Advanced Blivet-gui on Fedora 44 Server vs Calamares

Per Google's AI Assistant report - Blivet GUI is an advanced graphical storage and partition management tool for Fedora, providing a user-friendly interface for the backend storage library used in the Anaconda installer. It acts as a more powerful alternative to GParted, allowing users to create, modify, delete, and encrypt storage devices (LVM, Btrfs, RAID) with a staged, "apply-on-demand" approach.

Key Usage Examples on Fedora:
 Advanced Partitioning: Creating complex disk layouts, including encrypted partitions (LUKS).
 LVM Management: Managing Logical Volume Manager (LVM) structures, including thin provisioning, PVs, and VGs.
 Btrfs Support: Handling Btrfs RAID and subvolume snapshots.
System Installation: Serving as the "Advanced Custom" partitioning option in the Anaconda installer
to configure partitions, swap, or custom mount points. Staging Changes: Modifying storage settings,
staging the operations, and applying them all at once. 

For instance to perform design below  takes just a several minutes ( Fedora 44 Beta Server has been rolled forward up to current state ) . Afterwards KDE Plasma has been setup via `sudo dnf install @kde-desktop-environment`

One of several reasons to mount /var on a separate logical volume is the default path /var/lib/libvirt/images 

root@fedoraServer:/var/lib/libvirt/images# df -Th .
Filesystem              Type  Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/FedoraVG-01 xfs    40G  8.9G   32G  23% /var
root@fedoraServer:/var/lib/libvirt/images# ll
total 8153748
-rw-------. 1 root root 37586927616 Mar 22 20:36 VMArchLinux.qcow2


 

Running Archinstall and Post installation LVs reconfiguration step via remote SSH connection

Remote connection via ssh is significantly more convenient for cut and paste all set of LVs resizing , creating , removing commands along with fstab's updates then typing all of them manually during local Arch Linux Instance setup with more or less complicated LVs updated layout . This post is actually an immediate follow up for https://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/362786/index.html

On remote Arch Linux Instance as soon root console gets ready :-

 # echo "PermitRootLogin yes" >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config

 # systemctl enable --now sshd

Getting ip of remote Arch Instance (192.168.0.55)

 # ip a 

Setup root's password

 # passwd

===================

 On host machine run:-

===================

$ ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null root@192.168.0.55

 Warning: Permanently added '192.168.0.55' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.

root@192.168.0.55's password:

To install Arch Linux follow the installation guide:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide

For Wi-Fi, authenticate to the wireless network using the iwctl utility. For mobile broadband (WWAN) modems, connect with the mmcli utility. Ethernet, WLAN and WWAN interfaces using DHCP should work automatically. After connecting to the internet, the installation guide can be accessed via the convenience script Installation_guide.

==============

Per Arch Wiki:

==============

The -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null options will prevent verifying and writing the live environment's SSH host keys to ~/.ssh/known_hosts. This will avoid the REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED warning in case you have ever connected to the IP address before.

Another way is to run :

# genfstab -U /mnt > /mnt/root/etc/fstab

All folders should be mounted on corresponding /dev/ArchinstallVg/vol-name  devices, otherwise system would fail to reboot .

Reboot into Arch Instance with LVs layout performed in post-installation phase

You can now make your KDE Plasma ( for instance ) desktop more sensitive to your CPU's capabilities.  

Another LVs reconfiguration on ArchLinux as of 03/07/2026

UPDATE as of 03/12/2026

See also Running Archinstall and Post installation LVs reconfiguration step via remote SSH connection

END UPDATE

Create root and home LVs as suggested by system during arch-install run-time . In general, we follow approach proposed in https://www.dwarmstrong.org/install-lmde-with-custom-lvm-luks/ a while ago for LMDE 6. Upon completion drop to root's shell and update default LV's layout as shown below ( just for instance)

root~# lsblk -f

root~# vgs

root~# lvs

========================
Now we resize home LV
========================
root~# umount /mnt/home
root~# lvresize -L 15G --resizefs ArchinstallVg/home
========================
Now we resize root LV
========================
root~# lvresize -L 41G --resizefs ArchinstallVg/root
=======================================
Create varpool LV with ext4 filesystem
=======================================
root~# lvcreate -L 32G ArchinstallVg -n varpool
root~# mkfs.ext4 /dev/ArchinstallVg/varpool
 

===============================
Perform mounts of LVs as follows

===============================
root~# mount /dev/ArchinstallVg/root  /mnt/root/
root~# mount /dev/ArchinstallVg/home  /mnt/home/  

root~# mount /dev/ArchinstallVg/varpool   /mnt/var/

=================================================
Move the contents of /var from the root LV to the new varpool's  LV:
=================================================
root~# mv /mnt/root/var/* /mnt/var
 

======================
Update fstab
======================
Create an entry for /var in /mnt/root/etc/fstab:

root~# echo "/dev/mapper/ArchinstallVg-varpool /var ext4  defaults 0 2" >> /mnt/root/etc/fstab

Another way is to run :

# genfstab -U /mnt > /mnt/root/etc/fstab

All folders should be mounted on corresponding /dev/ArchinstallVg/vol-name  devices, otherwise system would fail to reboot

======================
Unmount folders below
======================
root~# umount /mnt/var
root~# umount /mnt/root

root~# umount /mnt/home

root@archiso ~ # arch-chroot /mnt

====================================

Make sure that lvm2 goes ahead of filesystems

====================================

[root@archiso /]# cat /etc/mkinitcpio.conf | grep HOOKS

# HOOKS

# This is the most important setting in this file.  The HOOKS control the

# order in which HOOKS are added.  Run 'mkinitcpio -H <hook name>' for

#    HOOKS=(base)

#    HOOKS=(base udev autodetect microcode modconf block filesystems fsck)

#    HOOKS=(base udev microcode modconf block filesystems fsck)

#    HOOKS=(base udev microcode modconf keyboard keymap consolefont block mdadm_udev encrypt filesystems fsck)

#    HOOKS=(base udev microcode modconf block lvm2 filesystems fsck)

#    HOOKS=(base systemd autodetect microcode modconf kms keyboard sd-vconsole sd-encrypt block filesystems fsck)

HOOKS=(base udev autodetect microcode modconf kms keyboard keymap consolefont lvm2 block filesystems fsck)

[root@archiso /]# mkinitcpio -P

==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'default'

==> Using default configuration file: '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf'

  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img

==> Starting build: '6.19.6-arch1-1'

  -> Running build hook: [base]

  -> Running build hook: [udev]

  -> Running build hook: [autodetect]

  -> Running build hook: [microcode]

  -> Running build hook: [modconf]

  -> Running build hook: [kms]

  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]

  -> Running build hook: [keymap]

  -> Running build hook: [consolefont]

  -> Running build hook: [lvm2]

  -> Running build hook: [block]

  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]

  -> Running build hook: [fsck]

==> Generating module dependencies

==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-linux.img'

  -> Early uncompressed CPIO image generation successful

==> Initcpio image generation successful

# exit

and reboot

root~# reboot

ArchinstallVg may be potentially spread across different drives