Re: Problem with NON-STANDARD install
On 8/1/2016 12:01 PM, David Wright wrote:
On Mon 01 Aug 2016 at 10:37:28 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
*CAVEAT LECTOR*
I _KNOW_ I'm doing an *ATYPICAL* install.
I *REQUIRE* Grub to be its own partition.
The Debian 8.4 installer at least recognizes that some users would
desire Grub to be in its own partition.
"Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide"
[https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/] effectively ignores
the issue.
6.3.6.2. Install the Grub Boot Loader on a Hard Disk says only:
...By default, grub will be installed into the Master Boot Record
(MBR), where it will take over complete control of the boot process.
If you prefer, you can install it elsewhere. See the grub manual for
complete information. ...
It does not even give a link for "grub manual" [e.g.
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html] which says in
Section 3.4 "...or the core image can be installed in a file system
and a list of the blocks that make it up can be stored in the first
sector of that partition."
I assumed that as the installer explicitly gave the option it would
handle the details. It apparently did not.
After install,
If this was a non-standard install, then "After install" on its own
doesn't mean much.
I meant after the Installer had asked me all its questions and I
gave go ahead to complete install.
The only strangeness should have been where grub was installed.
I emphasized the atypical nature because back in Squeeze days
here was much "Don't do that" concerning putting grub in its own
partition. When the installer APPEARED to offer me a desirable
option, I chose it. Also I've lost the link to the instructions I
had used then. Not sure if they would match the current version
of Grub in any case.
What did you install where? What's in the MBR
of the disk you installed on? (What the disk was used for previously
might be important here.)
I used GPARTED Live to delete all existing partitions.
I then created a Ext2 partition at the beginning of the drive and
flagged it as bootable. [This is partition I reserved for grub].
The remainder of drive was set up as extended partition.
Created a 3 GB Linux Swap at the end of the extended partition.
Created a 10 GB partition at the beginning of the extended
partition for this install of Debian.
What did you write in your "grub partition"?
Me nothing ;) I assumed that when the installer asked me where to
manually place grub it would do so. I had followed the installer
formatting examples saying /dev/sda1 .
I am dumped into GRUB's rescue mode
"set" responds
prefix=(hd0,msdos1)/boot/grub
root=hd0,msdos1
"ls" responds
(hd0) (hd0,msdos5) (hd0,msdos2) (hd0,msdos1)
The title in readme.txt on the installation DVD reads "Debian
GNU/Linux 8.4.0 "Jessie" -
Official i386 DVD Binary-1 20160402-13:26"
I had set aside sda1 [2GB ext2] for grub.
That's generous. My /boot directory contains 20MB (I only have
one kernel installed) and /boot/grub contains 11MB.
Examining sda1 with a live edition of GPARTED shows ~33 MB has been
written to it.
Examining it with a live edition of Debian 7 shows no files, hidden
or not.
Then presumably you didn't mount it and write any files on it during
the installation? (33MB could be the filesystem metadata though I
don't have an empty partition to see if this number is reasonable.)
Where will I find the missing details?
Probably scattered in various forums. You may have to piece things
together.
I suspected as much.
I'd be surprised if there was a mainstream HOWTO for your
approach as it's so unusual.
If I'm successful that will change.
My goal is to learn enough about *nix too have the detail control
of Slackware or "Linux from Scratch" with the advantages of
Debian standard repositories.
If retirement is not for learning, what use is it?
Cheers,
David.
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