Package: debian-installer Version: Sarge netinst RC2 What I did: I created a LVM partition on hda6 with a root and a home partition inside. Because /boot is on the LVM, the installer defaults to LILO. I decided to install LILO into hda6 (in order to chainload it via another installation that uses grub).
The problem: The installation of LILO stops at 75% and keeps hanging at this point. This is really a problem, because there is no way to continue the installation without manual intervention on the console. The investigation: I changed to console #2 and started a shell. Using ps, I saw an idle lilo.real process. I killed it and the LILO installation failed with an error. I chrooted /target and executed lilo manually. Lilo complained that partition type 0x8E (LVM) "is a dangerous place" for the bootloader. It asked me whether it should proceed under this circumstances. I typed 'Y' and the installation finished without problem, and a reboot showed that LILO was working fine. The diagnosis: I suspected that d-i can't handle the interactive question that LILO asks. So I tried to replace all the invocations of lilo.real in the /sbin/lilo-script with something like yes|lilo.real, in order to say "yes" to every question lilo might ask. This time the installation process finished without problem. The solution: I think that there are two possibilities. First, if LILO is right that you should not install it into a LVM partition, then the installer has to warn the user that it's not possible to use this partition before lilo is executed. I took a look at the lilo source and it seems to show that lilo complains about every partition type, except 0x83 and minix. That's why I have the feeling that the second possibility applies: lilo's warning and proceed-question is wrong and should either be ignored by d-i or be disabled in the lilo-package. I would prefer to do both things: stop lilo complaining about partition types that are safe (and thus suppressing the interactive question) and fix d-i in a way that it can handle all questions that lilo might ask (a thorough inspection of the lilo source would be a good idea). -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
