On Tue, 25 May 2021 09:54:15 -0500
o1bigtenor via Dng <dng@???> wrote:

> On Mon, May 24, 2021 at 9:56 PM Patrick Bartek <nemommxiv@???>
> wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, 24 May 2021 20:46:06 -0500
> > o1bigtenor via Dng <dng@???> wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, May 24, 2021 at 4:51 PM o1bigtenor <o1bigtenor@???>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Greetings
> > > >
> > > > Tried a migration from Debian Buster to Beowulf - - - nope.
> > > > Downloaded the DVD and got almost all the way through the
> > > > install. Got stuck when the install demands a place to install
> > > > grub and this is an EFI setup.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Thought I'd check things.
> > > You bet - - - - had it on legacy boot not efi boot.
> > > Changed that and did another install.
> > > At the boot after install - - - oops - - - no joy.
> > >
> > > Complaints of no run init: can't execute /sbin/init: no such file
> > > or directory.
> > >
> > > Now this I have no ideas on how to fix - - - - please advise.
> > >
> > > (This is using the devuan dvd to install from. If this doesn't
> > > work
> > > - - - - well - - - I'm now out of my depth!)
> >
> > For my clean install of Beowulf, I had to use Expert Mode to get the
> > EFI boot choice. Having Legacy Mode on or off in BIOS made no
> > difference.
>
> Have now gone through a complete install twice using 'Expert Mode'.
> >
> > You also need a dedicated EFI partition (type ef00, EFI System type)
> > formatted FAT32 mounted on /boot/efi which should show in the
> > installer partitioner tool. You don't need a dedicated /boot
> > partition. The boot folder under / is sufficient.
>
> Have an EFI partition (FAT32 IIRC) on the HDD. Said no for installing
> GRUB to some independent partition.
> >
> > Thoroughly study the install instructions, especially about setting
> > up efi.
>
> I can find nothing for setting up efi on Devuan on any of the
> official pages. If you know of such if you would please advise.
>
> (I know devuan works, a buddy, now deceased a year, was a huge fan,
> likely also involved in some maintenance - - - - just how do I get
> this server testing system running Beowulf. Four installs now and
> still no joy.
> Have now done 4 installs and would like advice before I start #5.
> Doing the same thing over and over hoping results will change is
> not my idea of 'joy'.)

Agree.
Here follows my 2c based on recently experiencing something
similar to install Devuan-chimaera. (I'm chasing hardware support),

Caveat, none of my systems (all PCs) use EFI boot. It just insn't
reliable for me. YMMV. However, I notice a couple of things doing
something similar when attempting to start via a basic Devuan-beowulf
install.

Using the desktop iso on auto mode, if I just threw the whole hard
disk at the install(guided partition), it created five spaces; filler,
efi partition, vary large data partition and exceedingly small swap
partition, then filler. It then went on to do an 'efi boot' install
that failed on my hardware.

If you want to do it manually, via expert mode, then I'd suggest using
gdisk and set up he partitions in a similar way. You will just need to
set the efi-partition to msdos type as specified in the replies
above. gdisk defaults to labelling everything linux-data.

Unfortunately, you then have to run through all the steps of the
install until if finally installs the boot system.

In my case, it just kept saying that 'failed to install grub boot
loader' or such. Very frustrating. Plus I have no idea of what I did
different (hair part?0 so that it finally worked dong an expert install.

Just maker sure you are telling the hardware to use the efi boot. Do
you need to frag the efi boot partition to the top of the boot list on
the hardware? I've found with different motherboards from the same
manufacturer, that there are differences in how you can set the boot
order. In some cases, going to the motherboard(bios) boot menu and
selecting a partition was all it needed to set it permanently. In a
different model of the same family of motherboards, I had to actually
drag it to the top of the listed options.

Hopefully my 2c gives you some ideas.

> TIA