Re: New discussion: ppc64 installer -- ext2 /boot partition to keep yaboot happy.

[Rick Thomas <rbthomas@pobox.com>]

On Oct 8, 2017, at 9:30 AM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz <glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de> wrote:

>> 
> 
> grub-installer doesn't have any mechanism yet to find the boot partition on
> NewWorld Macs. We need to implement that. On supported systems, grub-installer
> will prompt with a list of possible target devices. The device name "dummy" also
> gives it away.
> 
> Just switch to a shell and try to install GRUB with grub-install providing
> the proper target device.
> 
> Adrian

So let me get this straight.  Please fill in the places where I have left ????.
The procedure we need to follow is:

0) do an “expert” mode install so we get a chance to intervene manually when necessary

1) When the installer gets to partitioning, choose manual and:
 1a) create a 256MB (or larger) ext2 partition with mount point /boot
 1b) create a 10MB (or larger) “unused” bootable, partition with no mount point
 1c) Do whatever we like for / (root) and all the rest.

2) Allow the partitioning step to complete and format the partitions (this will *not* format the HFS bootstrap partition because that part hasn’t been written yet.  But it *will* format the ext2 /boot.)

3) Choose “install yaboot” to get the HFS partition formatted.  Or:
 3a) Alternatively, break out into a shell and use hfsutils to format it.  How, in detail, would one do this ????
 3b) If hfsutils is not yet available, install it by doing ????

4) Break out into a shell and:
 4a) mount the newly formatted HFS partition on /target/boot/grub
 4b) remove the yaboot stuff (e.g. “rm /target/boot/grub/*”) so it will have to use grub during the reboot phase.
 4b) verify that grub-install is available.  If not, ???? 
 4c) install grub with grub-install using some parameters ????

5) Return from the breakout shell and allow the installation to proceed to completion.
 5a) When it gets to “install bootloader” choose “proceed without bootloader”.

6) allow it to reboot.  Observe it using grub — or not.  If all goes well, this will happen automatically.  If not ????

Thanks!
Rick