Bug#221533: install fails - "couldn't download exim4"
Package: installation-reports
Severity: important
INSTALL REPORT
Debian-installer-version: Beta 1 100 MB CD image for powerpc
uname -a: Linux (none) 2.4.22-powerpc #1 Sat Sep 27 06:55:23 CEST 2003
ppc unknown
Date: 2003-11-18, 17:00 EST
Method: Boot off CD with 100 MB cd iamge
Machine: iBook
Processor: 900 MHz G3
Memory: 640 MB
Root Device: IDE, /dev/hda
Root Size/partition table:
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 Apple_partition_map 31.5k
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part2 Apple_Bootstrap 800.0k
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part3 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 300.0M swap
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part4 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 9.7G /
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 Apple_HFS 27.3G Mac OS X
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part6 Apple_Free 4.0k
Output of lspci:
00:0b.0 Host bridge: Apple Computer Inc. UniNorth/Pangea AGP
00:10.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]
10:0b.0 Host bridge: Apple Computer Inc. UniNorth/Pangea PCI
10:17.0 Class ff00: Apple Computer Inc. KeyLargo/Pangea Mac I/O
10:18.0 USB Controller: Apple Computer Inc. KeyLargo/Pangea USB
10:19.0 USB Controller: Apple Computer Inc. KeyLargo/Pangea USB
20:0b.0 Host bridge: Apple Computer Inc. UniNorth/Pangea Internal PCI
20:0e.0 Class ffff: Apple Computer Inc. UniNorth/Pangea FireWire (rev ff)
20:0f.0 Class ffff: Apple Computer Inc. UniNorth/Pangea GMAC (Sun GEM) (rev ff)
Base System Installation Checklist:
Initial boot worked: [O]
Configure network HW: [E]
Config network: [E]
Detect CD: [O]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives: [O]
Partition hard drives: [O]
Create file systems: [O]
Mount partitions: [O]
Install base system: [E]
Install boot loader: [ ]
Reboot: [ ]
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Comments/Problems:
At first, DHCP failed since the Debian installer didn't detect my
Airport card. This resulted in the screen background turning red and a
mis-rendered dialogue with no context and a message "Feel free to retry."
This should be changed to at least mention that DHCP failed, and
probably say something about connecting cables and/or consulting with
system administrator about configuration. As it is there's no context:
what exactly are you retrying?
Every so often when I switch between consoles, my screen turns red (and
then will turn blue again for no clear reason).
Partitioning was not very well automated, as I was just dumped into
pfdisk. Luckily I had previously partitioned this drive so I simply
quit. Even so, some better method must exist.
I had previously tried (and failed) to install debian-installer. As such
I didn't reinitialize any disks. When the base system tried installing,
I got an error "couldn't download exim4." I was unable to proceed.
I then tried all over again, but this time I initialized the disk as
ext3 (even though it was already initialized). This time the install
worked.
Comments on tasksel: It doesn't follow the UI of the rest of the
installer (with the default button to the bottom right). It also seems
overly fragile; it got confused when I pushed an arrow key and space bar
at the same time, and quit (dropping down to apt(itude?) to grab the
selected packages.
The default debconf priority is medium, and no chance was given to me to
raise it. I certainly don't think the default should be medium given the
current debian-installer default of high or critical (or whatever it
is).
-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
Architecture: i386
Kernel: Linux pisces 2.4.22 #4 Fri Sep 5 21:44:11 EDT 2003 i686
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US
Reply to: