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Bug#233540: marked as done (users who want to use d-i as a rescue system try to pick install grub and get confused when it installs a fresh debian over their system.)

Your message dated Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:50:56 -0400
with message-id <20070929035056.GA28397@kitenet.net>
and subject line closing
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

INSTALL REPORT

Debian-installer-version: beta 2 as of 2/17/2004
uname -a: Linux katherina 2.6.3-rc4 #1 Wed Feb 18 03:33:08 CST 2004 i686 GNU/Linux
Date: Feb 17, 2004
Method: CD
      

Machine: Compaq Presario 8000Z, Athlon64 3200+, NForce3 motherboard
Processor: AMD Athlon64 3200+, 2.0GHz
Memory: 1GB
Root Device: IDE 160GB nForce3 chipset
Root Size/partition table: Initially 5GB from installer, reiserfs.
Output of lspci:
00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 Host Bridge (rev a4)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 LPC Bridge (rev f6)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce3 SMBus (rev a4)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 USB 1.1 (rev a5)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 USB 1.1 (rev a5)
00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 USB 2.0 (rev a2)
00:05.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 Ethernet (rev a5)
00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce3 IDE (rev a5)
00:0a.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 AGP Bridge (rev a4)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4150
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4170
02:04.0 Communication controller: Lucent Microelectronics LT WinModem (rev 02)
02:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 04)
02:09.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)


Base System Installation Checklist:

Initial boot worked:    [Y]
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:    [O]
Install boot loader:    [O]
Reboot:                 [E]
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Comments/Problems:

Several problems, including one that trashed my existing Debian installation.

First problem: no support for my network card.  The latest 2.6.x-rc series
has a forcedeth module which is needed for my integrated Ethernet.  This module
is also available as a patch for 2.4.x, but this machine is, in general,
Much Happier with 2.6.

Despite the fact that the CD-based installer has no need for a network, it
became a huge pest.  I woul dhave to manually select each step and every time
it would want me to manually pick a network driver.  There is really no point
to that.

I took advantage of the reiserfs formatting option, as I run that on all my
systems.  On reboot, it complained of missing fsck.reiserfs -- and indeed,
reiserfsprogs was not installed.  That's a big problem for someone using
reiserfs, even though the fsck problem is minor.

Another complaint: zero support for LVM in the installer.  I anticipated this,
and after booting and doing some initial setup in the new system,
installed lvm2 and created a new root filesystem and partitions for LVM.

Somehow I goofed, though, and grub got confused and refused to boot.

No problem, I thought; I'll just boot from the install CD, hit Alt-F2 and
install lilo like I always did.  Problem: no lilo is present in the live
filesystem image!  That, IMO, significantly diminishes its usefulness in
an emergency situation.

Then I noticed the "install grub" option in the main menu.  Since Grub is
what I really wanted anyway, I went there.  It asked me to tell it about
my filesystems.  I figured sure -- it wants to know where to put /boot/grub.
I pointed it at the already-mounted filesystem (and it assured me the contents
would not be destroyed).

Whoopsy.  It started by deleting /var/lib/dpkg/status, then unpacked 
part of the base system over the existing system before dying with an error.
It left the existing system without libc and a completely corrupted package
database.  I finally had to just reinstall.

That is *BAD*, non-intuitive behavior.  I would NOT expect an "install GRUB"
or "install LILO" option to do *anything* but just that.

--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message --- 
I'm closing this bug because:

* base-installer has guards to prevent it running debootstrap on an
  existing installation.
* d-i now has a rescue mode that can reinstall lilo w/o reinstalling
  everything.

-- 
see shy jo

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