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I'm running a box under Gentoo. Said box is a server (no GUI, only SSH).

Since I used genkernel to generate my kernel, I've seen that it creates several images (System.map, initramfs, kernel) that takes some place:

$ du -ahd1|sort -k1h
0       ./boot
0       ./.keep
12K     ./lost+found
1.4M    ./memtest86plus
2.4M    ./System.map-genkernel-x86_64-4.9.34-gentoo
2.7M    ./System.map-genkernel-x86_64-4.12.5-gentoo
3.7M    ./kernel-genkernel-x86_64-4.9.34-gentoo
4.2M    ./initramfs-genkernel-x86_64-4.9.34-gentoo
8.1M    ./grub
8.3M    ./kernel-genkernel-x86_64-4.12.5-gentoo
31M

Indeed, my /boot partition is only 32M large and I'd like to change its size to some size that better accommodate this (like 256M).

My /dev/sda is as follow; for reference, it is an Intel SSD (although it is an old model).

$ lsblk /dev/sda
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 37.3G  0 disk
├─sda2   8:2    0 37.2G  0 part /
└─sda1   8:1    0   32M  0 part /boot

I know I can grow a partition on some condition (end of disk, etc) and shrink it. I also know it is risky and I'm not enough confident to do it without using a good GUI.

Can I do that:

  • shrink /dev/sda2 to get some space
  • create and mount /dev/sd3 as /new_boot
  • copy whole /boot to /new_boot (either threw a simple copy, either threw dd ?)
  • swap /boot and /new_boot
  • drop /dev/sda1 and resize /dev/sda2

Or is there a better solution ? (I have physical access to the server)

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  • 1
    Is a separate /boot partition really necessary? Is your root FS encrypted, on LVM or something like this?
    – xhienne
    Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 22:43
  • Nothing complicated like that. The /boot was separated because It was like that in the gentoo manual when I installed it. -> wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Installation/… I had the "good" idea to use 32M.
    – NoDataFound
    Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 23:16
  • You don't usually need the System.map files. Actually, they can pose a security risk if they're globally readable as they present an attacker the kernel memory layout.
    – L29Ah
    Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 23:31
  • @L29Ah On my Linux Mint /boot/vmlinuz* (i.e. the kernel) and /boot/System.map* permissions are 700. Strangely, on Debian, they are readable by everyone.
    – xhienne
    Commented Aug 15, 2017 at 0:07

1 Answer 1

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Just use your root partition to store the content of /boot:

  • mount --move /boot /elsewhere or umount /boot it and mount it on /elsewhere
  • copy the content of /elsewhere into the now (probably) empty /boot while preserving the rights and owners of everything (cp -a /elsewhere/. /boot)
  • umount /elsewhere
  • remove /boot from /etc/fstab
  • update grub (grub-install probably, or your Gentoo wrapper if any)
  • reboot

Ensure that everything is fine and that you are not using anything from your old /boot partition before emptying it or recycling it (personnally I would not take any risk for 32M)

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5
  • You spoke about security risks, but the /boot partition is only mounted by the root whenever is needed (eg: kernel upgrade). Don't I risk the same problem if I let my /boot folder in the / partition ?
    – NoDataFound
    Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 23:50
  • I didn't mention anything about security risks. The /boot directory rights, as well as the rights and owner of its content, must be preserved, that's all what matters. I'm going to add something about this in the answer.
    – xhienne
    Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 23:56
  • I've seen. In fact that was L29Ah who mentioned the security risk.
    – NoDataFound
    Commented Aug 15, 2017 at 0:20
  • Before I try that tonight: does grub needs to be the first partition ? If I can move /boot elsewhere, then I can probably create a partition at end of /dev/sda and keep the "don't mount /boot" idiom ?
    – NoDataFound
    Commented Aug 16, 2017 at 11:51
  • @NoDataFound Personally I put grub at the start of the disk, when not using UEFI. Of course, since /boot is going to be eventually removed, grub should not be put on that partition. Apart from that, as said in my answer, you should not do anything on /boot unless you are sure that everything works without it.
    – xhienne
    Commented Aug 16, 2017 at 13:23

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