Bug#1115861: debian-installer: Fails to format erased EFI partition then fails to mount it
Package: debian-installer
Severity: important
Tags: d-i
X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-amd64@lists.debian.org,
debian-boot@lists.debian.org User: debian-amd64@lists.debian.org
Usertags: amd64
User: debian-boot@lists.debian.org
Usertags: amd64
Dear Maintainer,
Situation: performing a fresh install using 13.1 netinst on amd64.
I want to keep the existing partition table and one partition
containing data, but reformat the root and EFI partitions.
Problem: When manual partitioning during install, the installer always
marks an EFI partition as "K" meaning keep exsisting data, even if
there is no filesystem in the partition. This means it cannot mount
the partition and installation cannot proceed. The system is left
unbootable.
There is no menu option to format the partition presented, as there
would be for any other type of partition.
There is an "erase data on this partition" option. If this is selected
and confirmed then it is obviously essential to format the partition,
but it is not possible to do so.
Expected behaviour:
Once "Erase data on this partition" has been selected and confirmed, the
partition must always be formatted (FAT32) if "use as" is set to "EFI
partition".
Even if "Erase data on this partition" has not been selected there
should still be the option to (re-)format an EFI partition.
I understand that some buggy BIOSes don't like you to reformat the EFI
partition, but if I have chosen the adavanced installer and after that
chosen manual partitioning so you must allow me to make my own choices.
Put a warning on the confirmation dialog by all means, but put it on
the erase dialog too!
As it is this allows a user to erase the EFI partition and then refuses
to format it.
Many thanks,
Tom
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 13.1
APT prefers stable-updates
APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable-security'), (500,
'stable') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 6.12.43+deb13-amd64 (SMP w/24 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_OOT_MODULE,
TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8
(charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_GB:en Shell: /bin/sh linked to
/usr/bin/dash Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled
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