EFI/refind boot- how to get kernel vmlinuz in /boot/efi/EFI/arch?

Question

I have a MacBook Pro Retina (10,2) running arch. It EFI boots using rEFInd, booting from /boot/efi/EFI/arch. This problem has been happening since I first installed the system in July - when I use pacman to update to the latest kernel, the mkinitcpio hooks generate for the current kernel, not the one that was just installed. If I don't manually run mkinitcpio after the update, I'm left with an unbootable system (the ususal "Unable to find root device" error, and dumped to recovery shell) because of a kernel/initrd mismatch (I think).
So I think the problem isn't mkinitcpio, but rather that the "linux" package is installing the kernel at /boot/vmlinuz-linux (which I later manually copy to /boot/efi/EFI/arch/vmlinuz-linux), but mkinitcpio is looking in the correct path (/boot/efi/EFI/arch) for the kernel... which is the last kernel, since I haven't copied it there yet.
As an example (yeah, I know I went a LONG time between updates, mainly due to nvidia issues), yesterday I did a full update that bumped me from 3.9.8-1 to 3.10.10-1. But here's the mkinitcpio output during the pacman run:
upgrading linux...
>>> Updating module dependencies. Please wait ...
>>> Generating initial ramdisk, using mkinitcpio. Please wait...
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'default'
-> -k /boot/efi/EFI/arch/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/efi/EFI/arch/initramfs-linux.img
==> Starting build: 3.9.8-1-ARCH
-> Running build hook: [base]
-> Running build hook: [udev]
-> Running build hook: [autodetect]
-> Running build hook: [modconf]
-> Running build hook: [block]
-> Running build hook: [filesystems]
-> Running build hook: [keyboard]
==> ERROR: module not found: `usbhid'
-> Running build hook: [fsck]
-> Running build hook: [resume]
==> WARNING: No modules were added to the image. This is probably not what you want.
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/efi/EFI/arch/initramfs-linux.img
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'fallback'
-> -k /boot/efi/EFI/arch/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/efi/EFI/arch/initramfs-linux-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> Starting build: 3.9.8-1-ARCH
-> Running build hook: [base]
-> Running build hook: [udev]
-> Running build hook: [modconf]
-> Running build hook: [block]
-> Running build hook: [filesystems]
-> Running build hook: [keyboard]
==> ERROR: module not found: `usbhid'
-> Running build hook: [fsck]
-> Running build hook: [resume]
==> WARNING: No modules were added to the image. This is probably not what you want.
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/efi/EFI/arch/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
error: command failed to execute correctly
Is there any solution to this problem? Because of the nature of rEFInd, I can't (don't think I can? I remember trying it and having problems) just symlink /boot/efi/EFI/arch/vmlinuz-linux to /boot/vmlinuz-linux.
Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated.
Here's the uncommented lines in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf:
MODULES=""
BINARIES=""
FILES=""
HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck resume"
And from /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset, which I manually specify on the command line (-p linux) when I re-run mkinitcpio after copying vmlinuz into place:
ALL_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
ALL_kver="/boot/efi/EFI/arch/vmlinuz-linux"
PRESETS=('default' 'fallback')
default_image="/boot/efi/EFI/arch/initramfs-linux.img"
fallback_image="/boot/efi/EFI/arch/initramfs-linux-fallback.img"
fallback_options="-S autodetect"
Is the right solution just changing ALL_kver to /boot/vmlinuz-linux and then copying that into /boot/efi/EFI/arch after the install, or is there some nicer solution so that this can actually be an automatic process?
Thanks for any advice/tips/suggestions.
PS - I'm running arch on the Retina with KDE. All of my configuration after the initial working install is handled by Puppet, and the module I use (along with the initial instructions and a list of what is and isn't working so far) is available at https://github.com/jantman/puppet-archl … bookretina

Answer 1

Thanks, Rod! I agree, a simple mount -L esp /boot configuration is definitely ideal for a single installation system. That was what I first tried when I first installed my UEFI board. But I keep multiple installations on disk, and multiple configs per install, so I would often run into issues with installations interfering with one another's /boot files.
I also tried unique file names per installation - like prepending installation identifiers to filenames - but that required changing defaults at install, /boot monitor scripts and services and of course I would occasionally forget to implement it for an installation and be right back at square one. It was a headache.
Eventually I settled on the solution I described above because it was simply implemented, portable without modification, provided me a sane /boot tree, seemed to play nicely with default options across the board, and, well, because it was the best I could come up with. I figured that UEFI had already imposed the mandatory FAT32 partition on me so I might as well use it for all it was worth. I mean, even Windows fits in right along with the rest. This way I could interface with UEFI and linux bootloaders in the pre-UEFI customary way with simple configuration edits in /etc/fstab and in /boot, thanks mostly, of course, to rEFInd and what I learned reading rodsbooks.
I realize that I'm probably in violation of the GNU filesystem standard with the root-level /esp mount, but, to me, it seemed the intuitive place to put it. And frankly, I really don't know any better. Perhaps it belongs in /var/run or something? I'm fully confident GNU will have resolved a standard mount point for it once and for all sometime in the next decade or so.
Still, as you say, esp as /boot is ideal. Creshal very elegantly described it on the UEFI Bootloaders wiki Talk page like this:
efibootmgr -c -l /vmlinuz-linux -u "$(cat /proc/cmdline)"
Super simple, assuming an esp at /dev/sda1. He doesn't mention the necessary /boot entry in /etc/fstab or the various possible issues with efibootmgr/UEFI NVRAM though, which is of course perfectly acceptable in Talk. Still, I mentioned these things in reply to him there and described my solution like this:
$ mkdir -p /esp; mount -L {,/}esp
$ mkdir -p /esp/EFI/boot/<NEW_SYSTEM>/; mv /boot/* $_; mount --bind $_ /boot
$ cat <<'EOF' >/etc/fstab
LABEL=<NEW_ROOTFS> / <FSTYPE> defaults 0 0
LABEL=esp /esp vfat defaults 0 0
/esp/EFI/boot/<NEW_SYSTEM> /boot none defaults,bind 0 0
EOF
$ sed -ri 's/root=[^ ]*/root=LABEL=<NEW_ROOTFS>/g' /boot/refind_linux.conf
Probably that code works, though it's entirely possible I've stumbled on syntax somewhere as I haven't tested it as written. It is admittedly less elegant than Creshal's proffered solution, but it includes an operable /etc/fstab, skeleton that it is, and edits your refind_linux.conf to boot. Assuming gpt partition labels and a rEFInd install it should do the job with very few required modifications if any aside from replacing the <VAR> strings and adding /etc/fstab entries as appropriate.
I am troubled, though, by the possible incompatibilities you mention with a vfat filesystem mounted at /boot and default symlinking behavior there. Which distributions behave this way? I don't think I've encountered it, though my default install is arch so I suppose it's possible I've just overlooked it.
I ask mainly because I've also added this to the wiki as a Sync EFIStub Kernel option and would like to highlight any inherent incompatibilities there or remove it if necessary, especially considering that I've already so boldly stated: "The following method should work similarly with any distribution or any combination thereof." Guess I jumped the gun on that one, huh?
Anyway, thanks again for rEFInd and your considerable work on rodsbooks.
-Mike
Last edited by mikeserv (2013-09-30 23:04:51)