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Re: getting a second disc set up as a bootable



On Mon, Nov 05, 2001 at 07:07:21PM -0700, Dean Allen Provins wrote:
> Hello once more:
> 
> Today, I installed a second disc in the first machine (715/75) that we
> got built and operational.  Wanting to save some time, we decided to
> install a second disc, and replicate the first on it so as to get the
> second machine running sooner.  The procedure
> was:
> 
> 	set SCSI ID = 6 for the new disc  (became /dev/sdc)
> 	set SCSI ID = 5 for the good disc (became /dev/sdb)
> 
> 	fdisk /dev/sdc (f0 - 16 MB, swap (128 MB), ext2 (balance, ~900 MB)
> 	mke2fs /dev/sdc3
> 	mount /dev/sdc3 /mnt
> 	find / -xdev | grep -v mnt | cpio -pmudv /mnt (copied everything)
> 
> 	run palo..... (the problems start here)
> 
> All went well, until it came time to run "palo" to make the second
> disc (sdc) bootable.  As per the web page "How to install your disc",
> we tried:
> 
> 	palo -b iplboot -c "3/vmlinux HOME=/ TERM=linux console=tty" \
> 		-k /boot/vmlinux -I /dev/sdc
> 
> but this gave us the error message:
> 
> 	ELF32 executable
> 	ELF32 executable
> 	Too many of the same type of kernel.  /boot/vmlinux is either
> 	the second 32-bit kernel or the second 64-bit one.

palo looks for /etc/palo.conf by default, and any command line options
are taken in addition to that.  You will have already had a palo.conf
specifying one kernel, then -k specified another.  Hence the error
message.  You can disable reading palo.conf by specifying "-f /dev/null".
Personally I'd copy etc/palo.conf, making necessary changes, and run
"palo -f modified-palo.conf".

Looking at the palo source, it seems command line options override
palo.conf options (as expected), so you should get away with
"palo -I /dev/sdc", which would take all other options from your
existing palo.conf.

The problem with -k comes about because multiple -k options are
allowed (32 and 64 bit kernels in one lifimage), so a cmndline option
cannot simply override a conf file -k setting.

Also with recent versions on palo, you don't need to specify console=...
as palo will add that automatically on boot.

Another thing to bear in mind is that you might want to modify /etc/fstab
on the new disk, if it isn't going to be sdb in the new system.

> Not being sure what this meant, we unplugged the good disc and tried
> to boot anyway.  Alas, we got the dreaded "bad lifmagic" message and
> it hung.
> 
> It is unclear (to me, at least) how "palo" knows which disc to write
> the boot loader information on.  I guessed, evidently incorrectly,
> that the stanza "-I /dev/sdc" was supposed to do the trick.
> Apparently not, or we also missed something else that was required.

It is -I ... or --init-partitioned=...

> This caused the screen to scroll, suggesting that something possibly
> was happening, but then the script re-started.  Attempts to boot "sdc"
> failed again.
> 
> Lastly, we booted again from the CD, dropped to a console, found
> "palo" under "/target" and gave it the command above.  Unfortunately,
> and I should have realized this would happen), it couldn't find
> "/etc/palo.conf", and something else (I've forgotten what it was).  I
> suspect that a soft link would fix the missing "/etc/palo.conf", and
> possibly the other error, but then again, perhaps I'm on the wrong
> track.

If you mounted sdc3 on /target, then executed a shell and ran
"chroot /target; palo" that should have worked, provided /target/etc/palo
specified the right disk for -I.

> What is your recommended procedure for making a disc bootable, once
> I've copied the desired filesystem to the appropriate partition?
> 
> I look forward to your responses.

Hopefully the above helps,

Richard



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