Bug#251825: Installing sarge PPC kernel with d-i fails with initrd warning
On Mon, May 31, 2004 at 01:38:23PM -0700, John Gilmore wrote:
> > > The latest PowerPC Sarge CD doesn't include a 2.4.25-powerpc-pmac kernel
> > > image. (I've heard that a few weeks ago it was in exile on CD #9.)
> > > The closest this CD came was powerpc-small-pmac.
> >
> > Well, then you either need to get it from the net, or you need CD #9.
> > the powerpc-small kernel is mostly only used for creating old world
> > miboot debian-installer floppies, and there is no reason it should be on
> > CD #1.
>
> I'm hereby trying to cc the debian-cd team with this information...
>
> (May 23 2004's Jigdo CD #1 of Sarge for PowerPC boots fine on modern
> Macintoshes, but it isn't able to install a kernel that will make the
> hard drive boot up, because the required powerpc-pmac kernel image is
> not on CD #1. There seem to be tons of kernels on CD #1 -- for
> machines that nobody makes any more :-)
Well, this is being worked on with the 2.6 kernels.
> > That said, there has been no official sarge floppies for beta4,
> > which is a real shame.
>
> Doesn't matter for modern Macs, since they don't have floppy drives anyway.
Err, i wanted to say CD set, naturally.
> > I would be interested myself with a powerpc DVD
> > set for it, but i hear that testing is currently too broken to create
> > such CD/DVD sets.
>
> I can't test that for you; don't have a DVD-burner.
Yeah, still a two (or three with sources) CD set should be a great
distribution media.
> > Now, go to the debian-installer site, download the beta4 powerpc
> > netinst, and do the install from there, it should contain everything you
> > would need.
>
> Aha. I'll try it!
>
> Two documentation notes: "The debian-installer site" is a loose term;
Err, i should have given you the full url, i think. But you did find it,
so ...
> Google found it, but navigation from www.debian.org did not. I looked
> under "Debian Packages" and searched for anything that contained
> "debian-installer" or "installer". Never did find it, just a bunch of
> libraries and things. If there really is a package called
> "debian-installer", perhaps someone should tell the Packages page at
> www.debian.org about it.
Yep, altough i think it is linked from the devel corner.
> Second: the "beta4 powerpc netinst" is not any of the images that is
> visible on the debian-installer site -- at least the one Google found,
> which was
>
> http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
>
> >From some poking around on other pages, it appears that by "netinst"
> you mean what the web page calls "110 MB CD image, with Debian base".
> If so, maybe the web page should be changed to include the word
> netinst on that line, e.g. "110 MB 'netinst' CD image, with Debian
> base". (Indeed, the URL of the powerpc link on that line does include
> the string "netinst", but my first guess would have been the "netboot
> and other boot images" line since at least it says "net" right there
> in the heading.
Well, i should have used the full official name, and not the internal
codename, but then mine was not some kind of official documentation
effort.
> Also, that image is not 110MB any more -- it's up to 161MB. And,
It is 110Mo on x86, but powerpc, like all risc, binaries are bigger, and
there are lot of kernels on it, so ...
> curiously, it's from a month ago - April 30. Why would the "official
Which is the official date of the beta4 release.
> sarge Jigdo" release be a month behind the "cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i"
> release? And why would a month-old net install CD work better than
> the latest full CD from only a week ago?
Because it has been tested, and that it includes everything needed to
bring up a base system. The problem is that there is no one full CD, but
that it is only part of a 7 (or 9 apparently) CD set.
> > > Yes. When I start in non-expert mode, it won't let me bring up a
> > > network connection (even if I have the ethernet plugged in). In an
> >
> > This is a more worthy bug report. Did you already fill that bug report.
>
> I filed it in THIS bug report, but I didn't file a separate bug report
> saying that the official jigdo install CD wasn't configuring my
> network interface. So far when I file simple bug reports like that,
> (like bug@251827), some harried developer just closes them out
> inappropriately, without even bothering to verify them.
Well, a bug report is better when it has a title with the problem in it,
and debian-installer bug reports are better handled thansome other
packages.
> > > Somehow, the Sarge CD starts up with the right kernel ...
> >
> > Where did you get that sarge CD from ?
>
> >From www.debian.org, I clicked "Getting Debian / CD ISO images". From
> there I clicked "Assemble images using jigdo" (the alternative of
> downloading full ISOs is disrecommended due to limited server
> capacity). From there I got the "Official jigdo files for the
> 'testing' distribution on CD (all architectures, regenerated weekly)".
> >From that I got the sarge-powerpc-1.jigdo, timestamped 24-May-2004.
> The release self-describes as 20040523. I assembled the .iso with
> jigdo from that, and burned it myself.
>
> *** I'm beginning to think that the root of my problems is that the d-i
> team is building their own CD's, and never noticing the official CDs
> that the debian-cd team is building. So the "official" CDs don't ever
> get tested by the d-i team. Perhaps? ***
The problem is a bit more complicated. There are CDs built out of sarge
and Cds built out of sid. and there is the daily built d-i and the one
uploaded to sarge, and ...
Actually, the best way to install is to use the beta4 CDs, and then use
whatever .deb source you like for the post reboot install.
> > Well, again, please use current information. 4.3.0 should have no
> > problem on your hardware, but then everyone buying nvidia graphics
> > deserves what he gets,
>
> If only I knew what "current information" meant. There isn't even
> a Sarge installation manual reachable from the Debian home page (yep,
> I did report that bug separately -- bug#251813).
>
> I think the speed of light, even through optical fibers, prevents me
> from actually observing current information, even if www.debian.org
> would point me to it :-).
Well, xfree86 4.3.0 is included in sarge, and the release notes thereof can be
found at :
http://www.xfree86.org/4.3.0/Status23.html#23
Mmm, seems like your nvidia chip is not included there, not sure though.
You can see if you have more luck with Michel Daenzer's dri-trunk
packages (hint: google search here) or maybe a newer nv driver has been
included in the sarge X packages. Not sure though.
Notice that the "current information" bit was a pike against the
tendency of powerpc users to write random HOWTO's and then not to notice
when things change and the things worked aropund in those howtos are
fixed. I am not sure if those HOWTO's don't cause more harm than help in
the long run.
Friendly,
Sven Luther
>
> I'll report back after trying the d-i netinst CD.
>
> John
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