EFISTUB not installed if EFI partition not mounted at /boot

[Rua]

Which ISO version are you using?

2024-09-01

The installation log

https://0x0.st/Xx5T.log

describe the problem

Description of the issue

I installed in a VM with a pre-mounted partition layout, in which the EFI system partition is mounted at /efi, rather than at /boot. Using EFISTUB as boot option, not using a UKI.

No error appears in the log, but after the installation completes "without any errors", I reboot and no EFI boot menu option is available. If the installation ISO is left enabled, it boots back into that, otherwise I end up in an EFI shell. If I try the same installation with the EFI partition mounted at /boot, the boot menu option is installed correctly.

While I'm not well versed in how archinstall works internally, what I found (archinstall/lib/installer.py:1324) seemed like it assumes that the EFI partition is mounted at /boot, so that the kernel is automatically placed in the EFI partition root. But if it's not mounted to /boot, the kernel would need to be copied there first?

Virtual machine config:

<domain type="kvm">
  <name>archlinux-2</name>
  <uuid>1bc157a6-68c2-456c-92f3-6063f3df8456</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <libosinfo:libosinfo xmlns:libosinfo="http://libosinfo.org/xmlns/libvirt/domain/1.0">
      <libosinfo:os id="http://archlinux.org/archlinux/rolling"/>
    </libosinfo:libosinfo>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit="KiB">8388608</memory>
  <currentMemory unit="KiB">8388608</currentMemory>
  <vcpu placement="static">8</vcpu>
  <os firmware="efi">
    <type arch="x86_64" machine="pc-q35-8.2">hvm</type>
    <firmware>
      <feature enabled="no" name="enrolled-keys"/>
      <feature enabled="no" name="secure-boot"/>
    </firmware>
    <loader readonly="yes" type="pflash">/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.fd</loader>
    <nvram template="/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS_4M.fd">/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram/archlinux-2_VARS.fd</nvram>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <vmport state="off"/>
  </features>
  <cpu mode="host-passthrough" check="none" migratable="on"/>
  <clock offset="utc">
    <timer name="rtc" tickpolicy="catchup"/>
    <timer name="pit" tickpolicy="delay"/>
    <timer name="hpet" present="no"/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
  <pm>
    <suspend-to-mem enabled="no"/>
    <suspend-to-disk enabled="no"/>
  </pm>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
    <disk type="file" device="disk">
      <driver name="qemu" type="qcow2"/>
      <source file="/home/rua/arch2.qcow2"/>
      <target dev="vda" bus="virtio"/>
      <boot order="1"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x04" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </disk>
    <disk type="file" device="cdrom">
      <driver name="qemu" type="raw"/>
      <source file="/home/rua/Downloads/archlinux-2024.09.01-x86_64.iso"/>
      <target dev="sda" bus="sata"/>
      <readonly/>
      <boot order="2"/>
      <address type="drive" controller="0" bus="0" target="0" unit="0"/>
    </disk>
    <controller type="usb" index="0" model="qemu-xhci" ports="15">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x02" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="0" model="pcie-root"/>
    <controller type="pci" index="1" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="1" port="0x10"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="2" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="2" port="0x11"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="3" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="3" port="0x12"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="4" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="4" port="0x13"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x3"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="5" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="5" port="0x14"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x4"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="6" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="6" port="0x15"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x5"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="7" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="7" port="0x16"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x6"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="8" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="8" port="0x17"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x7"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="9" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="9" port="0x18"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="10" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="10" port="0x19"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="11" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="11" port="0x1a"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="12" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="12" port="0x1b"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x3"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="13" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="13" port="0x1c"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x4"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="14" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="14" port="0x1d"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x5"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="sata" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1f" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="virtio-serial" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x03" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <interface type="network">
      <mac address="52:54:00:7c:64:7a"/>
      <source network="default"/>
      <model type="virtio"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x01" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </interface>
    <serial type="pty">
      <target type="isa-serial" port="0">
        <model name="isa-serial"/>
      </target>
    </serial>
    <console type="pty">
      <target type="serial" port="0"/>
    </console>
    <channel type="unix">
      <target type="virtio" name="org.qemu.guest_agent.0"/>
      <address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="1"/>
    </channel>
    <channel type="spicevmc">
      <target type="virtio" name="com.redhat.spice.0"/>
      <address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="2"/>
    </channel>
    <input type="tablet" bus="usb">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="1"/>
    </input>
    <input type="mouse" bus="ps2"/>
    <input type="keyboard" bus="ps2"/>
    <graphics type="spice" autoport="yes">
      <listen type="address"/>
      <image compression="off"/>
    </graphics>
    <sound model="ich9">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1b" function="0x0"/>
    </sound>
    <audio id="1" type="spice"/>
    <video>
      <model type="virtio" heads="1" primary="yes"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x0"/>
    </video>
    <redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="2"/>
    </redirdev>
    <redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="3"/>
    </redirdev>
    <watchdog model="itco" action="reset"/>
    <memballoon model="virtio">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x05" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </memballoon>
    <rng model="virtio">
      <backend model="random">/dev/urandom</backend>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x06" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </rng>
  </devices>
</domain>