debootstrap and GRUB bootloader

[Urs Thuermann <urs@isnogud.escape.de>]

I want to build a Debian system using debootstrap and install that on
a Compact Flash card for an x86 embedded system.

I have created and mounted a fresh file system on a logical volume
which I install the new Debian system into using debootstrap.  That
works fine and I can chroot into the new system and install some more
package using aptitude.  This is done by a simple shell script:

    #!/bin/sh
    mkfs  /dev/vg0/cu
    mount /dev/vg0/cu cu
    debootstrap lenny cu
    cp config/etc/hostname cu/etc
    cp config/etc/fstab    cu/etc
    ...
    chroot cu <<EOF
    mount /proc
    mount /dev/pts
    mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
    aptitude update
    aptitude install -y -R iproute less wpasupplicant ferm tcpdump ppp \
            pciutils openssh-{client,server} telnet ftp hdparm bridge-utils \
            bzip2 file dnsutils dhcp3-server bind9 ntp ntpdate grub
    umount /sys
    umount /dev/pts
    umount /proc
    EOF

I then copy the file system image onto the Compact Flash card using dd

    # umount /dev/vg0/cu
    # dd if=/dev/vg0/cu of=/dev/sdb1

But then, installing the GRUB bootloader fails:

    # mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
    # chroot /mnt
    # mknod /dev/sdb  b 8 16
    # mknod /dev/sdb1 b 8 17
    # ls -A /boot
    # grub-install /dev/sdb
    Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
    The file /boot/grub/stage1 not read correctly.
    # ls -AF /boot
    grub/
    # ls -lAF /boot/grub 
    total 212
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root    197 Aug 15 14:15 default
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root     15 Aug 15 14:15 device.map
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   8704 Aug 15 14:15 e2fs_stage1_5
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   8544 Aug 15 14:15 fat_stage1_5
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   9568 Aug 15 14:15 jfs_stage1_5
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7904 Aug 15 14:15 minix_stage1_5
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  10720 Aug 15 14:15 reiserfs_stage1_5
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root    512 Aug 15 14:15 stage1
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 128616 Aug 15 14:15 stage2
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  10280 Aug 15 14:15 xfs_stage1_5
    # cat /boot/grub/device.map 
    (hd0)	/dev/sdb
    # 

So grub-install copies all stage* to /boot/grub and correctly creates
the devices.map file, but seems to have some problem with the stage1
bootloader.  I have also strace(1)ed the call to grub-install but
couldn't find out the problem.

I have also checked the MBR of /dev/sdb an there is no GRUB bootloader
installed.

So what can I do to complete the bootloader install?  What does the
error message

    The file /boot/grub/stage1 not read correctly.

mean?  I think simply copying stage1 to /dev/sdb manually, i.e.

    # dd if=/dev/stage1 of=/dev/sdb bs=446

won't work since, AFAIK, the MBR must contain the references (block
numbers) to the stage1_5 loaders.

urs