Bug#785512: regression: cannot find iso image on usb stick any more

[Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at>]

Hi Philip,

> It looks to me as though we're missing iso-scan and load-iso from the
> cdrom target, and that as a result we neither include the loop module,
> nor do we attempt to mount the usb stick, nor look for the ISO therein.

Indeed, checking the initrd you mentioned I see the iso-scan and load-iso
packages available, while in the initrd from current image
it is not.

> It strikes me as a bit of a shame that one cannot just take advantage of
> grub's loopback feature to use the files found within the iso image.

Indeed.

> Adding the missing components would allow this, so I think that's the
> right thing to do unless there's some space constraint that this would
> break.

It is strange that the changelog of debian-installer in *not*one*word*
mentiones that iso-scan got lost ... maybe I am hallucinating and
didn't install my laptop in the way I thought I did ;-)

> BTW the test I just did ended up doing a "Full Disk Search" before it
> found the ISO, so we'd also want to make sure that the ISO is somewhere

Not necessary, a simple
	iso-scan/filename=$isofile iso-scan/ask_second_pass=true
added to the cmd line works.

That means, one *only* needs to replace the initrd. My grub.cfg
entries now look like:

    set isofile="/boot/iso/firmware-8.0.0-amd64-i386-netinst.iso"
    menuentry '64 bit Install' {
        set background_color=black
        loopback loop (hd0,1)$isofile
        linux    (loop)/install.amd/vmlinuz iso-scan/ask_second_pass=true iso-scan/filename=$isofile vga=788 -- quiet 
        initrd   /boot/debian/install.amd/initrd.gz
    }

So the kernel is taken from the iso image, only the initrd is replaced.

Probably the safest option is to use *NOT* the initrd from the daily
builds, but from the release.


I will update the blog later on, now I have a meeting.

Big thanks for the information!!!


Norbert

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PREINING, Norbert                               http://www.preining.info
JAIST, Japan                                 TeX Live & Debian Developer
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