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choose_medium.c and the /instmnt issue



it seems that i have resolved, either through accident or design, most
of the /instmnt problems.

the only issue left is the Live CD.

a normal CD boot is when it uses the Rock Ridge to boot to a 2.88 image.

the Live CD is something beyond weird, that i cannot describe. to say
the least, based upon my delvings into the code of choose_medium.c and
util.c, it seems to have a /dists directory.

either it will loopback mount the basedebs to /instmnt (unlikely) or it
will have already populated /instmnt directory structure (more likely)

i don't want to break the Live CD (if it exists) and i don't want the
Live CD's assumptions to break the user expectation's and assumptions.

i'd like to discuss with the Live CD maintainer exactly what the Live CD
is, what it's assumtions are about its filesystem, and what we can do to
make /instmnt and /target transparent to the user.

as this is currently a debian-boot issue, (and i am not subscribed to
debian-cd) i'd prefer if the discussion stayed on debian-boot.

the synopsys: (the way it is)
 hard disk = unused partition on a drive, selected, and mounted onto
             /instmnt. if [cancel] is used, partition remains mounted
 mounted   = unused partition on a drive that is already mounted onto 
 	     /instmnt

the way it _should_ be (and where Live CD breaks it)
 hard disk = unused partition on a drive, selected, and mounted onto 
              /instmnt. unmounted at end, no matter what.
 mounted    = the filesystem mounted under /target, which includes
	      ``Initialize a Linux Partition'' and ``Mount a
	      Previously-Initialized Partition'' mounted partitions

Live CD breaks this, by assuming that mounted means /instmnt, which is
counter-intuitive to how the users and the menuing system is set up (it
is possible to select ``mounted'' even though there is _nothing_ mounted
on /instmnt!)

this affects:
 Install Kernel and Driver Modules
 Install the Base System
 Report a Problem

-john



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