Bug#65903: Documenting Solaris partitions in the guide
Package: boot-floppies
Version: 2.2.15
Using older boot floppies I destroied my Solaris partition,
because I formatted hda5 thinking it was the Linux native,
instead it was a Solaris slice.
Boot-floppies 2.2.15 solves this bug (#61387), but I think a
little note in "Installing Debian GNU/Linux 2.2" should help.
I'm not english speaking and I don't use SGML or CVS, so I post
my suggestion here, asking for comments.
I suggest to put this in section 4 of installation guide:
Installing Debian along with Solaris on Intel x86
--------------------------------------------------
If you are installing Debian GNU/Linux on a disk where you installed Solaris
for Intel, you may encounter some problem (at least with Solaris 8 and Debian 2.2).
Solaris creates two primary partitions, a little one (10 Mb) for the boot manager and
a large one for its own use. Inside the large partition Solaris creates some "slices"
which are mounted in the selected mounting points (this is much like logical volumes in
an extended partition).
The Linux kernel recognizes the Solaris slices, and assigns them device names.
So after hda1, hda2, hda3 and hda4 (reserved for primary partitions), hda5 and
above are used for Solaris slices and also for logical volumes in extended
partitions.
The problem is that fdisk or cfdisk don't see Solaris slices, and then
use names which mismatch with what you have to use with mkfs and mount.
For example you may find yourself referring at hda5 believing it is the first
logical drive in the extended partition, instead it is the first slice in
the Solaris partition!
The installation program for Debian 2.2 is aware of that, so it offers to
install the system in a partition (or to use a swap partition) using the correct
names: those used by the kernel, mkfs and mount.
Another problem can arises because the partition type 82 is used by Linux
as Linux Swap, but it is also used by Solaris as its main partition. Be carefull
to refer to the correct one before using the swap.
If you are installing Linux and Solaris I think you are quite experienced,
and then I hope this explanation could suffice.
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