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Bug#265194: marked as done (resizing needs to be mentioned more in the partitioning utility)

Your message dated Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:34:54 +0100
with message-id <200703042134.55352.elendil@planet.nl>
and subject line Bug#265194: resizing needs to be mentioned more in the partitioning utility
has caused the attached Bug report to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.

(NB: If you are a system administrator and have no idea what I am
talking about this indicates a serious mail system misconfiguration
somewhere.  Please contact me immediately.)

Debian bug tracking system administrator
(administrator, Debian Bugs database)
--- Begin Message --- 
Package: installation-reports

Debian-installer-version: 06-Aug-2004 23:18
http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/i386/rc1/sarge-i386-netinst.iso
uname -a: Linux 2.4.26-1-386 (plus other stuff)
Date: Aug 11, 2004, 9pm
Method: Booted from CD

Machine: Toshiba Sattellite 1130
Processor: Celeron 2.2 GHz
Memory: 256 MB
Root Device: /dev/hda3
Root Size/partition table:
Output of lspci:

Base System Installation Checklist:

Initial boot worked:    [x]
Configure network HW:   [x]
Config network:         [x]
Detect CD:              [x]
Load installer modules: [x]
Detect hard drives:     [x]
Partition hard drives:  [E]
Create file systems:    [ ]
Mount partitions:       [ ]
Install base system:    [ ]
Install boot loader:    [ ]
Reboot:                 [ ]
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Comments/Problems:

I was curious to see if I could resize a vfat windows partition using the
partitioning tool on the sarge RC1 installation CD.  I have 1 vfat
partition already set up.

In the "Partition Disks" menu, I saw the sentence: "Select a partition to
modify its settings (file system, mount point, etc.)".  But unfortunately
the word "resize" was nowhere to be found.  So I selected the vfat
partition and hit enter, thinking one setting (ie. that these "etc"
settings might include) will be "resize partition" if I'm lucky.

The next screen, also called "Partition Disks", and under "Partition
Settings", Size is shown to be 6.1 GB.  The word "resize" did not appear
anywhere on this screen either!!  So I was about to give up that it was
even possible to resize the partition, but in a giddy moment of reckless
abandon, I hit enter on the line that I assumed merely reported the size
of the partition.  Then the screen went all blue and my disk LED started
thrashing madly!  I was freaked out: was it erasing my Windows partition? 
WTF?  There was no informational message like "scanning the partition,
please wait".  There needs to be an informational message during that
minute where it paused to scan the vfat partition!

After about a minute of nervous disk thrashing, then I was offered a
screen saying "Before resize operation takes place, the changes have to be
written to disk.  You cannot undo this operation.  Write the changes to
disk and resize the partition?"

So all of a sudden I'm about to do a partition resizing!  I was relieved
(that no harm was done), excited (that resizing is possible) and annoyed
(that resizing wasn't mentioned at all up until that point), all at the
same time.

Partition resizing during installation is a HUGE feature, as it opens up
the path for Windows users to add Linux to their systems without losing
their current Windows install.

So please mention any partition resizing capabilities prominently in the
partitioning utility if it's possible whatsoever!  A menu option called
something like "resize this partition" or "partition resizing
possibilities" is very important!  Or even the word "resizable" printed
beside potentially resizable partitions (when all partitions are shown in
a chart) would be helpful.

Also, the installation documentation here:
http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/ch06s03.html#id2514217
which talks about partitioning never mentions the word "resize".  I expect
this documentation to at least mention which types of partition are in
fact resizable: vfat? (apparently yes, I didn't actually perform it) 
ntfs? (I hope yes!)  ext2?  ext3?  resierfs?

This additional information may be pivotal in people deciding to install
Debian whatsoever, as many people aren't ready to risk losing their
current Windows install, and don't have access to commercial software like
Partition Magic.  Even mentioning the resizing capabilites possible with
"qtparted", seen here:
http://qtparted.sourceforge.net/features.en.html
...which is included on the bootable Linux utility CD "System Rescue CD",
available here:
http://www.sysresccd.org/
...may lead to tons more Debian deployments. I know of one friend who
would install Sarge right now if he knew that the Sarge installation CD
could resize an NTFS partition during installation (or knew of a utility
that could in a proven fashion).

Having said this, I have not attempted to resize an NTFS partition with
the latest version of qtparted (which is 0.4.4).  Has anyone else? 
Reliably?  Unreliably?  After applying Windows XP service pack 2? ;)

Dustin Harriman

Root Shell Computer Support
http://rootshell.ca

--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message --- 
> The next screen, also called "Partition Disks", and under "Partition
> Settings", Size is shown to be 6.1 GB.  The word "resize" did not appear
> anywhere on this screen either!!

This screen has now been modified to indicate that selecting this line 
will allow resizing.

Cheers,
FJP

--- End Message ---
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