Bug#509378: should use labels for all partitions in fstab
Package: debian-installer
I believe it would be much safer to use labels for partitions rather
than using the device nodes.
This is not such a big issue for LVM filesystems, as they can always be
found using the same name.
However, for SCSI devices, the failure to use labels is causing more and
more problems. Consider these examples:
- A recent install I did on an M600 blade server with Dell's
remote/virtual floppy
- The virtual floppy was visible as /dev/sda during the install session,
- /boot filesystem was created on /dev/sdb1 by the installer.
- debian-installer put /dev/sdb1 in /etc/fstab
- I detached the virtual floppy and rebooted
- On the subsequent boot, the /boot fs is /dev/sda1, and fstab has to be
modified - boot fails
I can also see similar situations arising when people attach a USB
device (/dev/sda) to load firmware before the main disk is found. The
main disk, if SCSI, will be /dev/sdb during the install session.
The only solution I can see is for d-i to enforce the use of labels for
/boot and other non-LVM filesystems. Using the labels with LVM
filesystems would be nice but not essential.
Note: the install I refer to above was done using d-i netboot,
downloaded on 20/12/2008, for amd64
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