Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file}
On Sat 15 Jun 2019 at 08:15:24 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 06/14/2019 06:10 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the
> > association between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical
> > partition it is on. The file I'm looking for also identifies which
> > partition is used for swap.
>
> The filename I had forgotten was /etc/fstab .
>
> Background:
> I have one laptop explicitly set aside for experimenting with Debian
> in order to determine *MY* ideal system. To this end I may have a half
> dozen copies of Debian to chose from at boot.
>
> For my purposes, the Debian installer has two annoyances:
> 1. swap area designation.
> Everything is fine on the 1st installation.
> On following installations, when the existing swap partition is
> is to be used its UUID is changed. This causes grief for the
> other installations by making swap area appear missing. My
> personally preferred solution is to activate swap only of the
> initial installation. For subsequent installs actually requiring
> a swap partition, I edit its /etc/fstab .
It's rather easy to work around this problem in one of two ways (at least):
With a reasonable amount of memory (not a problam nowadays), just tell
the d-i to leave the existing swap file alone and do without one. Then
manually add the old UUID into the new installation's /etc/fstab and
/etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume when it's up and running.
(If you're only installing as an experiment in installation, I suspect
you won't even need to bother, because you'll be overwriting it shortly.
Does top show much use of swap anyway?)
or, even easier,
Use a LABEL to indicate the swap partition in all your own
/etc/fstab files, eg:
LABEL=swan10 none swap sw
and in /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume.
The d-i will of course overwrite the swap partition UUID/LABEL
as usual, but it's trivial to reset your LABEL at the end.
When the d-i reaches the UTC question at the end, switch to VC2
and type (with the appropriate values):
# /target/sbin/swaplabel -L LLLLLL /dev/sdXN
before answering the UTC question. The newly installed system
will boot via its fresh UUID, but all your old systems will
carry on using your LABEL as usual. (I assume that if you're
going to keep the new system for any length of time, you will
be editing its /etc/fstab anyway, and can set your usual LABEL
there, as in the example above.)
> 2. Grub configuration.
> The installer is egotistical enough to think that what is being
> installed will always be the preferred version. NOT!
You've been flogging this dead horse for at least seven years now.
Common sense dictates that anyone installing a new system wants it
to boot up by default. Anything else would be like sending the final
copy of your magnum opus to the publisher only for them to distribute
an old draft. OSes aren't like marmalade, where you have to use up
the old jar before opening a new one.
> My solution is install Grub only on the initial install and NO
> boot loader on subsequent install. After completing one (or more)
> additional installs, I boot the first install and run update-grub.
>
> VM's had been suggested ;}
What for; to avoid having to type <down><down><down><return> when booting?
Cheers,
David.
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