Installer issues with LVM

This is being logged when I press OK button in “Create Volume Group” dialog:

21:22:01 [2]: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 12309, resource id: 14750625, major code: 40 (TranslateCoords), minor code: 0
/usr/bin/calamares_polkit: line 3: 12450 Segmentation fault      sudo -E /usr/bin/calamares "$@"

Should I open a bug report somewhere about it? How to proceed when finding issues like this in Manjaro? Is posting in the dev section of the forums still the prefererred way as posted here: Where do I report bugs - #5 by codesardine

I seem to be not allowed to create a new thread in the corresponding section “Calamares”: Calamares - Manjaro Linux Forum

Any hints on how to proceed?

Manjaro uses Calamares as the default GUI installer. It is an Open Source project, used by different distributions.

If you believe you found a bug, create a bug report with this project.

The Manjaro forum is not the optimal place for for bug reports, not even for Manjaro specific projects.

1 Like

I was merely commenting on the statement regarding the importance of LVM - your exact words being that LVM is a critical component. What I am saying is that LVM adds an unnecessary layer of complexity to the consumer layer and troubleshooting issues with disk failures or filesystem corruption on LVM volumes is a pain.

Of course you can do any installation your require suffice you have the technical knowledge to achieve the desired end result.

It is wellknown in the community that Calamares is not handling LVM very well.

All issues and reports regarding the Calamares installer itself should go upstream to the Calamares developers.

As you require LVM - consider the possible use of the Architect installer script to do the basic installation - then you can add the necessary environment on top of this.

The architect installer script uses a special branch of the gitlab iso-profiles repo which is fetched using git - the files are then used to install the packages which makes up minimal installation of various Manjaro desktops.

If you want to make changes to package selection - this can be done as well.

@linux-aarhus, please think this way: you want to have an encrypted safe hard disk, so you created a huge encrypted partition for root and tiny for EFI. It seems like a good solution until you fill up your /home with junk and crash the entire system.

So now you want (1) separate partitions for system root / and /home, but (2) you want to have a single point of encryption - you need one encrypted partitions with two volumes inside. Only LVM can do that, and it was around long enough to be pretty stable. This is what the end-user needs - safe, protected, and mistake-resistant operating system.

I agree with @jojo LVM is critical feature of the installer.

Hi, thanks a lot for getting back to me!

I was merely commenting on the statement regarding the importance of LVM - your exact words being that LVM is a critical component. What I am saying is that LVM adds an unnecessary layer of complexity to the consumer layer and troubleshooting issues with disk failures or filesystem corruption on LVM volumes is a pain.

I can very well live with your now rephrased statement: "unnecessary layer of complexity for the average consumer level user! Not so super important! Fine! But your original statement was:

Well - isn’t that your lucky day - I don’t agree - at least not for a consumer based system. Adding LVM is creating a layer of instablility which should be avoided at the consumer level.

“layer of instability”, I found in several ways inappropriate because first of all it is not true for LVM, as it’s a stable thing running on millions of highly available server and desktop systems for decades already. And I also found it inappropriate because it could give the wrong impression to a novice Linux user of what LVM is.

It is wellknown in the community that Calamares is not handling LVM very well.

That’s sad to hear. I didn’t know that. In that case what would be best solution in your opinion? Patch it out entirely? Or fix it? I am up for the latter but it seems you would be for the former? Are you involved with Manjaro? You might wanna suggest putting a warning into the Manjaro Calamares build that LVM is not supported/doesn’t work well/Architect should be used, otherwise it’s very misleading to anyone who is trying to use the feature ( I am aware of that this might sound easy but might be more difficult in the end. I’ve never worked with a LInux distribution directly and probably have no idea! I am working in tiny open source projects only, with just a handful of people, I am sure that’s a different thing, so no offence!)

I do agree with you general opinion that Linux/Manjaro should be more accessible to novice users and thus things should be kept as simple as possible (I read several posts of yours on this forum and I hope I got this right! :-)) And it’s a good thing! But: The just a little more advanced user shouldn’t be drawn away from a distro with being presented an “advanced option” but in the end it does not work and asking for help on a forum brings out something like: “It is not supposed to be working, because it’s not for novice users”. I don’t want to be offending but this is the impression I got from your first reply and also from the things you are saying in your last reply.

I hope you do agree at least with some of the points I am trying to get across the net and want to thank you for the useful things you told me in that last reply. Appreciated!

1 Like

All issues and reports regarding the Calamares installer itself should go upstream to the Calamares developers.

Thanks a lot for the hint! Appreciated! Yesterday I already found an open issue on the repo: [BUG] lvm2 pv + encryption = seg fault, core dumped · Issue #1847 · calamares/calamares · GitHub

Note that the title of the issue is not entirely correct as it turned out a little further down in the thread, the issue doesn’t seem to be only with the combination of crypt and lvm but also present with doing just regular lvm things.

Funnily enough somebody else is describing there, how he is trying to trick the installer by creating partitions and LVM stuff beforehand and then let Calamares install to that. I managed to do exactly that as I mentioned in my initial post in this thread, but yesterday couldn’t get it to work. If anyone’s interested in details, have a look at the github issue.

1 Like

The word critical - in my vocabulary - means the application is not able to carry out the intended functions.

This is hardly the case here and your statements that LVM is critical to a succesful installation is wrong.

It only reflects you own opinion and if the argument is based on I have filled my home folder with junk then it is more prudent to do some vaccuming instead of calling the lack of LVM support critical.

But you are entitled to your opinion - and you should create your installs as you please.

I have been around long enough to have tried this and that and many in things inbetween - including btrfs and LVM and encryption. The more layers you create the more difficult it is to troubleshoot and to say the least - do data rescue.

I am not saying LVM doesn’t have it’s place but when it comes to filesystems - and the shift from old greyhaired veterans to young hotheads used to have every served on a platter - you don’t need adding complexity to the Manjaro installer options like LVM - we already have btrfs and encryption.

Certain filesystems are fine fo enterprise and serverfarms requiring uptime and needs the dynamic disk space LVM provides or data security like zfs or btrfs - but for most endusers these options creates more headaches when it comes to maintenance, troubleshooting and even distrohopping.

Manjaro uses Calamares as the default GUI installer. It is an Open Source project, used by different distributions.

If you believe you found a bug, create a bug report with this project.

Thanks to you as well and thanks for the repo links. As posted just above, found an open issue and trying to contribute there.

The Manjaro forum is not the optimal place for for bug reports, not even for Manjaro specific projects.

Thanks for pointing that out. I was curious already of what would be the best place for reporting issues. Is that traced via the gitlab.manjaro.org?

@jojo could you please to post here steps which you tried “to trick the installer” or at least a link where step-by-step instructions are provided?

I’ve played around last night without any luck

The word critical - in my vocabulary - means the application is not able to carry out the intended functions.

This is hardly the case here and your statements that LVM is critical to a succesful installation is wrong.

It only reflects you own opinion and if the argument is based on I have filled my home folder with junk then it is more prudent to do some vaccuming instead of calling the lack of LVM support critical.

Even if I would remove the word “critical” from my statement I still have the feeling that you are somehow trying to ship around the actual issue here: Are you trying to say that LVM buttons being present in the installer but them not working is “OK” and supposed to be like that?

We are not “adding complexity to the installer” as you are obviously trying to point out. LVM buttons ARE present in the installer! What are they doing there then? If they are not supposed to be used why should they be there at all?

And no I didn’t say that LVM is necessary to prevent me from filling up my root disk with junk. I never said that LOL :-))

Thanks for pointing out btrfs and crypt, yes that certainly is a good and more modern option doing the same things. I might give that a try but at the moment have reasons why I am preferring LVM.

@jojo could you please to post here steps which you tried “to trick the installer” or at least a link where step-by-step instructions are provided?

I’ve played around last night without any luck

Didn’t get it to work yet! As mentioned: I did it on first Manjaro install ever but this time I am failing. Please have a look at the github issue I posted above. I will post there if I get it to work! :slight_smile:

No - it has drifted off-topic - I wouldn’t dream of shift anything - but it is known that Calamares needs some improvment with relation to LVM.

I would never recommend using LVM on a consumer system but alas - if you want to - you can do it.

You can easily install a system using the architect installer script

It is easily installed and it handles LVM well.

sudo pacman -Syy manjaro-architect

Then launch script

setup
3 Likes

@linux-aarhus, I understand your point. Troubleshooting is a critical issue, which is good to keep in mind; no questions about that.

“fill /home with junk” is a very common problem for inexperienced Linux users with kids and accounts for them; then, one day, your Linux doesn’t boot at all!

I’m on majaro-kde ISO, and setup from manjaro-architect shows language selection and then quits without any error messages. Any suggestions to debug it?

It is just a few hours since I installed a test version of KDE using architect script

I ran the installer as root from a minimal architect ISO - the only thing I can think of is running as root.

well doesn’t work for me both with and without sudo, or even with su and then setup.

Will try architect ISO

you can find one on my server https://iso.uex.dk

1 Like

Hi @rth, I just installed using architect. The process worked on my computer as linux-aarhus described it. I had booted with the original manjaro kde iso from an usb drive, installed architecht with the described pacman command and launched setup. Hope you can find out why it’s not working on your machine! Good luck! :slight_smile:

Thank you, @linux-aarhus, for the ISO with Architect. That is very kind of you.

@jojo Congratulation! But … mmm, why it doesn’t work here! Well, I’ve to investigate, or use Architect ISO. Thank you!