the auto partitioning size for /boot is too small

[ali50m]

Hi, I'm new to Arch linux! I am trying to installing the latest arch linux with archinstall in my PC these days. After successfully logining into the desktop Arch, I think the size for /boot partition might be a little small.

I read some issues in this repo said that the boot partion should have been increased.

I tried the same installation steps in VMPlayer and took some screenshots, please let me know if it is by-design behavior or a bug? Thanks!

installation screen shots

[Schanzation]

The new 2.8.1 version doesn't work at all for me. None of the partitioning settings will apply.

[ali50m]

I tried 2.8.1 on my PC last night, and except for a few network errors, it was basically installed successfully and entered the desktop environment. However, I deleted the partition table of the entire disk before each installation and tried to install from a completely blank disk.

I am not targeting this specific version, I just want to know if the /boot partition is designed to be so small in this case on purpose? Is there a way to increase it during the installation process?

[svartkanin]

Adding issues as comments to other unrelated issues isn't helpful and difficult to follow. @Schanzation if you experienced anything unexpected please open a separate issue and provide a reproducible description as well as the log file

[svartkanin]

@ali50m can you please provide the install log from /var/log/archinstall/install.log

[ali50m]

@svartkanin sure, /var/log/archinstall/install.log

[svartkanin]

@ali50m the update to 1GiB /boot size was done recently for a system with GPT but for any other system the size of 203MiB is still applied

https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall/blob/master/archinstall/lib/interactions/disk_conf.py#L210-L216

def _boot_partition(sector_size: disk.SectorSize, using_gpt: bool) -> disk.PartitionModification:
    flags = [disk.PartitionFlag.Boot]
    if using_gpt:
        start = disk.Size(1, disk.Unit.MiB, sector_size)
        size = disk.Size(1, disk.Unit.GiB, sector_size)
        flags.append(disk.PartitionFlag.ESP)
    else:
        start = disk.Size(3, disk.Unit.MiB, sector_size)
        size = disk.Size(203, disk.Unit.MiB, sector_size)

According the wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Partitioning#Example_layouts

In other cases, it is recommended to set the partition type to Extended Boot Loader (XBOOTLDR) Partition which is GPT partition type GUID BC13C2FF-59E6-4262-A352-B275FD6F7172 (ea00 type for gdisk) or MBR partition type ID ea.

In both cases the suggested size for the partition is 1 GiB, which should give enough space to house multiple kernels. If still in doubt, 4 GiB ought to be enough for anybody.

This may have been updated now and the implementation is out of date.

[ali50m]

@svartkanin As a newbie, I don't quite understand the explanation about partitions on the wiki. I just want to know, is 200MB enough for future systems, or it is better to be increased? If so, how can I enlarge the boot partition during using archinstall?

I'm not sure how to convert the hard drive to GPT partitions. I tried using the help from ChatGPT, but it didn't work.

lsblk
gdisk /dev/sda

# after inputing o, I can only see the disk will create a new protective MBR. 
o

Sorry if my wording is not so precise. Thanks!

[svartkanin]

You can increase the size during the installation

1. Disk configuration
2. Manual partitioning
3. Select your drive
4. Suggest partition layout
5. Now select your layout
6. The table will now contain all paritions from the default layout
7. Create your own partitions with the desired sizes

[ali50m]

@svartkanin thank you for answering this silly beginner`s question.

When manually specify the parition size, I have no idea how to input size of the /boot parition. Should I use 1GB, 1GiB or anything else for this?

Basiclly, I would like to take 1GB for /boot, 30GB for /, the left for the /home.

[ali50m]

After sever tries, I successfully set 4GiB for /boot, 30Gib for /, and the left space for /home and boot the Arch. Works well now. Thanks!