Bug#413248: installation-reports: (etch) strangeness with non-ASCII-character filenames on vfat partition
Package: installation-reports
Version: weekly build 20070115
Severity: normal
I've met some problems with an existing vfat filesystem, specifically with
filenames that have non-ASCII characters. These problems might affect
very many users, hence severity "important".
[Unrelated issue, for completeness, see APPENDIX below: I've copied an excerpt
from /var/log/installer/syslog, showing a failure of 'dpkg --compare-versions']
Summary:
Problems with non-ASCII characters in windows filenames (eg SendTo/3½ Floppy).
The problem here is the "one-half" character.
Possible cause: Old installer (official weekly build CD1 20070115), but I'm
reporting this anyway in case the problem still exists. The problem arises
when *installing* etch from this CD. It does not arise when *upgrading*
sarge to etch with the same CD.
If the problem no longer exists, great. But if it does, severity seems
"important" since this filename is standard in win9x (at least) so very
many users will be affected.
(If it's a feature not a bug, then at the very least something in the release
notes is needed. Perhaps something to do with uni_xlate or utf8 mount options
to vfat??? But it would be best if the installer just did things right.)
My current mount options in /etc/fstab are as created by the installer:
/dev/hda1 /windows vfat defaults 0 0
Symptoms:
debian:/windows$ find * | wc
wc: standard input:19465: Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character
wc: standard input:19614: Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character
wc: standard input:19652: Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character
19961 52873 989337
The problem filenames are things like
'windows/SendTo/3½ Floppy (A).lnk' (*very* common on win 98 systems)
'windows/Favorites/Münster.url'
debian:~$ mkisofs -r -J -o cdtest.iso /windows/windows/Favorites
[...]
Incorrectly encoded string (Hifisound der Lautsprecher Selbstbau Spezialist aus M%G�%@nster.url) encountered.
Possibly creating an invalid Joliet extension. Aborting.
==============================
A few system details:
CPU: AMD Athlon(TM) XP2000+ stepping 02
install medium: etch testing weekly build 15/1/2007
[Debian GNU/Linux testing _Etch_ - Official Snapshot i386 CD Binary-1 20070115-09:39]
installation method: default install (i.e. I just pressed ENTER)
patitioning:
-- use exisiting /dev/hda1 as "vfat" on mountpoint /windows
-- install linux on /dev/hdb
-- dual boot via grub
-- install grub boot sector on /dev/hda
debian:~$ locale
LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=
==============================
APPENDIX (excerpt from /var/log/installer/syslog)
This may be normal but it looks strange.
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: dpkg: libc6: dependency problems, but configuring anyway as you request:
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: libc6 depends on tzdata; however:
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Package tzdata is not installed.
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Setting up libc6 (2.3.6.ds1-8) ...
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: dpkg: --compare-versions takes three arguments: <version> <relation> <version>
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap:
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Type dpkg --help for help about installing and deinstalling packages [*];
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Use `dselect' or `aptitude' for user-friendly package management;
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag values;
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options;
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Type dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb files;
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Type dpkg --license for copyright license and lack
of warranty (GNU GPL) [*].
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap:
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Options marked [*] produce a lot of output - pipe it through `less' or `more' !
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap:
Feb 28 19:58:48 debootstrap: Selecting previously deselected package perl-base.
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