Bug#251825: Installing sarge PPC kernel with d-i fails with initrd warning
[Corrected typo in address of debian-cd.]
Message-Id: <200405312038.i4VKcN8U021754@new.toad.com>
To: Sven Luther <sven.luther@wanadoo.fr>, gnu@toad.com
cc: 251825@bugs.debian.org, jensen@debian.org, debian-cd@mail.debian.org
Subject: Re: Installing sarge PPC kernel with d-i fails with initrd warning
In-Reply-To: Message from Sven Luther <sven.luther@wanadoo.fr>
of "Mon, 31 May 2004 14:50:05 +0200." <20040531125003.GA12224@pegasos>
References: <200405310745.i4V7j48U015832@new.toad.com> <20040531095335.GA5316@pegasos> <200405311053.i4VArX8U002284@new.toad.com> <20040531125003.GA12224@pegasos>
Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 13:38:23 -0700
From: John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>
> > The latest PowerPC Sarge CD doesn't include a 2.4.25-powerpc-pmac kernel
> > image. (I've heard that a few weeks ago it was in exile on CD #9.)
> > The closest this CD came was powerpc-small-pmac.
>
> Well, then you either need to get it from the net, or you need CD #9.
> the powerpc-small kernel is mostly only used for creating old world
> miboot debian-installer floppies, and there is no reason it should be on
> CD #1.
I'm hereby trying to cc the debian-cd team with this information...
(May 23 2004's Jigdo CD #1 of Sarge for PowerPC boots fine on modern
Macintoshes, but it isn't able to install a kernel that will make the
hard drive boot up, because the required powerpc-pmac kernel image is
not on CD #1. There seem to be tons of kernels on CD #1 -- for
machines that nobody makes any more :-)
> That said, there has been no official sarge floppies for beta4,
> which is a real shame.
Doesn't matter for modern Macs, since they don't have floppy drives anyway.
> I would be interested myself with a powerpc DVD
> set for it, but i hear that testing is currently too broken to create
> such CD/DVD sets.
I can't test that for you; don't have a DVD-burner.
> Now, go to the debian-installer site, download the beta4 powerpc
> netinst, and do the install from there, it should contain everything you
> would need.
Aha. I'll try it!
Two documentation notes: "The debian-installer site" is a loose term;
Google found it, but navigation from www.debian.org did not. I looked
under "Debian Packages" and searched for anything that contained
"debian-installer" or "installer". Never did find it, just a bunch of
libraries and things. If there really is a package called
"debian-installer", perhaps someone should tell the Packages page at
www.debian.org about it.
Second: the "beta4 powerpc netinst" is not any of the images that is
visible on the debian-installer site -- at least the one Google found,
which was
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
>From some poking around on other pages, it appears that by "netinst"
you mean what the web page calls "110 MB CD image, with Debian base".
If so, maybe the web page should be changed to include the word
netinst on that line, e.g. "110 MB 'netinst' CD image, with Debian
base". (Indeed, the URL of the powerpc link on that line does include
the string "netinst", but my first guess would have been the "netboot
and other boot images" line since at least it says "net" right there
in the heading.
Also, that image is not 110MB any more -- it's up to 161MB. And,
curiously, it's from a month ago - April 30. Why would the "official
sarge Jigdo" release be a month behind the "cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i"
release? And why would a month-old net install CD work better than
the latest full CD from only a week ago?
> > Yes. When I start in non-expert mode, it won't let me bring up a
> > network connection (even if I have the ethernet plugged in). In an
>
> This is a more worthy bug report. Did you already fill that bug report.
I filed it in THIS bug report, but I didn't file a separate bug report
saying that the official jigdo install CD wasn't configuring my
network interface. So far when I file simple bug reports like that,
(like bug@251827), some harried developer just closes them out
inappropriately, without even bothering to verify them.
> > Somehow, the Sarge CD starts up with the right kernel ...
>
> Where did you get that sarge CD from ?
>From www.debian.org, I clicked "Getting Debian / CD ISO images". From
there I clicked "Assemble images using jigdo" (the alternative of
downloading full ISOs is disrecommended due to limited server
capacity). From there I got the "Official jigdo files for the
'testing' distribution on CD (all architectures, regenerated weekly)".
>From that I got the sarge-powerpc-1.jigdo, timestamped 24-May-2004.
The release self-describes as 20040523. I assembled the .iso with
jigdo from that, and burned it myself.
*** I'm beginning to think that the root of my problems is that the d-i
team is building their own CD's, and never noticing the official CDs
that the debian-cd team is building. So the "official" CDs don't ever
get tested by the d-i team. Perhaps? ***
> Well, again, please use current information. 4.3.0 should have no
> problem on your hardware, but then everyone buying nvidia graphics
> deserves what he gets,
If only I knew what "current information" meant. There isn't even
a Sarge installation manual reachable from the Debian home page (yep,
I did report that bug separately -- bug#251813).
I think the speed of light, even through optical fibers, prevents me
from actually observing current information, even if www.debian.org
would point me to it :-).
I'll report back after trying the d-i netinst CD.
John
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