Package: installation-reports
Severity: important
-- Package-specific info:
Boot method: USB stick
Image version: Lenny RC1 amd64 netinst (http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/lenny_di_rc1/amd64/iso-cd/debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso)
Date: <Date and time of the install>
Machine: Athlon X2 5200+ desktop
Partitions:
Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000246ae
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 612 4915858+ 8e Linux LVM
/dev/sda3 613 19457 151372462+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 613 1221 4891761 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 1222 3046 14659281 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 3047 3169 987966 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 3293 3415 987966 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 3416 3538 987966 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 3539 3661 987966 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 3662 3784 987966 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 3785 4393 4891761 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 4394 5610 9775521 83 Linux
/dev/sda14 5611 6827 9775521 83 Linux
/dev/sda15 6828 19457 101450443+ 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00034287
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 732 5879758+ 8e Linux LVM
/dev/sdb3 733 19457 150408562+ 83 Linux
Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Initial boot: [O]
Detect network card: [O]
Configure network: [O]
Detect CD: [O]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives: [O]
Partition hard drives: [E]
Install base system: [O]
Clock/timezone setup: [O]
User/password setup: [O]
Install tasks: [O]
Install boot loader: [O]
Overall install: [O]
Comments/Problems:
The installer's partitioner appears to be unable to handle the situation
where an LVM partition already exists on one of the computer's disks at
the time of install. Here's the experience I had:
* With my first install (on a system with no LVM partitions), the
partitioner worked fine with my two SATA disks connected. I created
a VG "sid" on the first disk (/dev/sda1, 5GB) with boot and
root_crypt LVs, and sucessfully completed the install.
* Leaving the first install untouched, I attempted a second install
analogous to the first one, only on the second disk (sdb1, 6GB,
VG "lenny", boot/crypt root LVs). This is where the installer
crashed. I rebooted and repeated 4 times to verify, every time
with the same results. I've included relevant output from two of
the crashes in the attached tarball. Note that the new LVs were
successfully created, judging from the contents of /dev/mapper:
253, 3 Jan 11 20:24 /dev/mapper/lenny-root
253, 2 Jan 11 20:23 /dev/mapper/lenny-boot
253, 1 Jan 11 20:20 /dev/mapper/sid-root
253, 0 Jan 11 20:20 /dev/mapper/sid-boot
10, 60 Jan 11 20:20 /dev/mapper/control
* Suspecting that the presence of a pre-existing LVM volume
group was crashing the installer, I experimented by deleting VG
"lenny" on disk 2, moved VG "sid" to from sda to sdb1, changed the
partition ID of /dev/sda1 back to "Linux" and rebooted into the
installer. This time the installer crashed right away when I got to
the "Partitioning" option; I wasn't even able to switch VTs to save
output.
So then I just physically disconnected disk 2, rebooted into the
installer and did an install analogous to my first one. As I
expected, everything went perfectly this time, since there were no
visible LVM partitions on disk now.
My conclusion: the presence of any existing LVM volume group crashes
the partitioner. This is a serious problem for those who are already
using LVM at the time of the install.
Other than this problem, the installer worked wonderfully. My respect
to the developers. There were just a few minor quibbles. For example,
the search for an install image is painfully slow if you have lots of
partitions and/or disks - they could be scanned more intelligently and
quickly, ignoring any partitions without filesystems, encrypted
partitions, etc. Also, the pppoe setup might prompt the user for the
network interface connected to the Internet, instead of just blindly
probing for it.
-PGB
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 5.0
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-1 (SMP w/2 CPU cores; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=ru_RU.UTF8, LC_CTYPE=ru_RU.UTF8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Attachment:
lenny-installer-partitioner-crash.tgz
Description: GNU Unix tar archive