Replacing the boot kernel in the installer

[Bill Crawford]

I successfully installed F8 at home, but I've been unable to get the
installer to run on my Aspire here at work. It fails due a problem
with the sata_sis driver, which is fixed in the latest F7 kernel
update so I assume the current F8 kernel is fine too. Is it possible
to simply boot from a different kernel (and update the modules in the
initrd, of course) and run the installer? Or, if I need to update the
stage 2 image as well, how do I point at the updated stage 2, and can
I do so while still proceeding to fetch the install packages off the
network?

[Josh Boyer]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:24:32 +0000
"Bill Crawford" <billcrawford1970(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

>  I successfully installed F8 at home, but I've been unable to get
> the
>  installer to run on my Aspire here at work. It fails due a problem
>  with the sata_sis driver, which is fixed in the latest F7 kernel
>  update so I assume the current F8 kernel is fine too. Is it possible
>  to simply boot from a different kernel (and update the modules in the
>  initrd, of course) and run the installer? Or, if I need to update the
>  stage 2 image as well, how do I point at the updated stage 2, and can
>  I do so while still proceeding to fetch the install packages off the
>  network? 
You could just try the Fedora Unity respins.

josh

[Bill Crawford]

Sure, I was just looking for a way to avoid downloading a DVD iso ...

On 23/01/2008, Josh Boyer <jwboyer(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:
>  On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:24:32 +0000
>  "Bill Crawford" <billcrawford1970(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:
>
>  > I successfully installed F8 at home, but I've been unable to get the
>  > installer to run on my Aspire here at work. It fails due a problem
>  > with the sata_sis driver, which is fixed in the latest F7 kernel
>  > update so I assume the current F8 kernel is fine too. Is it possible
>  > to simply boot from a different kernel (and update the modules in the
>  > initrd, of course) and run the installer? Or, if I need to update the
>  > stage 2 image as well, how do I point at the updated stage 2, and can
>  > I do so while still proceeding to fetch the install packages off the
>  > network?
>
>  You could just try the Fedora Unity respins.
>
>  josh
>
>  --
>  fedora-devel-list mailing list
>  fedora-devel-list(a)redhat.com
>  https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
>

[Lubomir Kundrak]

On Wed, 2008-01-23 at 12:46 +0000, Bill Crawford wrote:
>  Sure, I was just looking for a way to avoid downloading a DVD iso ...
I thought Fedora Unity provides jigdo templates, at last it used to. You
can use packages from your existing Fedora DVD then, and just let jigdo
download the updated packages.

>  On 23/01/2008, Josh Boyer <jwboyer(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:
>  > On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:24:32 +0000
>  > "Bill Crawford" <billcrawford1970(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:
>  >
>  > > I successfully installed F8 at home, but I've been unable to get the
>  > > installer to run on my Aspire here at work. It fails due a problem
>  > > with the sata_sis driver, which is fixed in the latest F7 kernel
>  > > update so I assume the current F8 kernel is fine too. Is it possible
>  > > to simply boot from a different kernel (and update the modules in the
>  > > initrd, of course) and run the installer? Or, if I need to update the
>  > > stage 2 image as well, how do I point at the updated stage 2, and can
>  > > I do so while still proceeding to fetch the install packages off the
>  > > network?
>  >
>  > You could just try the Fedora Unity respins.
>  >
>  > josh
>  >
>  > --
>  > fedora-devel-list mailing list
>  > fedora-devel-list(a)redhat.com
>  > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
>  >
>   
-- 
Lubomir Kundrak (Red Hat Security Response Team)

[David]

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Bill Crawford wrote:
| Sure, I was just looking for a way to avoid downloading a DVD iso ...


You don't have to. The Fedora Unity respins are jigdo. They take the
packages from your original Fedora 8 DVD that have not changed, download
the updates, and then makes you a new iso with those combined. Then you
burn your new DVD.

You only download the updates. Which you would have to do after the
install anyway.

- --


~  David
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[Bill Crawford]

On 23/01/2008, David Boles <dgboles(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

>  You don't have to. The Fedora Unity respins are jigdo. They take
> the
>  packages from your original Fedora 8 DVD that have not changed, download
>  the updates, and then makes you a new iso with those combined. Then you
>  burn your new DVD. 
That was the point, I didn't have a DVD, and wanted to do a minimal
base install, then add the updates repo, and yum groupinstall the
desktop and development tools (much less to download than the full
DVD).

>  You only download the updates. Which you would have to do after the
>  install anyway. 
On the plus side, I had Everything plus the updates mirrored at home,
so I did the jigdo dance last night and created an image. All bar 71
packages were found, I take it the others are superceded by newer
updates ...

Now, when I came to burn the DVD tonight, I had great fun. k3b (and by
implication growisofs) have terrible trouble finishing a burn, and
when they do it's quite slow. On the other hand xcdroast managed to
burn the whole thing at 4x ...

Thanks for the help guys, I have all I need now. Shame I couldn't get
the boot disk to work :-)

[Andrew Farris]

Bill Crawford wrote:
>  I successfully installed F8 at home, but I've been unable to get
> the
>  installer to run on my Aspire here at work. It fails due a problem
>  with the sata_sis driver, which is fixed in the latest F7 kernel
>  update so I assume the current F8 kernel is fine too. Is it possible
>  to simply boot from a different kernel (and update the modules in the
>  initrd, of course) and run the installer? Or, if I need to update the
>  stage 2 image as well, how do I point at the updated stage 2, and can
>  I do so while still proceeding to fetch the install packages off the
>  network?
>   
I've never tried, but I suppose it might be possible to boot a F9 devel 
boot.iso, and try a network install, but point it at an F8 repo to fetch the 
stage2.img and packages.

-- 
Andrew Farris <lordmorgul(a)gmail.com&gt; <ajfarris(a)gmail.com&gt;
  gpg 0xC99B1DF3 fingerprint CDEC 6FAD BA27 40DF 707E A2E0 F0F6 E622 C99B 1DF3
No one now has, and no one will ever again get, the big picture. - Daniel Geer
----                                                                       ----

[Lubomir Kundrak]

On Wed, 2008-01-23 at 04:54 -0800, Andrew Farris wrote:
>  Bill Crawford wrote:
>  > I successfully installed F8 at home, but I've been unable to get the
>  > installer to run on my Aspire here at work. It fails due a problem
>  > with the sata_sis driver, which is fixed in the latest F7 kernel
>  > update so I assume the current F8 kernel is fine too. Is it possible
>  > to simply boot from a different kernel (and update the modules in the
>  > initrd, of course) and run the installer? Or, if I need to update the
>  > stage 2 image as well, how do I point at the updated stage 2, and can
>  > I do so while still proceeding to fetch the install packages off the
>  > network?
>  > 
>  
>  I've never tried, but I suppose it might be possible to boot a F9 devel 
>  boot.iso, and try a network install, but point it at an F8 repo to fetch the 
>  stage2.img and packages. 
As far as I know, installer will complain that he stage2.img doesn't
match the currently booted version.

-- 
Lubomir Kundrak (Red Hat Security Response Team)

[Bill Crawford]

On 23/01/2008, Lubomir Kundrak <lkundrak(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:

>  As far as I know, installer will complain that he stage2.img
> doesn't
>  match the currently booted version. 
Ah. mm. ok. any way around this? What does it check for? .buildstamp?

[Jesse Keating]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:06:38 +0000
"Bill Crawford" <billcrawford1970(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

>  Ah. mm. ok. any way around this? What does it check for? .buildstamp?
The best way around it is to use rescue.iso instead.  Since rescue.iso
has stage2 on it, you can point it at any repo to do the install, like
your original F8 repo.

-- 
Jesse Keating
Fedora -- All my bits are free, are yours?

[Bill Crawford]

On 23/01/2008, Jesse Keating <jkeating(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:

>  The best way around it is to use rescue.iso instead.  Since
> rescue.iso
>  has stage2 on it, you can point it at any repo to do the install, like
>  your original F8 repo. 
Sounds good. I can't find a rescue.iso under development at the
moment, though, so I'm going with (in order) trying to use rawhide
vmlinuz + initrd.img (replacing .buildstamp with the one from F8); and
if that doesn't work, actually replacing the F8 install kernel with
the rawhide installer kernel and ditto the modules in the initrd ...

[Andrew Farris]

Bill Crawford wrote:
>  On 23/01/2008, Jesse Keating <jkeating(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
>  
> > The best way around it is to use rescue.iso instead.  Since rescue.iso
> > has stage2 on it, you can point it at any repo to do the install, like
> > your original F8 repo.
>  
>  Sounds good. I can't find a rescue.iso under development at the
>  moment, though, so I'm going with (in order) trying to use rawhide
>  vmlinuz + initrd.img (replacing .buildstamp with the one from F8); and
>  if that doesn't work, actually replacing the F8 install kernel with
>  the rawhide installer kernel and ditto the modules in the initrd ...
>   
Rescue isos for rawhide that Jesse posted to install from the F8 repo.

http://koji.fedoraproject.org/rel-eng/trees/

-- 
Andrew Farris <lordmorgul(a)gmail.com&gt; <ajfarris(a)gmail.com&gt;
  gpg 0xC99B1DF3 fingerprint CDEC 6FAD BA27 40DF 707E A2E0 F0F6 E622 C99B 1DF3
No one now has, and no one will ever again get, the big picture. - Daniel Geer
----                                                                       ----

[Chuck Anderson]

On Wed, Jan 23, 2008 at 02:30:56PM -0800, Andrew Farris wrote:
>  Bill Crawford wrote:
> > On 23/01/2008, Jesse Keating <jkeating(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
> >
> >> The best way around it is to use rescue.iso instead.  Since rescue.iso
> >> has stage2 on it, you can point it at any repo to do the install, like
> >> your original F8 repo.
> >
> > Sounds good. I can't find a rescue.iso under development at the
> > moment, though, so I'm going with (in order) trying to use rawhide
> > vmlinuz + initrd.img (replacing .buildstamp with the one from F8); and
> > if that doesn't work, actually replacing the F8 install kernel with
> > the rawhide installer kernel and ditto the modules in the initrd ...
> >
>
>  Rescue isos for rawhide that Jesse posted to install from the F8 repo.
>
>  http://koji.fedoraproject.org/rel-eng/trees/ 
I'd be *VERY* careful with those images due to this bug:

Bugzilla Bug 429782: "extents" flag appeared on ext3 filesystem, can't mount
filesystem

You don't want to accidentally mess up your ext3 filesystems and make 
them very hard to recover.

[Andrew Farris]

Chuck Anderson wrote:
>  On Wed, Jan 23, 2008 at 02:30:56PM -0800, Andrew Farris wrote:
> > Bill Crawford wrote:
> >> On 23/01/2008, Jesse Keating <jkeating(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
> >>
> >>> The best way around it is to use rescue.iso instead.  Since rescue.iso
> >>> has stage2 on it, you can point it at any repo to do the install, like
> >>> your original F8 repo.
> >> Sounds good. I can't find a rescue.iso under development at the
> >> moment, though, so I'm going with (in order) trying to use rawhide
> >> vmlinuz + initrd.img (replacing .buildstamp with the one from F8); and
> >> if that doesn't work, actually replacing the F8 install kernel with
> >> the rawhide installer kernel and ditto the modules in the initrd ...
> >>
> > Rescue isos for rawhide that Jesse posted to install from the F8 repo.
> >
> > http://koji.fedoraproject.org/rel-eng/trees/
>  
>  I'd be *VERY* careful with those images due to this bug:
>  
>  Bugzilla Bug 429782: "extents" flag appeared on ext3 filesystem, can't
> mount filesystem
>  
>  You don't want to accidentally mess up your ext3 filesystems and make 
>  them very hard to recover. 
Good point, although If doing clean installs this bug doesn't bite you, 
shouldn't be a problem (as long as you're not sharing filesystems).
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=429782

But for Valent, maybe using those is a bad idea then (since he will be sharing 
filesystems).

-- 
Andrew Farris <lordmorgul(a)gmail.com&gt; <ajfarris(a)gmail.com&gt;
  gpg 0xC99B1DF3 fingerprint CDEC 6FAD BA27 40DF 707E A2E0 F0F6 E622 C99B 1DF3
No one now has, and no one will ever again get, the big picture. - Daniel Geer
----                                                                       ----

[Lubomir Kundrak]

On Wed, 2008-01-23 at 13:06 +0000, Bill Crawford wrote:
>  On 23/01/2008, Lubomir Kundrak <lkundrak(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
>  
>  > As far as I know, installer will complain that he stage2.img doesn't
>  > match the currently booted version.
>  
>  Ah. mm. ok. any way around this? What does it check for? .buildstamp? 
I do not know why was it so, but I assumed there was a good reason for
it.

If you don't want to use fedora unity respins, I'd suggest booting off
rawhide live, if you have it handy, and install by hand. There's little
work you have to do then, apart from yum --installroot installgroup;
probably just adjusting /etc/fstab, and setting up shadow passwords,
probably using authconfig.

-- 
Lubomir Kundrak (Red Hat Security Response Team)

[Bill Crawford]

On 23/01/2008, Andrew Farris <lordmorgul(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

>  I've never tried, but I suppose it might be possible to boot a F9
> devel
>  boot.iso, and try a network install, but point it at an F8 repo to fetch the
>  stage2.img and packages. 
That's the sort of thing I had in mind. Anyone tried this?