Installing BunsenLabs Helium-dev

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-06-10 16:22:49

Warning: BunsenLabs Helium is at the development stage and must be considered *experimental* in nature so please *do not* use this system for anything important.

Preamble

With the release of Debian 9.0 now upon us, this guide will show how to install a BunsenLabs Helium test system (known as "Helium-dev").

There are two steps to this process:

install a Debian stretch base system
run the bunsen-netinstall script

For the first step, it is possible to use the Debian stretch netinstall ISO image (with the non-free firmware already included):

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unof … ch/iso-cd/

If this method is used, be sure to de-select all of the desktop options in the tasksel section, just leave the "standard system utilities" box ticked and un-select all of the other options (unless you want a print, ssh or web server).

Once the system is installed, the bunsen-netinstall script can be run after first boot (from a console login), as described below.

For this guide I will be showing how to install from a running terminal session in BunsenLabs Hydrogen (or any other GNU/Linux environment) as this removes the need for continual rebooting, installation media, reading online instructions from the TTY, and so on.

Installing stretch

This section was adapted from the Debian stretch installation guide, please refer to that for more details:

https://www.debian.org/releases/stretch … 03.html.en

Run the following commands from a root shell, attained by passing

sudo -i

First mount the partition that will be used for the new root filesystem:

mount /dev/sdXY /mnt

Replace XY with the letter and number assigned to the target partition.

Use `lsblk` beforehand to show all partitions and make sure that the chosen partition is not already mounted to avoid overwriting an extant system.

Then mount any other partitions (if needed), for example if /home is on /dev/sdXZ:

mkdir -p /mnt/home
mount /dev/sdXZ /mnt/home

Now use debootstrap to install the (very minimal) base system:

debootstrap --components=main,contrib,non-free stretch /mnt https://cdn-aws.deb.debian.org/debian

Tip: remove the "--components=" flag to create a clean, blob-free system.

Once that is done we can chroot into the system to configure if properly:

for i in /proc /sys /dev /dev/pts; do mount --bind $i /mnt$i; done
chroot /mnt /bin/bash

The file at /etc/profile can be sourced for PATH and other niceties:

. /etc/profile

The hostname for the new system can then be set with:

echo $hostname > /etc/hostname # replace $hotname with the actual hostname

The hostname should also be added to /etc/hosts on the first line, just after "localhost", separated with a space.

Now create a basic /etc/fstab (again, replace X with the correct drive letter):

grep sdX /proc/self/mounts > /etc/fstab

Be sure to check this file afterwards (and perhaps replace /dev/sdX{Y,Z} with UUIDs instead).

Now add the stretch-updates and Debian Security repositories:

echo -e "deb https://cdn-aws.deb.debian.org/debian stretch-updates main contrib non-free\ndeb https://cdn-aws.deb.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main contrib non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
apt update && apt upgrade

Set up /etc/adjtime for UTC with:

hwclock --systohc

And the time zone:

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Locales & keyboard:

apt install locales console-setup
dpkg-reconfigure locales

Install a kernel (yes, the system really is that minimal):

apt install linux-image-amd64 # use "linux-image-686" for 32-bit systems (without the quotation marks)

Now add the main user:

adduser $username # replace $username with the actual username

We need `sudo` for the install script:

apt install sudo
gpasswd -a $username sudo

Finally, install the standard system utilities, as expected by our script:

tasksel install standard

Applying the netinstall script

First, either log in as the normal user (if booting into a conventional stretch installation) or use this command from the chroot:

su - $username

Then download the script:

wget https://github.com/bunsenlabs/bunsen-netinstall/archive/helium-dev.tar.gz

Unpack the tarball:

tar xf helium-dev.tar.gz
cd bunsen-netinstall-helium-dev

And run the script:

./install

If run from the chroot APT will complain about missing hostnames, those messages can be safely ignored.

Once the script is finished the machine can be rebooted into Helium-dev (hopefully).

If the chroot method is employed then either `exit` or <Ctrl>+d will exit the user session & chroot (needs to be run twice) and `umount -R /mnt` will clear the mountpoint.

Bootloader

Remember to run `sudo update-grub` (from the "host") after finishing the entire installation, this should pick up the new system and provide a menu entry in the GRUB bootloader.

If a conventional ISO image is used for installation then I would recommend disabling the bootloader step in the installer and updating the pre-existing bootloader configuration afterwards instead.

Adding the experimental Helium repository

The Helium-dev netinstall script now uses the new repositories so this step is only needed for those who have a pre-existing Helium-dev system that only has the Hydrogen repositories in /etc/apt/sources.list.d

The line to add is:

deb https://kelaino.bunsenlabs.org/~johnraff/debian helium main

It's probably best to have this in it's own file so:

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helium-dev.list << !
deb https://kelaino.bunsenlabs.org/~johnraff/debian helium main
!

Add the key:

wget -q https://kelaino.bunsenlabs.org/~johnraff/helium-dev.asc -O - | sudo apt-key add -

Then update & upgrade, the new versions should take precedence:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Thanks for testing and please be sure to report any bugs or other issues:

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewforum.php?id=14

Please prepend any support thread titles with [Helium-dev] so we know what we're dealing with

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-12-26 17:45:54)

dolly · 2017-06-12 07:19:14

Thank you! Thrilling Bunsen times ahead of us!

DeepDayze · 2017-06-18 00:03:56

Any way to "upgrade" from an existing Jessie system? I took the plunge and installed BL onto my HP 8460p laptop and blew away my previous distro.

Last edited by DeepDayze (2017-06-18 00:04:42)

DeepDayze · 2017-06-18 00:05:39

I do know a lot of packages may well get removed if I did a plain upgrade to Stretch...

hhh · 2017-06-18 05:05:07

> Any way to "upgrade" from an existing Jessie system?

There's a long thread on it here somewhere. Disable the BL repo(s), upgrade your system to stretch, and then ask for help restoring BL.

We'll have a tutorial up as soon as it's convenient.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-06-18 11:03:36

DeepDayze wrote:

I do know a lot of packages may well get removed if I did a plain upgrade to Stretch...

Yeah, myself and another user attempted that, with some success:

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 149#p46149

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 717#p52717

There's no rush though, jessie has full support from the Security Team until June 2018.

kozimodo · 2017-06-27 11:39:13

Hi all,

I tried on a VM. The install process worked but initially lightdm would not start. Switching to the console and typing "startx" revealed that the vesa driver was not installed. After

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-vesa

everything worked beautifully.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-06-27 19:55:34

^ Thanks for the report!

This happens because we have added xserver-xorg-video-intel to pks-norecs and this satisfies the xorg-video-driver (virtual) dependency, thus preventing xserver-xorg-video-all (which pulls in the VESA driver) from being installed.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-06-27 20:10:24)

damo · 2017-06-30 22:20:00

Some things I noticed with this fantastic chrooty method...

1) My system requires

apt-get install firmware-realtek firmware-iwlwifi

2)

apt-get install grub2

3) I needed to set a user password, after creating $user

passwd $user

4) And I needed to create and chown /home/$user, before running the install script

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-06-30 22:58:55

damo wrote:

1) My system requires
apt-get install firmware-realtek firmware-iwlwifi

Good catch, thanks — we should add those to pkg-norecs, I think.

damo wrote:

2)

apt-get install grub2

See the Bootloader section, I advised using grub.cfg in the existing system rather than the new one.

Of course that command (along with `grub-install /dev/sdX && update-grub`) would be needed if BL-He was to be the only system on the disk.

damo wrote:

3) I needed to set a user password, after creating $user
passwd $user
4) And I needed to create and chown /home/$user, before running the install script

Ooops, sorry, I mixed up `useradd` & `adduser` again...

:8 :8

I have edited the OP, the `adduser` command will create $HOME and prompt for a password (`useradd` requires extra flags for that).

johnraff · 2017-07-01 08:23:48

kozimodo wrote:

After
sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-vesa
everything worked beautifully.

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

This happens because we have added xserver-xorg-video-intel to pks-norecs and this satisfies the xorg-video-driver xorg-driver-video (virtual) dependency, thus preventing xserver-xorg-video-all (which pulls in the VESA driver) from being installed.

(fify)

These shifting dependencies... OK I guess what we have to do is to explicitly install xserver-xorg-video-all and xserver-xorg-video-intel. How about adding the other recommend of xserver-xorg-video-all, xserver-xorg-video-qxl?

EDIT: added server-xorg-video-all for now.

Last edited by johnraff (2017-07-01 09:25:51)

johnraff · 2017-07-01 09:20:35

damo wrote:

My system requires

apt-get install firmware-realtek firmware-iwlwifi

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

damo wrote:
My system requires
apt-get install firmware-realtek firmware-iwlwifi
Good catch, thanks — we should add those to pkg-norecs, I think.

This is a bit strange - both those packages are on my (jessie) system, but marked as "manually installed". I think live-build might have put them in the iso by its "firmware" settings, without having to put them on the install list. (Meanwhile firmware-realtek is on the netinstall list, commented out.)

In fact there are many, many firmware-* packages. Will adding firmware-realtek and firmware-iwlwifi to the netinstall list cover most of our needs? Any other candidates?

EDIT: anyway those two added, for now.

Last edited by johnraff (2017-07-01 09:25:09)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-07-01 15:24:15

johnraff wrote:

Will adding firmware-realtek and firmware-iwlwifi to the netinstall list cover most of our needs? Any other candidates?

There has been some re-organisation of the firmware packages between jessie and stretch and it's a bit confusing to untangle, unfortunately.

https://packages.debian.org/search?keyw … ection=all

There are a few more in the above list that could be candidates for installation, I suppose.

I'm just about to install Helium-dev on my Intel laptop (again) and that needs both of those blobs so I will report back (I never use the ISO image to install).

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-07-01 15:44:47

I have added a section detailing our new (experimental!) Helium-dev repositories for the BunsenLabs packages.

Any users of Helium-dev can add the new source and upgrade those packages (no need to reinstall).

Horizon_Brave · 2017-07-01 15:59:38

Random question, but after an install of helium-dev, will it modify the /etc/lsb-release file to reflect the change? or at this point should it still say 8.7 bunsen-hydrogen...?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-07-01 16:11:41

^ No spoilers!

8o

DeepDayze · 2017-07-01 17:20:05

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

^ No spoilers!
8o

]:D

Horizon_Brave · 2017-07-01 21:15:07

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

^ No spoilers!
8o

Ha! I'm always that bloke that asks questions about how a movie ends, in front of others who haven't seen it yet!

Well for a more generalized question... is /etc/lsb-release actually used for anything eh... purposeful? or is it just for reference? Isn't a command that generates an ASCII screen showing the info about the system? Does it use the /etc/lsb-release file for this?

Sector11 · 2017-07-01 21:46:37

yes ... and no ... well maybe, but then again, maybe not!

johnraff · 2017-07-02 07:54:31

Horizon_Brave wrote:

is /etc/lsb-release actually used for anything eh... purposeful?

One thing is Grub checks it (or rather the output of 'lsb_release') to choose the name of the boot menu entry. There are other more arcane reverberations...

Anyway, fixing lsb-release is not high on the to-do list at the moment... some time before the official release.

#1 2017-06-10 16:22:49