Re: [gentoo-user] UEFI install noob questions

[Dan Egli <dan@newideatest.site>]

Let's see. I have done it two ways, depending on the machine. /boot is a 
separate partition, and /boot is part of / while /boot/EFI is a 
separate. I'll post both.

/boot is EFI partition:
/dev/cdrom              /mnt/cdrom      auto noauto,ro               0 0
/dev/sda1               /boot           vfat defaults                1 2
/dev/sda2               /               xfs defaults,noatime        1 1

/boot is part of /:
/dev/sda1       /boot/EFI       vfat 
defaults,noatime                                                1 2
/dev/sda3       /               xfs defaults,noatime         1 1
/dev/sda2       none            swap            defaults                 
                                      0 0


As for parted, I still use fdisk myself. I know the way I created each 
was simple enough.

fdisk> g
fdisk> n
            1
            <just hit enter>
         +128M
     t
     <ENTER>
    1
<create other partitions>

The way this works is the g command creates a new gpt table, destroying 
any other partition table, then your usual N for new, 1 for partition 1, 
enter to start at the first available point, and +128M to select a 128 
MB partition. If you're looking for the prompt for primary vs extended 
vs logical, those don't exist in gpt tables. EVERYTHING is primary. The 
t 1 changes the partition type to EFI System Partition. It's technically 
not needed as I neglected to do it to one of my virtual machines. But 
it's not a bad idea.

Now format as fat32: mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1

Still, here's parted output for the /boot is ESP (EFI System Partition):
(parted) print
Model: ATA VBOX HARDDISK (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 68.7GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
  1      1049kB  135MB   134MB   fat32              boot, esp
  2      135MB   68.7GB  68.6GB  xfs

and here's the output for the one where /boot is one partition and 
/boot/EFI is a different one (and I didn't change the partition type):
(parted) print
Model: ATA VBOX HARDDISK (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 34.4GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name  Flags
  1      1049kB  68.2MB  67.1MB  fat32
  2      68.2MB  8658MB  8590MB  linux-swap(v1)        swap
  3      8658MB  34.4GB  25.7GB  xfs


EFI really isn't THAT complicated once you remember the restrictions. 
For example, on the first instance, using fdisk, the following is 
exactly what I did:

Command (m for help): g
Created a new GPT disklabel (GUID: 448CFABB-EBB6-AF44-8A36-A5679DB2EF76).

Command (m for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1):
First sector (2048-134217694, default 2048):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-134217694, default 
134217694): +128M

Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 128 MiB.

Command (m for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2):
First sector (264192-134217694, default 264192):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (264192-134217694, default 
134217694):

Created a new partition 2 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 63.9 GiB.

Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1,2, default 2): 1
Partition type (type L to list all types): 1

Changed type of partition 'Linux filesystem' to 'EFI System'.

Command (m for help): w

# mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1 -F32

#mkfs.xfs /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/gentoo
mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot


Then once grub is emerged and the kernel compiled:
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg


That's it, I swear. If you still have questions, you can keep asking the 
list, or write to me off the list and I'd be happy to help. Your choice.

-- 

Dan Egli
 From my Test Server