Re: Possible bug in d-i handling of swap partition

[ChrisBell@gigl]

On Monday 28 Nov 2016 04:40:32 Richard Owlett wrote:
> I have two use cases which demonstrate the problem.
> 
> First Environment:
> I have a laptop exclusively dedicated to being a test platform of
> various Debian configurations [Jessie 8.6.0 currently]. I have
> limited connectivity, therefore all installs are done from a
> purchased set of DVDs. At any time there may exist up to 4
> installs available, each in its own partition. As only one
> install is active at any time, a single swap partition should be
> adequate.
> 
> *HOWEVER* each install "touches" the swap partition changing its
> UUID.
> This causes a problem with using the chronologically earlier in
> stall. Systemd looks for a swap partition with a specific UUID.
> The triggered diagnostic takes ~2 minutes while I'm
> w-a-i-t--n---g for the system to boot. I've NOT investigated
> whether or not the system actually finds and uses the intended
> swap partition or not. For THAT PARTICULAR LAPTOP I doubt there
> are any consequences as for my particular use I doubt any use of
> swap occurs. I suspect a workaround might be editing /etc/fstab
> all previous installs when a new install is done.
> 
> Second Environment:
> On a second machine [the laptop being out of service due to
> hardware problems] I attempted to install Debian to a USB flash
> drive for demonstrating Debian to friends on their machines and
> testing used machines before purchasing.
> 
> The was no problem until the partitioning phase. It allowed me to
> create a ext2 partition on the flash drive for use a / . It
> allowed me to create a second partition and to designate it as a
> swap partition.
> 
> *HOWEVER* the confirmation screen about writing changes to disk
> essentially said it was going to *TRASH* the existing install of
> Debian on the machines hard-drive by formatting the hard disk's
> swap partition [i.e. changing its UUID].
> 
> I see no conceivable reason to mess with a perfectly fine install
> when installing to an unrelated device.
> 
> Thank you

I often have more than one installation and each new installation includes an 
unchanged /srv partition and lists each previous installation as another 
available partition unchanged but under an amended name, so instead of / it 
may be /wheezyroot. I can then edit the previous /etc/fstab to match the new 
uuids and make all bootable. I also find the shared /srv partition useful.
Chris Bell