Bug#186283: netinst cd problems (march24th sarge image)
On 23 Apr 2003, Martin [ISO-8859-1] Sjögren wrote:
> tis 2003-03-25 klockan 22.08 skrev Drew Scott Daniels:
> > Problem 2 (critical bug):
> > Core (base?) package installation fails.
[...]
> This is probably the same thing as #189058, something segfaulting...
>
> > After this fails I can't install a
> > kernel or lilo as they depend on base being installed.
> > I've been playing around with the cd and I've got the kernel to install
> > somehow, maybe with the net install, but I couldn't get lilo to install
> > into the mbr. I've tried manually configuring lilo, but what is the target
> > root directory? Iirc I've tried:
> > root=/dev/hda1
> > root=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1
> > root=/dev/discs/disc0/part1
>
> Well, trying to install the kernel without installing base is bound to
> be flaky...
>
I still would like to know what the target for root should be.
> > And I've got kernel 2.4.20 or kernel 2.4.19 *from* the installer (not the
> > one for the installer).
>
> I don't understand this, what do you mean?
>
I didn't get the udeb, I grabbed the kernel off of the installation disk.
> > Problem 3 (minor bug):
> > Bochs' network card can't be auto detected. It emulates an ne2k (looks
> > like it's an isa device). I changed the emulated IRQ and IOADDR to several
> > values that Bochs suggested, and to the actual value of a network card on
> > my system.
>
> Right, I don't think discover can auto-detect isa devices.
>
I remember reading that in debian-boot. I don't see this bug listed under
the discover package though. Should I file one? I hope (but doubt), that
version 2.x fixes this.
I still have problems with autodetect with the kernel module too, so maybe
this card issue is a Bochs issue?
> > Problem 4 (wishlist):
> > Bochs is slow, so I notice when it takes forever to copy over files from
> > the CD, verify them and unpack them. It's annoying to see many udebs get
> > installed that I don't need. Some examples include keyboard maps for
> > keyboards that I don't have.
>
> This is a non-issue IMO. On a real computer speed won't be a problem,
> and it's far better that a few extra packages are installed than that a
> new user doesn't get things to work because something's missing...
>
I think it's an issue. I'm running Bochs with lots of memory and at a
fairly high speed. On a real machine this is an issue too. Download time
on a low speed connection is another closely related issue. It's a
wishlist issue. I'd like to see some way to specify what I want and don't
want.
> > Problem 5 (minor):
> > For some reason I can setup the network settings manually, but dhcp doesn't
> > work. I haven't verified if this is my dhcp server, Bochs or something
> > with the debian-installer. Both dhcpd3? and pump can't configure my
> > network settings.
>
> Er, that's strange...
>
dhclient3 works fine for me now that I have an installed system. It's
something I'll look at if I test the installer again.
> > Problem 6 (minor):
> > The net install image seems to be find with the PS/2 keyboard and
> > autodetects without problems, but cdrom install doesn't automatically
> > detect PS/2 and complains when PS/2 is selected.
>
> kbd-chooser has been a bit flakey, do you think you could test again and
> see if this is still an issue? If so, report a bug on kbd-chooser.
>
Yes. Ok, I will.
> > Problem 7 (normal):
> > It seems that root= arguments are ignored for both cdrom and net. I.e.,
> > there seems to be no rescue mode. The documentation at boot says there is
> > the option to use root= to rescue.
>
> The documentation is out of date. :) There will probably be separate
> rescue floppies once d-i is finished. I just don't think we can cram all
> that onto the same floppies.
>
Two bugs then. Documentation and no rescue disk(s). Oh well. I'm guessing
the documentation will be fixed time willing or after most the other bugs
are addressed. A good rescue disk is useful for when the installer can't
Finnish so maybe it's worth creating a new one? I think
http://people.debian.org/~dwhedon/ might have something that's good
enough for now, or maybe with some minor changes good enough for a rescue
disk?
> > To resolve these issues for me can somebody point me to minimal install
> > that can let me use apt-get over a network to get sid? Or maybe I could
> > just setup lilo somehow (I have used boot-floppies to rescue and run lilo
> > and the sarge images to run a shell and run lilo, maybe one of these
> > confuses lilo too much).
>
> If all you want is an installed system, please install woody and then
> dist-upgrade. d-i is still in an alpha stage.
>
I used the woody installer to recover and now my system is in a somewhat
undesirable state... some packages got installed but didn't get
configured... Notably debconf got set to only show questions priority
critical and higher (I didn't set this). Do udebs have their files copied
into place and then configured? Perhaps this was just something I screwed
up trying to use anna or some of the package tools by hand (I can't
remember exactly what I did now).
Thanks for your reply, I doubted my report was going to get any response,
especially since I miss filed it first.
Drew Daniels
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