Re: Debian Bookworm RC 1 installer- a Bug?
On 4/9/23 08:57, David Wright wrote:
On Wed 05 Apr 2023 at 07:03:41 (-0700), Peter Ehlert wrote:
Debian Bookworm RC 1 installer
Damned nice, the improvements are appreciated.
I ran rc1 in my usual manner, and the only difference I noticed was
the one extra question about non-free firmware, to which I replied
yes. (There may well be improvements under the hood, so to speak.)
Oh, and the initrd is somewhat larger, as per usual.
using the new debian-bookworm-DI-rc1-amd64-netinst.iso
Legacy install, GPT partition
I assume Legacy means BIOS booting. Same here, but only one disk.
correct. different term, same thing. Not UEFI
graphic install, manual partitioning
Mate Desktop (others were deselected)
Non-graphical here, a suitable partition existed, and only
standard and SSH server software was installed.
WiFi firmware:
Untested as this machine is a 2006-vintage mini-tower lacking wifi.
[ snipped narrative of later network-switching ]
Boot Loader:
all disk drives were detected, however the one with the bios_grub
partition was highlighted
I can't recall seeing anything other than the first item highlighted,
ie "Enter device manually", at least with the non-graphical installer
in expert mode. I selected the (sole) hard drive, item 2. The only
remaining item was the USB stick containing the installer ISO.
As expected nowadays, when the machine rebooted, the Grub menu
had only two lines, both pointing to the newly installed system.
(I hadn't made any attempt to counteract GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER
during my installation.) So Grub was correctly installed in the
MBR, and the rest of Grub occupied d400 bytes of /dev/sda1 (the
3MB BIOS boot partition on the single disk).
=============
second try, using the debian-live-bkworm-DI-rc1-amd64-mate.iso
same machine and again Legacy install, GPT partition
however I did NOT install from the live session:
I chose to go directly to install rather than the Calamares installer
then manual partitioning
Boot Loader:
all drives were detected, however the one with the bios_grub partition
was NOT highlighted, but I did select it.
GRUB was Not properly installed, my former grub menu was still active.
How did you determine that it was the previous menu. Wouldn't it look
just the same?
I enable GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER so that the various other operating
systems are shown
if the new GRUB is properly installed I get the "new" one item only GRUB
display.
then when I boot the new OS I again enable GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER and
update GRUB
*** I tried a second time, same as above being super careful, same result.
I then booted with my default system, ran grub-install /dev/sde &&
update-grub
then "new" system was on my boot menu.
then booted and it ran as expected.
Which method did you use to boot the "default" system (which I assume
is bullseye, in a different partition on one or other of the disks),
in view of the rather sparse menu from grub.cfg on the new system?
I boot with the "old" GRUB menu as explained above...it has Several
operating systems listed, my old default OS is still at the top of the list.
back to the WiFi dongle, again the obscure firmware was properly installed
Is this a Bug or a user/hardware issue?
Presumably we are now back to talking about Grub.
If you still have access to the bookworm system, you can check whether
it claimed to have completed installing Grub successfully. You should
see lines like:
grub-installer: info: Installing grub on '/dev/sda'
grub-installer: info: grub-install does not support --no-floppy
grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target grub-install --force "/dev/sda"
grub-installer: Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-installer: Installation finished. No error reported.
grub-installer: info: grub-install ran successfully
in /var/log/installer/syslog.
Thanks, I did not know where to look or what to look for.
===================
Apr 5 12:59:44 grub-installer: info: Identified partition label for
/dev/sdb12: gpt
Apr 5 13:01:03 grub-installer: info: Installing grub on '/dev/sdb'
Apr 5 13:01:03 grub-installer: info: grub-install does not support
--no-floppy
Apr 5 13:01:03 grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target
grub-install --force "/dev/sdb"
====
5 12:59:44 grub-installer: info: Identified partition label for
/dev/sdb12: gpt
Apr 5 12:59:45 grub-installer: dpkg: warning: ignoring request to
remove grub which isn't installed
Apr 5 12:59:45 grub-installer: dpkg: warning: ignoring request to
remove grub-legacy which isn't installed
Apr 5 12:59:45 grub-installer: dpkg: warning: ignoring request to
remove grub-efi which isn't installed
Apr 5 12:59:45 grub-installer: dpkg: warning: ignoring request to
remove grub-efi-amd64-bin which isn't installed
Apr 5 12:59:45 grub-installer: dpkg: warning: ignoring request to
remove grub-efi-amd64-signed which isn't installed
Apr 5 12:59:45 grub-installer: dpkg: warning: ignoring request to
remove grub-efi-amd64 which isn't installed
Apr 5 12:59:45 grub-installer: dpkg: warning: ignoring request to
remove grub-efi-ia32-bin which isn't installed
Apr 5 12:59:45 grub-installer: dpkg: warning: ignoring request to
remove grub-efi-ia32 which isn't installed
Apr 5 13:01:03 grub-installer: info: Installing grub on '/dev/sdb'
Apr 5 13:01:03 grub-installer: info: grub-install does not support
--no-floppy
Apr 5 13:01:03 grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target
grub-install --force "/dev/sdb"
Apr 5 13:01:03 grub-installer: Installing for i386-pc platform.
Apr 5 13:01:13 grub-installer: grub-install: warning: this GPT
partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be
possible.
Apr 5 13:01:13 grub-installer: grub-install: warning: Embedding is not
possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using
blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is
discouraged..
Apr 5 13:01:13 grub-installer: Installation finished. No error reported.
Apr 5 13:01:13 grub-installer: info: grub-install ran successfully
====
New Information:
in my effort to eliminate the hardware possibility I made several new
installs on three other machines, all with multiple drives, and only one
with the bios_grub partition
at the close of the install we are presented with a "Install the GRUB
boot loader" window/menu
it asks "install the GRUB boot loader to your primary drive" with Yes
and No options
* if I select No it presents a list of my physical drives...
choosing the one with the bios_grub partition does not work, GRUB is not
installed and the same fails are shown in the log.
* if I select Yes it again presents the same list of my physical drives...
choosing the one with the bios_grub partition Does work, GRUB is
installed as expected
logically, I select NO because I have no clue which is the Primary Drive
and fully understand that it needs to point to the one with the
bios_grub partition.
SO: where do I report this Bug/Anomaly?
I assume it should go to the debian-boot list
You could install and run boot-info-script, which provides details of
how the system boots, particularly where the MBR code looks for the
BIOS boot partition (ie core.img). BTW do any other disks in this
machine have BIOS boot partitions? (I've one on all my internal disks.)
thanks for that thought
But as far as we're concerned, I think more information is needed,
like what disks there are on the system, which disk the BIOS is
reading the MBR from, the final listing from the partitioner,
particularly any BIOS boot partitions, and so on. Without all that
in the narrative, there's no telling whether it's a bug or not.
Cheers,
David.
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