Running void linux on Oracle Cloud aarch64 free tier

Void Linux on ORACLE A1 FLEX

#The steps are simple
#You would need to get the machine to boot into a live os in ram so as to allow 
#modifications from within the machine without having to set up using another.
    
#One way to do it is to boot an alpine img:
wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.14/releases/aarch64/alpine-virt-3.14.2-aarch64.iso -O alpine.iso #or whatever versions suits you best
dd if=alpine.iso of=/dev/sda

#Now you have to reboot the system. If 'sudo reboot' doesn't work, try hard 
#reboot from the OCI Console

#At this point, I assume that you know how to set up a console connection to the 
#machine. I would prefer VNC since it is less buggy. Ok, just do your job here,
#if you haven't already.
    
#You should be greeted with the login screen, simply login with root account, no
#password required.
   
#Now we need to load everything into ram and unmount the disk:
mkdir /media/setup
cp -a /media/sda/* /media/setup
mkdir /lib/setup
cp -a /.modloop/* /lib/setup
/etc/init.d/modloop stop
umount /dev/sda
mv /media/setup/* /media/sda/
mv /lib/setup/* /.modloop/

#To setup networking and install required packages:
setup-interfaces -a
rc-service networking start
rc-update add networking boot

apk update
apk add e2fsprogs libarchive-tools
#optional:
#apk add parted

#I will leave the partitioning part to you
#But what you will at least need is a bootable efi partition ( the size of which depends on your needs )
#and a rootfs. You can set the efi partition bootable easily via parted.
#If you have enough memory, you may skip the creation of swap.
 
#Now set the filesystems and mount them
mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1  #assuming efi partition to be on sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2  #it is not mandatory to use ext4 but other types would need extra config
mount -t ext4 /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi/
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi
   
#Now download the rootfs for void linux (Glibc or musl the ball is in your court)
#But I like musl more :)
wget https://alpha.de.repo.voidlinux.org/live/current/void-aarch64-musl-ROOTFS-20210218.tar.xz -O void.tar.xz
tar -xf void.tar.xz -C /mnt

#Enter chroot:
mount --rbind /sys /mnt/sys && mount --make-rslave /mnt/sys
mount --rbind /dev /mnt/dev && mount --make-rslave /mnt/dev
mount --rbind /proc /mnt/proc && mount --make-rslave /mnt/proc

#DNS setup
cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/
#chroot, in we goooooooooooo:
PS1='(chroot) # ' chroot /mnt/ /bin/bash

#WARNING: The following commands are executed under chroot!
#Install base-system 
xbps-install -Su xbps
xbps-install -u
xbps-install base-system
xbps-remove base-voidstrap
#Of course, you may avoid all the bloat packages by installing 
#base-minimal, but then you will need to prepare your own kernel + 
#initramfs which I assume the majority of you do not have.
#And yes, a lot of the packages are not needed, including the firmware

#Optional:
#echo "Your hostname" > /etc/hostname

#Lastly, set your root password:
passwd

#Configure your /etc/fstab
#You can write your own configuration but it is not the point of 
#this guide
#I assume that you do not want to
cp /proc/mounts /etc/fstab

#Now remove all the lines except the ones with the essential partitions
#like:
#/dev/sda1       /boot/efi   vfat    rw,relatime,[...]       0 0
#/dev/sda2       /           ext4    rw,relatime             0 0

#You would want to set the trailing 0's to a particular value,
#in which / = 1 and other partitions = 2
#Like so:
#/dev/sda1       /boot/efi   vfat    rw,relatime,[...]       0 2
#/dev/sda2       /           ext4    rw,relatime             0 1

#To enable /tmp to be mounted with a tmpfs, append this line
#tmpfs           /tmp        tmpfs   defaults,nosuid,nodev   0 0

#Last but not least, grub installation
xbps-install grub-arm64-efi
grub-install --target=arm64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi -- 

#This step is optional to those who know how to add a boot option
#from the EFI BOOT MENU by pressing ESC on boot from vnc console connection:
mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI/boot
cp /boot/efi/void/grubaa64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/boot/bootx64.efi
#The reason for that is the UEFI Entry 'Oracle BOOT ...' looks for 
#bootx64.efi in /EFI/BOOT/ on the EFI partition

#Finally:
xbps-reconfigure -fa

#Now you have successfully installed void linux on your aarch64 machine!
#Exit, reboot and have fun!
exit
shutdown -r now
#or reboot from OCI Console


#REFS:
#https://www.alextsang.net/articles/20191006-063049/index.html
#https://docs.voidlinux.org/installation/guides/chroot.html