From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with archive (Exim 4.43) id 1JMBvn-0005Sn-Se for mharc-grub-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:44:59 -0500 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1JMBvm-0005SE-5l for grub-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:44:58 -0500 Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1JMBvl-0005Rn-CP for grub-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:44:57 -0500 Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1JMBvl-0005Ri-4z for grub-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:44:57 -0500 Received: from main.gmane.org ([80.91.229.2] helo=ciao.gmane.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1JMBvl-0003Gs-2i for grub-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:44:57 -0500 Received: from list by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1JMBva-0000dG-SM for grub-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:44:46 +0000 Received: from crypt.ethx.net ([82.165.27.140]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:44:46 +0000 Received: from sam by crypt.ethx.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:44:46 +0000 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: grub-devel@gnu.org From: Sam Morris Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 00:44:38 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: References: <1202161005.7223.38.camel@xerces> <20080204224338.GC28299@thorin> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: crypt.ethx.net User-Agent: Pan/0.132 (Waxed in Black) Sender: news X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) Subject: Re: grub2 and Linux software RAID devices X-BeenThere: grub-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: The development of GRUB 2 List-Id: The development of GRUB 2 List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:44:58 -0000 On Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:43:38 +0100, Robert Millan wrote: > On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 09:36:45PM +0000, Sam Morris wrote: >> Hi there, >> >> A while ago, I tried grub2 on my Debian system, which has my root >> filesystem on a Linux software RAID-1 array. I ran into some problems, >> and while they were raised here, nothing really came of them. Robert >> Millan suggested I post my problem again to see if anything can be done >> to fix it. >> >> I think my problems stem from the Promise IDE controller that my second >> disk is connected to. It does not support 48-bit LBA addressing, and so >> any attempt to read the end of the disk using BIOS calls will fail. Of >> course, once an operating system has loaded its own driver for the >> controller, the disk can be read correctly. >> >> Here's what the two disks look like: >> >> Model: Maxtor 6L300R0 (ide) >> Disk /dev/hdb: 300GB >> Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: >> msdos >> >> Number Start End Size Type File system Flags >> 1 32.3kB 543MB 543MB primary >> 2 543MB 300GB 300GB primary ext3 raid >> >> The first partition is swap, the second is the root filesystem. >> >> The first problem is the operation of the grub-probe partition. >> Debian's post-install script runs the following command to determine >> which modules to include in the generated core.img file: >> >> grub-probe --target=partmap --device-map=/boot/grub/device.map >> /boot/grub >> >> Which fails with the error: >> >> grub-probe: error: Cannot detect partition map for md0 >> >> It appears that grub-probe expects to find a partition table inside the >> RAID device, when of course, it is really in its containing device, >> /dev/hdb. > > This is a known problem, and I roughly have a solution in mind, but I > haven't been able to reproduce it. When I try to install Debian with > /boot inside an LVM, the installer hangs. This option doesn't seem to > be supported at all. Ouch... I have never tried /boot on LVM myself (since grub legacy can't handle it). However /boot on RAID works fine, I suggest you try that instead. > > Furthermore, how do you boot that system with GRUB Legacy? As far as grub1 is concerned, /dev/hdb2 is a normal partition containing an ext3 filesystem. > If you give me some details on how to reproduce the scheme in which > /boot is behind a lvm/raid abstraction, I could try to get this fixed. It's pretty simple, assuming you are using d-i. When partitioning, configure two disks with identical partition layouts (a single partition on each is sufficient). Then, tell partman that you want to use them as 'physical volumes for RAID'. A new option should appear, 'configure RAID' (or something similar). Here you can create a RAID1 array using both the partitions, which you can use as an ext3 filesystem, mounted at /. >> Debian's post-install script has actually been written to substitute >> 'pc gpt' if the partmap probing fails, > > Actually, this was reverted a while ago. > >> manually. However, I now hit the second problem: the menu that grub >> presents has no text! It seems to have an entry, however, as there is a >> highlighted line. > > Which version did you try? Is it more recent than 1.96 ? We fixed bugs > producing this result recently. Damn, I installed the version from testing by mistake. I will try again with version 1.96+20080203-1. >> Jeroen Dekkers previously suggested a patch to suppress the 'out of >> disk' error, at >> but no >> one ever committed it. > > Ah, I see. The patch looks correct to me; only the description you > gave before isn't. Hmm, I don't understand the difference between your changelog entry and my description, but ok. :) -- Sam Morris http://robots.org.uk/ PGP key id 1024D/5EA01078 3412 EA18 1277 354B 991B C869 B219 7FDB 5EA0 1078