Automatic kernel selection for full CD/DVDs completly broken

[Goswin von Brederlow <brederlo@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de>]

Hi,

while testing the to be amd64 sarge images we noticed that the wrong
kernel gets installed by base-installer and I think I figured out the
reason.

Here is how base-installer picks a kernel:

1. The default kernel as set by rootskel is retrieved
   ("kernel-image" or a specific generic kernel for some archs)

2. A list of kernels on the medium is generated sorted reverse
   alphabeticaly

3. If the rootskel kernel is in the list keep it.
   If not then take the last in the list of kernels with the same
   major version as the running kernel.

4. arch_kernel is selected
   (kernel-image-2.x-flavour)

5. If arch_kernel is available (which it is NOT on full CD/DVDs) pick it.
   If not then pick the last kernel in the list that contains
   arch_kernel (kernel-image mostly) and has the same version as the
   running kernel.

What it comes down to is:
- does rootskel have a specific default kernel set?
  yes: take it       no: take last available kernel

For amd64 this means it selects kernel-image-2.6.8-11-em64t-p4-smp
(catastrophic). For i386 this means the rootskel default of
kernel-image-2.4.27-2-386 or kernel-image-2.6.8-2-386 is always used
(merely anoying).



Further nothing seems to ensure that kernel-image packages actualy end
up on the first CD at all. One might end up with a CD containing the
generic (386), 586 and k7 flavours only for i386.


Did I overlook anything? Did nobody notice this before? I expect most
archs to be unbootable with this.

MfG
        Goswin