignment table for /boot by default, with a note like 'recommended' or something instead of 'required', but let you remove it if you want to?
Since this has been deferred to F40 and might change in the meantime, removing the CommonBugs nomination at this moment.
(In reply to Adam Williamson from comment #12) > I suppose one issue here is webUI does not currently have a way to > *recommend* a partition. With GTK UI, there's the link you can click to > 'create the partitions for me' (or whatever it says) which creates a /boot > by default. > > Maybe what we really want here is a way for web UI to show a row on its > mount point assignment table for /boot by default, with a note like > 'recommended' or something instead of 'required', but let you remove it if > you want to? I agree with you, if a separate partition for /boot is just desirable, and not essential, then its a good idea to just change the 'required' status for a 'recommended' one, and allow people who don't want to use it to proceed the installation without it.
FESCo decided: "If a separate /boot partition is to become a hard requirement in the Anaconda UI, we would like this to go through the Change Process for Fedora 40" - https://pagure.io/fesco/issue/3065#comment-876172
Note: the proposal submission deadline for system-wide Changes for F40 (I'd consider this to be a system-wide Change) is 2023-12-26. This must be proposed by then if you want to have this change in newUI and have newUI in F40.
@Adam thanks for the heads up. We are close to having an upstream fix, on the direction of making the /boot recommended but not required. https://github.com/rhinstaller/anaconda/pull/5372
Tested this with today's Rawhide nightly. /boot now shows as 'recommended', you can remove it, and I did a UEFI install with no /boot and it installed successfully and booted, so this looks good. Thanks.