Learning Devuan GNU/Linux - Installation & Setup

#Introduction

Now it's time for real practice: installing Devuan. Episode 3 walks you step by step through devuan-installer, from language and partitioning choices, choosing the init system, creating a user, to network configuration. Once the system is running, we'll continue with initial setup: hostname, timezone, apt sources, and tasksel.

Even though the Devuan installer is text-based (TUI), its flow is almost identical to the Debian installer you may already know. That's actually its strength: this installer is clear, predictable, and offers full control over the init system you choose.

Before starting, make sure your virtual machine from episode 0 is on and the netinst ISO is attached. If not, briefly return to episode 0 to prepare it — this process will run much more smoothly with a proper VM.

#Installing with devuan-installer

#The TUI Installation Flow

After the VM boots from the ISO, choose the Install option to enter devuan-installer. The main flow: choose language and keyboard layout, configure the network, partition the disk, create the user and root password, then choose the init system. The init choice usually appears after the partitioning step.

You'll face the three init choices we discussed in episode 2:

[ ] sysvinit   - classic runlevel-based init (default)
[ ] openrc     - init with dependency tracking
[ ] runit      - init with per-service supervision

For this series, choose sysvinit. If you pick a desktop flavor, the installer will automatically include display components like LightDM and a session manager.

#Partitioning and User

Use a sensible partitioning scheme: / for the system, swap for auxiliary space, and an optional separate /home. For a simple server, the following scheme is enough:

/dev/sda1   ext4    /       20G
/dev/sda2   swap    swap     2G

Make sure the GRUB bootloader is installed to the main disk. Finally, create a regular user with a strong password and fill in a hostname for your machine. Don't disable GRUB unless you have a strong reason — without GRUB, the system won't boot.

#Networking During Installation

The installer usually detects the network via DHCP. If you're using a static configuration, note the IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS you enter during installation — the same values will be needed after boot to configure /etc/network/interfaces as in episode 7.

#Initial Configuration After Boot

#Hostname and Timezone

After rebooting, log in as a regular user and configure the system identity. On Devuan without systemd, use the hostname command and configuration files directly:

sudo hostname devuan-lab
echo devuan-lab | sudo tee /etc/hostname
sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

The command cat /etc/hostname will show devuan-lab as the machine name. For the timezone, dpkg-reconfigure tzdata guides you interactively through choosing a region and city.

#Verifying the Running Init

Make sure the system really boots with sysvinit:

ps -p 1 -o comm=
runlevel
ls /etc/init.d/ | head

The output of ps -p 1 -o comm= should show init — not systemd. The runlevel command shows the active runlevel, usually N 2 on the default Devuan multi-user setup. The listing in /etc/init.d/ is the collection of service scripts we'll manage starting in episode 5.

#Making Sure elogind and Devices Work

If you installed with a desktop flavor, make sure the session support services are running:

sudo service elogind status
udevadm info --version

udevadm info --version shows the active eudev version. Both services are proof that the session and device layers run without systemd — the foundation we discussed in episode 2.

#Apt Sources and Additional Software

#Make Sure the Package Source Is Correct

The Devuan installer has already assembled the apt source files. Inspect their contents and make sure they point to deb.devuan.org, not deb.debian.org:

cat /etc/apt/sources.list
ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

A healthy line will show deb https://deb.devuan.org/combined excalibur main contrib non-free or the deb822 format. If you find deb.debian.org, fix it right away because mixing Debian and Devuan sources can trigger init incompatibilities. The same matters when migrating from Debian to Devuan in episode 18.

#Adding Software with tasksel

For a minimal installation, use tasksel so the system adds packages according to its role, for example an SSH server or a desktop:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install tasksel
sudo tasksel

Select the roles you want and wait for the process to finish. Afterward, do a full upgrade and reboot:

sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo reboot

The command sudo apt full-upgrade handles dependency changes that a plain upgrade might miss — a good habit after a clean installation. After reboot, your Devuan system is ready for the entire series.

#Conclusion

Episode 3 took you from the ISO to a running Devuan system: running devuan-installer, choosing the sysvinit init, partitioning the disk, creating a user, then configuring hostname, timezone, apt sources, and tasksel. Now you have a Devuan machine ready for practice.

Key takeaways:

• devuan-installer is a Debian-style TUI installer with init choices.
• Choose sysvinit as the init to follow this series' examples.
• Set the hostname via the /etc/hostname file and the hostname command.
• Set the timezone with dpkg-reconfigure tzdata.
• Make sure apt sources point to deb.devuan.org.
• Use tasksel to add software according to role.

In the next episode, we'll cover package management with apt and dpkg — update, upgrade, install, remove, and search commands, plus handling .deb files directly and understanding the main, contrib, and non-free components of the Devuan repository.