Blivet GUI did not take customised mount points into account as expected for Fedora 34 installation

I would like to install the current software (according to the image “Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-34-1.2.iso”) on another system.
I prepared the partitions on the storage device accordingly.
But the installation tool (Blivet GUI?) presented the following information (after I got the impression that the selected configuration setup would be complete enough for the next steps).

Error while checking the storage configuration:
A new file system must be created on the root medium.
The creation of a new file system on your /var partition is recommended.
The creation of a new file system on your /boot partition is recommended.

How can I convince the tool to accept the settings? :thinking:

It looks like you didn’t select to put a new filesystem on the partition/volume you assigned to /

Are you trying to install / into an existing filesystem?

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The file systems were created already by other partition management tools.

Yes. - The selected root partition is empty for this software installation attempt.

The installation tool set the change “Reformat for root and boot areas” as a pending action.
I wonder why this is not performed so far (as an acceptable solution approach for further progress). :thinking:

But the installer doesn’t know that. You probably should let it put it new filesystem on whatever you assigned as root.

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It should be able to determine that I choose usable file systems for the available partitions, shouldn’t it?

I would expect then that the reported pending action “Reformatting” will be performed as a possible solution.

I am not sure if it should or shouldn’t but it seems clear that it doesn’t :wink:

I have never tested that but it is probably the name of the step. I would expect when it reaches that step it honors what you told it do in blivet. So if you didn’t select that mountpoint to be formatted, it probably doesn’t do so.

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Can any remaining open issues be adjusted for a safer storage allocation analysis by the involved software? :thinking:

Will further test approaches evolve accordingly?

Does the installation tool really need to insist on an initial reformatting for two partitions?

I’m not sure about your setup, but it should be possible to override the installer entirely:

sudo dnf \
--installroot=/path/to/system/root \
--releasever=$(rpm -E %{fedora}) \
group install workstation-product-environment

Although setting up mount points and bootloader will require manual work.

Did I point any details out which would become relevant for a corresponding bug report? :thinking:

I am curious how another system configuration challenge will evolve here.

Would you like to point any related commands out?

I hope that the needed command combinations can be clarified a bit more.

As said before, clearly root file system is missing, as for the other two partitions, did you just create the partitions (externally) or did you also create a file system?

Just tick, the “Reformat” button in Fedoras installer and will create the file systems for you. And remember to point ‘/‘ somewhere.

Blivet-GUI is a tool from Red Hat that’s extremely effective allowing easy setup for even sophisticated configurations … As a corporate designed tool, no risk, suggested way, hands off just click here and there for knowledgeable people. For custom mount points maybe you’re off the beaten track so dirty hands in the grit using manual configuration with a lot of documentation available … I find that just one logical volume spanning many storage devices with just EFI, boot and Btrfs partition is the way to go, LVM2 for other file systems … Fedora is in the right direction!

I have never had an issue doing a custom install with custom pre-partitioned drives. You simply need to select the partition and set the mount point. If it was not formatted with a file system previously then you also have to allow it to format that partition.

blivet just works that way.

You may have failed to format it when created or to designate the file system type for that partition during install.

I find this view questionable.

Yes. ‒ An other management tool performed this together with the partition creation.

This tool (automatically) put only two format steps into a pending action.
The software “Anaconda” displayed a warning sign accordingly.

May I expect a few more steps at such a place according to customised mount points? :thinking:

I specified a slash in the mount point field for the selected root partition.

I am curious how the available software installation tools will be improved further.

I chose settings which looked usable for my needs in principle.

It might be nice if an extra reformatting can eventually be avoided (for two partitions in my case).
I would tolerate such steps if the pending actions would be really consistent for my system configuration requirements.

I got the impression that the software “Anaconda” performs additional safety checks which might trigger questionable side effects here.

How do system configuration possibilities look for automated software installations (besides known package management tools) at the moment? :thinking:

Linux is a direct descendant of UNIX BSD going back decades ago still coded in C 89 … sophisticated mount points don’t make sense on everyday devices, simple unique logical partition leaves the system to dynamically sort things out just needing additional EFI and boot partitions. The question is completely different for a high end server leading to development of Btrfs file system, default choice of Fedora … Btrfs sends you to GitHub for up to date documentation, I’m not sure that Blivet-GUI is really a tool of choice for bleeding edge configuration … just tweaking needs hands on approach after or without automatized app configuration.

The relevant documentation/links:

Also try to be more specific about your questions.

I would like to achieve that a few mount point specifications will be applied to selected partitions (including the boot and EFI system partitions).