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Re: How to update lowmem requirements?



On Thu, Sep 04, 2008 at 07:48:42PM +0200, Frans Pop wrote:
> On Sunday 24 August 2008, Jérémy Bobbio wrote:
> > But it is unclear how to determine the "max memory footprint".
> 
> We do not actually determine the "max memory footprint".
> […] 

Thanks for the explaination.  I'd like to commit the attached patch in
order to keep this handy.

> Given that I updated the lowmem values fairly recently, I would not bother 
> about this now. _Unless_ you can make D-I crash at the current levels.

I have not seen any crashes but I am rarely testing lowmem
installations.  I trust you that this is not needed.

Cheers,
-- 
Jérémy Bobbio                        .''`. 
lunar@debian.org                    : :Ⓐ  :  # apt-get install anarchism
                                    `. `'` 
                                      `-   
commit 547ab21ec231ba63182887fc72477f9828cfe34c
Author: Jérémy Bobbio <lunar@debian.org>
Date:   Thu Sep 11 12:31:21 2008 +0000

    Document the procedure on how to update lowmem levels in lowmem/README

diff --git a/packages/lowmem/README b/packages/lowmem/README
index 829dd29..7e39f03 100644
--- a/packages/lowmem/README
+++ b/packages/lowmem/README
@@ -93,3 +93,40 @@ Possible future hacks:
 	let user choose a partition to use as swap
 		Scan disks for existing small-ish partitions, list them,
 		and offer to turn them into swap space.
+
+Updating lowmem levels
+----------------------
+
+To update the various lowmem levels, the process is to perform installations
+with tight memory constraints. If the installer does not crash before the base
+system installation, the amount of memory can be considered fine for the lowmem
+level being tested.
+
+To limit the amount of available memory for an installations, this can be
+either done by specifying emulator settings (e.g. qemu -m option) or by booting
+the kernel with the 'mem=...' option (which will work for real machines).
+
+The levels are set in debian-installer-startup.d/S15lowmem. In order to test
+lower limits than currently allowed, parameters can be changed by booting
+with BOOT_DEBUG=3 and modifying the values before the installer starts.
+
+The level1 value should be set to the lowest amount of memory that will support
+an install not in lowmem mode. (This is the max memory footprint of the
+installer in non lowmem mode up to running the partitioner and swapon.) Use
+Portuguese as language and choose Guided partitioning with all partitions
+separate to test this!
+
+The level2 value should be set to the lowest amount of memory that will support
+an install in lowmem mode. (This is the max memory footprint of the installer
+in lowmem mode up to running the partitioner and swapon.)
+Again, choose Guided partitioning with all partitions separate.
+
+In both case, you need to set min to absolute minimum amount of memory needed
+for an install.
+
+Ideally, constraints should be tested for both netboot and businesscard images
+(businesscard CD will use slightly more memory before partitioning that netinst
+because of mirror selection).
+
+NB: the minimum memory required to run the graphical installer must
+also be tested. See rootskel (debian-installer.d/S60frontend).
diff --git a/packages/lowmem/debian-installer-startup.d/S15lowmem b/packages/lowmem/debian-installer-startup.d/S15lowmem
index 05e4004..75d68db 100644
--- a/packages/lowmem/debian-installer-startup.d/S15lowmem
+++ b/packages/lowmem/debian-installer-startup.d/S15lowmem
@@ -5,25 +5,6 @@ if [ -z "$ram" ]; then
 else
 	ram=$(expr $ram / 1024) # convert to megabytes
 
-
-	# Set level1 to the lowest amount of memory that will support an
-	# install not in lowmem mode. (This is the max memory footprint of
-	# the installer in non lowmem mode up to running the partitioner
-	# and swapon.)
-	# Use Portuguese as language and choose Guided partitioning with all
-	# partitions separate to test this!
-	#
-	# Set level2 to the lowest amount of memory that will support an
-	# install in lowmem mode. (This is the max memory footprint of the
-	# installer in lowmem mode up to running the partitioner
-	# and swapon.)
-	# Again, choose Guided partitioning with all partitions separate.
-	#
-	# Set min to absolute minimum amount of memory needed for an install.
-	#
-	# NB: the minimum memory required to run the graphical installer must
-	# also be tested. See rootskel (debian-installer.d/S60frontend).
-
 	ARCH=$(udpkg --print-architecture)
 	case $ARCH in
 		alpha)
diff --git a/packages/lowmem/debian/changelog b/packages/lowmem/debian/changelog
index 2766125..b33c68d 100644
--- a/packages/lowmem/debian/changelog
+++ b/packages/lowmem/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+lowmem (1.30) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
+
+  [ Jérémy Bobbio ]
+  * Document the procedure on how to update lowmem levels in README.
+    Credits to Frans Pop for explaining this on the mailling-list.
+
+ -- Jérémy Bobbio <lunar@debian.org>  Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:29:29 +0000
+
 lowmem (1.29) unstable; urgency=low
 
   [ Frans Pop ]

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