:: Re: [DNG] Problems of Devuan instal…
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Autor: Didier Kryn
Data:  
Dla: dng
Temat: Re: [DNG] Problems of Devuan installer (Alpha2) I experinced.
Le 16/11/2015 12:55, janpenguin@??? a écrit :
> Hi,
>
> I tried to install Duvuan using Devuan installer few times but all the
> attempts failed due to partitioning the hard disk, followed by GRUB
> installation at the end. So I used Debian installer (7.0 and 8.2) to
> create basic Debian system, and then upgraded to Devuan system one by
> one.
>
> The system setup was
> /dev/sda - bootable USB stick
> /dev/sdb - Hard disk
>
> [Partition disks] could not handle manual selection.
> When I chose manual, it complained "No root file system."
>
> Partition disks
> No root file system
> No root file system is defined.
> Please correct this from the partitioning menu.
>
> On 'Guided - use the largest continous free space', how dose it know
> the free space on the hard disk which is already partitioned?
>
> Guided partition kept the installationg going, but in the final stage
> of GRUB boot loader, it failed to detect the Devuan partition.
>
> Below is the error message.
>
> Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk
>
> Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
> Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed.
>
> This is a fatal error.


     Hi Hughe.


     Here is my own experience with installing Debian as from several 
releases back:


     I always partition by hand but, if I do it naively, partition 1, 
5,6,... starting from the beginning of the disk, grub always fail to 
install with no understandable message.


     I proved to myself that the reason was the lack of room at the 
begining of the disk to install grub itself.


     What I do now is to reserve some free space at the beginning of the 
disk, like a few sectors - I don't care even sacrifying a cylinder if 
there are plenty. It may be possible to use parted for that, but it is a 
CLI, and I'm not very comfortable with it; I prefer cfdisk which is a 
CUI (curses user interface).


     There's a step in the installation process where the installer asks 
the user if xhe wants some additional packages. I ask for cfdisk. Later, 
when it comes to partitionning, I escape the installer by ctrl-alt-f1 
and run cfdisk.


     To preserve a sensible ordering of partition numbers, and since 
cfdisk does not provide a simple way to reserve a free space, I proceed 
as follows:
     1) create partition 1 at the end of the disk - size doesn't matter 
I'll destroy it soon
     2) create partition 2 at the beginning, with the size I want to 
give to the free space
     3) delete partition 1 and re-create it with the size I really need, 
at the beginning, that is on top of partition 2
     4) delete partition 2


     I have now three regions: a small free space, partition 1, and a 
big free space. Now I can populate the big free space and leave the 
small one unused for Grub to install. Then I return to the installer 
with ctrl-alt-f7; at the end, Grub is installed without problem.


     Didier