Now can you try to dd your USB stick from a Linux Live CD onto your
local drive and then try to boot. My guess is that there is some
UEFI/openBSD incompatibility.
In our case (U)EFI is representing the storage to the kernel and most
probably that is not OK.
Still, if you manage to boot from the drive (after a complete 'dd) ,
then we should know that at least a workaround is possible.
Strahil
On Sat, 2018-10-27 at 18:42 +1030, Liam Wigney wrote:
> Hey Strahil,
>
> Just tried to install to a usb and it installed fine, an efi install
> at
> that, and it runs fine when booting. So it's something to do with
> installing onto the internal drive. But that makes little sense since
> I
> reformatted the internal hard drive to make sure it was like as new
> so I
> don't get why Openbsd is acting differently.
>
> On Sat, Oct 27, 2018 at 6:54 AM snikolov <hunter86...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > have you tried to install openBSD on a USB stick (installer run on
> > another machine) and then boot from that USB stick ?
> > It will be interesting to find out what happens then.
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Strahil
> >
> > On Fri, 2018-10-26 at 16:05 +1030, Liam Wigney wrote:
> > > Summery + update:
> > >
> > > So I thought I'd post one final update for the time being, it's
> > > been
> > > a long
> > > two day's reading man pages and looking though mailing
> > > lists/forums/reddit
> > > posts, and summary of where I'm at in case anyone in the future
> > > wants
> > > help.
> > > I'll
> > >
> > > Firstly, no matter how I try to install I still get the "
> > > installboot: mkdir('/tmp/installboot.hP11Q78IbS/efi') failed:
> > > Invalid
> > > argument" error but with different gibberish.
> > >
> > > Secondly there's a reddit thread with some info and discussion at
> > > https://www.reddit.com/r/openbsd/comments/9qllyy/bootloader_faili
> > > ng_t
> > > o_install_on_2012_mac_mini/
> > >
> > > Finally here's where I'm at:
> > >
> > > Openbsd documentation for (u)efi is highly lacking however in
> > > this
> > > case
> > > it's hard to say how helpful it would have been. I've only ever
> > > used
> > > openbsd with legacy boot on however mac's don't have the option
> > > to do
> > > so.
> > > When pressing the key combo for the boot menu of the mac I see
> > > two
> > > options.
> > > One named "windows" and one named "efi boot".
> > > They both boot into the openbsd installer but with several
> > > differences.
> > >
> > > The "windows" option boots into a full screen installer. With
> > > this
> > > boot
> > > option wd0 is the root disk and sd0 is the usb. Upon running
> > > dmesg |
> > > grep
> > > efi to confirm that efi is noticed shows that's it's not. An
> > > attempt
> > > to
> > > install with either gpt or mbr fails with the invalid argument
> > > error.
> > > The
> > > "efi" boot option boots with the installer taking up the center
> > > of
> > > the
> > > screen, in this boot option sd0 is root and sd1 is the usb, it
> > > does
> > > however
> > > notice that the mac mini is an efi system. It "usually" (Because
> > > I've
> > > tried
> > > a few times and noticed that sometimes it doesn't) creates the
> > > efi
> > > partition and then the regular openbsd partition. However
> > > regardless
> > > of
> > > which option is chosen the error still occurs.
> > >
> > >
> > > I've tested openbsd 6.3 and a snapshot and it fails in the exact
> > > same
> > > way.
> > > Sorry again if I've left anything out or missed anything.
> > >
> > > On Thu, Oct 25, 2018 at 4:43 PM Liam Wigney <ljdwig...@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Update:
> > > >
> > > > I noticed upon selecting the boot menu there were two ways to
> > > > boot
> > > > the usb
> > > > in the Mac's efi, I selected the one labled "windows". The
> > > > computer
> > > > has
> > > > never had windows installed and it's for booting the usb but I
> > > > never saw
> > > > anything noting that this would happen. I selected it and
> > > > instantly
> > > > the
> > > > installer takes up the whole monitor as opposed to just being
> > > > small
> > > > and
> > > > centred. It also, when selecting the default gpt full disk
> > > > configuration,
> > > > auto-made a EFI partition. However the install failed with the
> > > > exact same
> > > > error but with new numbers and letters after "installboot.".
> > > >
> > > > Maybe this is booting the usb with efi and previously it
> > > > wasn't?
> > > > Regardless, it's still not working. I might try 6.3 and a
> > > > snapshot
> > > > to see
> > > > if it's just an issue with 6.4.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 2:18 PM Liam Wigney <ljdwig...@gmail.co
> > > > m>
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Thanks for the reply, I actually tried the install again
> > > > > after
> > > > > wiping the
> > > > > disk and noticed that it seems like and efi partition wasn't
> > > > > auto-created
> > > > > as part of the partitioning which seems odd since I swear it
> > > > > usually is for
> > > > > efi systems but then again maybe I just don't remember.
> > > > > Install.txt doesn't
> > > > > mention needing to create one even though one old guide I saw
> > > > > did
> > > > > as part
> > > > > of the procedure. The previous efi partition I noticed when
> > > > > playing around
> > > > > before wiping the disk must have been from the old Linux
> > > > > install.
> > > > > Regardless the error is identical almost to the previous one
> > > > > but
> > > > > with new
> > > > > numbers and letters after the ".".
> > > > >
> > > > > The exact and full error message is as follows:
> > > > >
> > > > > installboot: mkdir('/tmp/installboot.hP11Q78IbS/efi') failed:
> > > > > Invalid
> > > > > argument
> > > > >
> > > > > Failed to install bootlocks.
> > > > > You will not be able to book OpenBSD from sd0.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > The output of df -k (Sorry about the formatting, I tried to
> > > > > replicate it
> > > > > as best I could):
> > > > >
> > > > > Filesystem 1K-
> > > > > blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted
> > > > > on
> > > > > /dev/rd0a 3535 5256 279 92%
> > > > > /
> > > > > /dev/sd0a 1028878 69194 908242 7% /mnt
> > > > > /dev/sd0l 312080952
> > > > > 36 296476872 0% /mnt/home
> > > > > /dev/sd0d 4125406 2 3919134 0% /mnt
> > > > > /tmp
> > > > > /dev/sd0f 2061054 577930 1380072 30% /mnt/usr
> > > > > /dev/sd0g 1028878 190628 786808 20% /mnt/usr/
> > > > > X11R
> > > > > 6
> > > > > /dev/sd0h 20636942 218 19604878 0% /mnt/usr/loca
> > > > > l
> > > > > /dev/sd0k 6189758 2 5880270 0% /mnt/usr/o
> > > > > bj
> > > > > /dev/sd0j 2061054 2 1958000 0% /mnt/usr/
> > > > > src
> > > > > /dev/sd0e 20425598 3394 19400926 0% /mnt/var
> > > > >
> > > > > On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 1:51 PM Philip Guenther <guenther@gma
> > > > > il.c
> > > > > om>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Tue, Oct 23, 2018 at 4:38 PM Liam Wigney <ljdwigney@gmai
> > > > > > l.co
> > > > > > m> wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > I've used Openbsd before but my installs have gone
> > > > > > > smoothly
> > > > > > > with no
> > > > > > > issues
> > > > > > > and this is really the first time it's been a problem.
> > > > > > > The
> > > > > > > install is a
> > > > > > > super boring one, it's whole disk Openbsd with the
> > > > > > > default
> > > > > > > gpt partition
> > > > > > > layout and nothing else special.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > During the install after the sets are successfully
> > > > > > > installed
> > > > > > > there's a
> > > > > > > notification that the bootloader has failed to install
> > > > > > > due to
> > > > > > > mkdir
> > > > > > > being
> > > > > > > called with an invalid argument.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > All the error messages from installboot from mkdir failing
> > > > > > include both
> > > > > > the path and the specific error message. Those are
> > > > > > included
> > > > > > because
> > > > > > they're helpful in understanding exactly what failed (and
> > > > > > thus
> > > > > > what could
> > > > > > be wrong). Including the _exact_ and _full_ error message
> > > > > > would make it
> > > > > > easier to assist.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > (Ruling out stuff that _didn't_ fail is key to figuring out
> > > > > > root causes.)
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > Some research online said that I should
> > > > > > > try to do installboot manually in the subsequent prrompt,
> > > > > > > so
> > > > > > > I called
> > > > > > > installboot sd0 and got the following error
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > installboot: /usr/mdec/biosboot: No such file or
> > > > > > > directory
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Yes, when running from the bsd.rd ramdisk additional
> > > > > > argument
> > > > > > are
> > > > > > necessary so that installboot can find the files it needs
> > > > > > and
> > > > > > disk on which
> > > > > > to install them. ...but doing that will just replicate
> > > > > > what
> > > > > > the upgrade
> > > > > > script already did and the error it gave you...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > At this point, the two pieces of information that would
> > > > > > help
> > > > > > the most
> > > > > > are:
> > > > > > 1) the *EXACT AND FULL* error message that the upgrader
> > > > > > reported from
> > > > > > installboot
> > > > > > 2) what your disklabel and partition layout looks
> > > > > > like. The
> > > > > > output of
> > > > > > "df -k" from the ramdisk shell prompt after the upgrade
> > > > > > fails
> > > > > > would be
> > > > > > good, for example, as it has everything mounted under /mnt.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Philip Guenther
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
