How to resize rootfs on Steam Deck?

[gai00layer]

I try to setup my Steam Deck for working, but rootfs is too small, only 5GB.

My steps:
1. make a bootable re-image USB for Steam Deck. (Steam Deck version)
2. [Volume+] + [Power] long press while to boot USB.
3. Modify ~/tools/repair_device.sh, change rootfs-a / rootfs-b size.
4. doing re-image. (formated with modified size)
5. reboot.
6. run first updating... longer than unmodifed. (maybe re-download image?)
7. return to original size 5GB.

Any idea about this?

[Man's Best Friend]

Unfortunately I feel like this is the kind of thing that in order to do, you will have to abandon the Steam OS. The Deck performs system updates by overwriting the entire partition, rather than by updating individual files as it would on a regular computer. Because of this, any changes you make to things outside the user's home folders is generally lost after an update. So you'd have to modify every update to play nice with your changes to the rootfs size, or just go with a different OS entirely. You might be able to adjust something after the update to regain access to the previously allocated space, but that depends on a whole host of things. Besides, boosting the rootfs size to be able to put more stuff there is pointless anyway as it'll all be deleted next update anyway.

[capran]

I was running into problems getting pacman and pamac to install and work, and the 5GB rootfs was the culprit. I ended up booting with the recovery USB drive, and using KDE Partition Manager to shuffle space around until I was able to resize the 2 rootfs partitions to an extra 5 GB each (I have a 1 TB SSD). It wouldn't let me do this in 1 go, so I had to start with the home partition, reduce it in size by 10 GB and have the free space before that partition. Then hit apply changes and it moved the whole partition over by 10 GB (took almost an hour). Then I did the same thing for each partition before that until I got to the 2 rootfs partitions.

[notboxbot]

Originally posted by HTTP Error 418: I'm a teapot:

You might be able to adjust something after the update to regain access to the previously allocated space, but that depends on a whole host of things.

Shouldn't something simple like

btrfs filesystem resize max / 

directly after a system upgrade do the trick? This should expand the filesystem to fill the entire partition (which hopefully wasn't shrunk by the update).

(Disclaimer: I haven't tried this - I've never used btrfs on my other computers, being a strict ext4 fan... :-))

Besides, boosting the rootfs size to be able to put more stuff there is pointless anyway as it'll all be deleted next update anyway.

That's true, but it could easily be fixed by a little script that re-installs all additional stuff after an upgrade; scripting this would be a good idea anyway - as a kind of auto-documentation...

[Ben Bernanke]

i think this guy is a freak, but he has a guide on installing arch through distrobox and integrate steam:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3757725080155282436/

class101 has chroot solution.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3395176266124615154/

this redditer (could be class's redditt handle.) has chroot solution:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/y7rjfz/steamos_and_arch_linux_chroot/


This githuber says chroot solution no good. but idk if it's the same as the 2 above.

https://github.com/BigOakley/steamdeck/blob/master/chroot.md

idk which is best probably disrobox bc that mihalcome-in-the-middle-guy had something against chroot and he spent like months figuring out how to get arch onto the deck.

i think steam will overwrite root every update and they are putting their arch in home/deck to make it persistent. like i think to f around with your root, you do one of theses things. root = valve's bins. if you want to put ur own bins in there, make a root on /home/deck.

others have said u could rewrite your root changes after every update. maybe it's a good idea. i think they have some concern about keys being out of date with arch repos or valve push breaking and they want arch bins.

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by HTTP Error 418: I'm a teapot:

Unfortunately I feel like this is the kind of thing that in order to do, you will have to abandon the Steam OS. The Deck performs system updates by overwriting the entire partition, rather than by updating individual files as it would on a regular computer. Because of this, any changes you make to things outside the user's home folders is generally lost after an update. So you'd have to modify every update to play nice with your changes to the rootfs size, or just go with a different OS entirely. You might be able to adjust something after the update to regain access to the previously allocated space, but that depends on a whole host of things. Besides, boosting the rootfs size to be able to put more stuff there is pointless anyway as it'll all be deleted next update anyway.

Second. I go the dual boot route. I believe the dpad works with grub with my experience with opensuse tumbleweed.

[Ben Bernanke]

Originally posted by deaddoof:

Originally posted by HTTP Error 418: I'm a teapot:

Unfortunately I feel like this is the kind of thing that in order to do, you will have to abandon the Steam OS. The Deck performs system updates by overwriting the entire partition, rather than by updating individual files as it would on a regular computer. Because of this, any changes you make to things outside the user's home folders is generally lost after an update. So you'd have to modify every update to play nice with your changes to the rootfs size, or just go with a different OS entirely. You might be able to adjust something after the update to regain access to the previously allocated space, but that depends on a whole host of things. Besides, boosting the rootfs size to be able to put more stuff there is pointless anyway as it'll all be deleted next update anyway.

Second. I go the dual boot route. I believe the dpad works with grub with my experience with opensuse tumbleweed.

if u go through my post, people are making it work with distrobox or chroot.

I don't really want to do this and I dual boot windows(Nvme)/ubuntu(external). refind and grub are working for me.

[Ben Bernanke]

ill actually probably pick up a second external and triple boot steamos and do the distrobox thing. arch would be fun to play with. steamos seems kinda pointless if ur not using it in handheld mode tho

[gai00layer]

thanks your good ideas, but I don't want to run same scripts after update every times.

I have a question... Why chrome install via discover not removed after update?
maybe I just need some tricks like this.

add repos and install via discover...?
"ln" some folder to prevent rootfs out of space.

[Ben Bernanke]

Is there a reason you're ignoring my posts?
If they're irrelevant for some reason I don't understand, I'm not personally offended if you don't want to respond to me. But I think they answer your questions.

Originally posted by gai00layer:

thanks your good ideas, but I don't want to run same scripts after update every times.

I have a question... Why chrome install via discover not removed after update?
maybe I just need some tricks like this.

add repos and install via discover...?
"ln" some folder to prevent rootfs out of space.

You're asking: why does stuff you installed through discover persist after SteamOS update? Discover is installing stuff through flatpaks and it's going to flatpak world somewhere on /home/deck instead of /root.

SteamOS doesn't overwrite /home/deck. It only overwrites /root.

The fact that you're asking this question makes me think you don't understand what I'm saying. I'm linking you to a guide that is basically going to let you install pacman and have it install whatever you want from arch to /home/deck.

Then you can have all the software you want and leave root alone. The software you install will persist between updates.

Here is the guide again:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3757725080155282436/

The guide seems easier than you messing with root. This dude knows a lot and he messed with root for months before giving up and going this route.

[gai00layer]

Originally posted by Ben Bernanke:

Is there a reason you're ignoring my posts?
If they're irrelevant for some reason I don't understand, I'm not personally offended if you don't want to respond to me. But I think they answer your questions.

Originally posted by gai00layer:

thanks your good ideas, but I don't want to run same scripts after update every times.

I have a question... Why chrome install via discover not removed after update?
maybe I just need some tricks like this.

add repos and install via discover...?
"ln" some folder to prevent rootfs out of space.

You're asking: why does stuff you installed through discover persist after SteamOS update? Discover is installing stuff through flatpaks and it's going to flatpak world somewhere on /home/deck instead of /root.

SteamOS doesn't overwrite /home/deck. It only overwrites /root.

The fact that you're asking this question makes me think you don't understand what I'm saying. I'm linking you to a guide that is basically going to let you install pacman and have it install whatever you want from arch to /home/deck.

Then you can have all the software you want and leave root alone. The software you install will persist between updates.

Here is the guide again:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3757725080155282436/

The guide seems easier than you messing with root. This dude knows a lot and he messed with root for months before giving up and going this route.

Thanks for your reply,

The main reason why I want to resize my rootfs, is I want to install something.
I install some software via pacman before,

but... Ref: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/t8al0i/install_arch_packages_on_your_steam_deck/
I notice that installing software via pacman will lose after every update.

Your guide link I'll try... looks complex （0ω0)|||
Acturally, I never heard distrobox before, but container service, I deploy my web service on Docker (Ubuntu).

Anyway, thanks your reply.