Re: Debian Graphical Installer: why does it format swap?
On Sun 05 Jan 2020 at 12:42:05 (-0500), Felix Miata wrote:
> Clod Turner composed on 2020-01-05 15:40 (UTC):
>
> > no matter what options you try to select in the
> > partitioning dialogue, the installer will always reformat swap and
> > therefore swap gets a new UUID.
>
> Not true. There's another selectable option I always use: create no swap. /If/
> swap is actually needed, the existing one can be added to fstab after installation
> is complete, easy if by-label or by LABEL instead of by-uuid.
>
> I have swap partition, but with 16G RAM it was never used, so because not
> /needed/, I keep it turned off.
That might not be an option for some: I'm still installing Debian on a
machine with only 512MB RAM.
But there is a smooth path for coping with the current situation
where you need swap and it's on an MBR disk:
1) use LABEL in /etc/fstab to specify swap partition(s) on
current systems.
2) allow debian-installer to reformat swap, giving it a
fresh UUID and a blank LABEL.
3) Any time during the rest of the installation process,
and at least before it finishes, restore the LABEL
to the swap partition(s):
a) open a shell on VC2 or VC3
b) # /target/sbin/swaplabel -L <your-label> /dev/sd<device>
4) Job done.
I don't use hibernation but AIUI the problems in the format of
RESUME=LABEL=… have been fixed (#861057) so the same should apply.
Of course, smoother still would be if the debian-installer would
offer a screen like:
┌────────────────────────┤ [!!] Partition disks ├────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ You are editing partition #4 of SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda). This partition │
│ is formatted with the swap area. All data in it WILL BE DESTROYED! │
│ │
│ Partition settings: │
│ │
│ Use as: swap area │
│ │
→→→ │ Label: noah04 │ ←←←
│ Bootable flag: off │
│ │
│ Resize the partition (currently 1.0 GB) │
│ Erase data on this partition │
│ Delete the partition │
│ Done setting up the partition │
│ │
│ <Go Back> │
│ │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
where you could specify the LABEL.
Cheers,
David.
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