Hi all,

I just thought I'd mention that I found an irritating bug in the
Slackware installer that stops it from beginning the install with no
explanation as to what the problem is. With careful timing on the
scroll lock key I was able to glean the following errors:

/var/log/setup/tmp/tmpscript: cannot create /var/log/setup/tmp/series: Is a directory
rm: /var/log/setup/tmp/series: is a directory

A quick "rm -rf /var/log/setup/tmp/series" was enough to get the
installer going again, so perhaps it would be a good idea to change that
"rm" command to "rm -rf" instead, so it can remove either a file or a
directory and let the installer continue?

On another note, how on earth do you install from a "pre mounted
directory"? I couldn't for the life of me get this going (I was trying
to do the install without having to burn some CDs and install a CD drive
in the computer I'm installing Slackware onto.) If I put in the
directory that contained the contents of the Slackware ISO it asked me
for the packages to install and then the entire install only took about
two seconds with of course nothing actually being installed. Various
other directories (such as isoroot/slackware) just booted me back to the
main menu with no explanation as to what went wrong so I can only assume
the isoroot directory was the correct one to enter in.) If I copied
both disc1 and disc2 into that directory, the installer kept asking me
to put in the next disc...!

I also tried using loopback devices so that I could e.g. "losetup
/dev/loop0 disc1.iso" and then tell the installer that the CD drive was
not /dev/hdc but /dev/loop0 and this worked until it asked me to insert
the second CD. I tried "losetup -d /dev/loop0 ; losetup /dev/loop0
disc2.iso" but the installer refused to continue, it just kept running
"eject" and telling me to insert the second CD in an endless loop.

So it looks like there's still a few issues with the 10.2 installer if
you don't do things the "normal" way. For the moment I've got it
installing over NFS, but it would've been nice to be able to use the
"pre mounted directory" like I originally intended to.

Cheers,
Adam.

Adam Nielsen wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I just thought I'd mention that I found an irritating bug in the
> Slackware installer that stops it from beginning the install with no
> explanation as to what the problem is. With careful timing on the
> scroll lock key I was able to glean the following errors:
>
> /var/log/setup/tmp/tmpscript: cannot create /var/log/setup/tmp/series: Is a directory
> rm: /var/log/setup/tmp/series: is a directory
>
> A quick "rm -rf /var/log/setup/tmp/series" was enough to get the
> installer going again, so perhaps it would be a good idea to change that
> "rm" command to "rm -rf" instead, so it can remove either a file or a
> directory and let the installer continue?

That sounds really familiar. Either it is a bug in the installer or you
are overwriting what the installer has already written. Did you
perchance run setup twice?

> On another note, how on earth do you install from a "pre mounted
> directory"? I couldn't for the life of me get this going (I was trying
> to do the install without having to burn some CDs and install a CD drive
> in the computer I'm installing Slackware onto.) If I put in the
> directory that contained the contents of the Slackware ISO it asked me
> for the packages to install and then the entire install only took about
> two seconds with of course nothing actually being installed. Various
> other directories (such as isoroot/slackware) just booted me back to the
> main menu with no explanation as to what went wrong so I can only assume
> the isoroot directory was the correct one to enter in.) If I copied
> both disc1 and disc2 into that directory, the installer kept asking me
> to put in the next disc...!

The pre-mounted directory is meant to be the slackware one. Which
contains the following:
CHECKSUMS.md5
CHECKSUMS.md5.asc
FILE_LIST
MANIFEST.bz2
PACKAGES.TXT -> ../PACKAGES.TXT
README.TXT
a/
ap/
d/
e/
f/
k/
kde/
kdei/
l/
n/
t/
tcl/
x/
xap/
y/

> I also tried using loopback devices so that I could e.g. "losetup
> /dev/loop0 disc1.iso" and then tell the installer that the CD drive was
> not /dev/hdc but /dev/loop0 and this worked until it asked me to insert
> the second CD. I tried "losetup -d /dev/loop0 ; losetup /dev/loop0
> disc2.iso" but the installer refused to continue, it just kept running
> "eject" and telling me to insert the second CD in an endless loop.

Easy don't at first install the disksets from the second CD. unselect
them. Then later install them using pkgtool.

Ricahrd

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 17:15:08 +1000, Adam Nielsen <a.nielsen@optushome.com.rem.ove.au> wrote:

>On another note, how on earth do you install from a "pre mounted
>directory"? I couldn't for the life of me get this going (I was trying

Slackware install requires a little thought, as does running GNU/Linux...

>installing over NFS, but it would've been nice to be able to use the
>"pre mounted directory" like I originally intended to.

I've not had problems installing 10.2 from NFS or local directory, and
the issues you describe are easily overcome with a little thought.

Must try harder )

Grant.

> > A quick "rm -rf /var/log/setup/tmp/series" was enough
> That sounds really familiar. Either it is a bug in the installer or
> you are overwriting what the installer has already written. Did you
> perchance run setup twice?

Yep, this was probably the fifth time I ran the installer - but judging
by the error you're supposed to be able to do this, because changing
"rm" to "rm -rf" certainly works (and I did this from another console
without exiting the installer.)

> The pre-mounted directory is meant to be the slackware one. Which
> contains the following:
> a/
> ap/

Hmm, well in that case the installer seems to be broken. That was what
I originally thought and I just extracted both ISOs into the same
directory, but it wouldn't work. Of course I didn't reboot between each
attempt, I just tried entering in a different directory, but that
shouldn't have caused it to break...

> > I also tried using loopback devices
> Easy don't at first install the disksets from the second CD. unselect
> them. Then later install them using pkgtool.

Well yes that's true, but after four hours and your 15th run through the
installer you wish it warned you about that beforehand...

Cheers,
Adam.

> Slackware install requires a little thought, as does running
> GNU/Linux...

Well having first installed Slackware about four years ago and
completely ditching Windows three years ago, I'd like to think I could
master something as simple as an install by now...

> I've not had problems installing 10.2 from NFS or local directory, and
> the issues you describe are easily overcome with a little thought.
> Must try harder )

Okay, well this is how hard I tried, please let me know if it's not hard
enough:

1. Decide to skip burning Slackware CDs, as Linux is supposed to be
versatile and this shouldn't be a problem.

2. Decide that an external USB hard drive ought to be faster than a CD
anyway, copy ISOs onto drive.

3. Compile custom kernel for the installation, as I assume none of the
installation kernels support USB drives.

4. Boot the new kernel and the Slackware installation's initrd.img over
the network via PXE, as the machine has no floppy drive.

5. Mount the external USB disk and mount the ISOs via loopback.

6. Realise that I've compiled ISO9660 as a module by accident, have to
go recompile it into the kernel and reboot.

7. Try to mount the images again. Disk 1 fails with an unknown
filesystem error.

8. Hunt through kernel config to see what I've forgotten. Can't find
anything.

9. Mount the ISOs on my main PC and copy the contents over to the USB
disk instead.

10. Run the installer, pick local installation, put in the same patch as
posted by Richard earlier.

11. Installer shows me a list of packages, I deselect the ones I don't
want and proceed.

12. I'm told to "Insert disc 2"

13. Wondering what went wrong, I try a few other directories. None
work, only the one posted above gives me the full list of package
sets to install and then asks for disc 2.

14. Thinking that each disc may have a marker on it, which I overwrote
when I extracted CD2 over the top of CD1, I go back to my main PC
and extract each ISO into its own directory.

15. Back in the installer I try again using just the directory for disc
1.

16. Install finishes in three seconds.

17. Wondering what went wrong, I try a few other directories. None
work, only the same one I've been using all along gives me the list
of package sets to install.
18. Try it again, install still finishes in under three seconds.

19. Getting annoyed, I try a different approach. I try mounting the
ISOs as loopback devices.

20. Installer complains it can't find the CD, I remember this was
because I couldn't mount the ISOs. Try to figure out why.

21. Half an hour later it turns out the ISO for CD1 was corrupted
somehow when it was copied across to the USB disk. All other files
are fine, just the disk1 ISO. I copy it again, this time it works.

22. Able to mount each ISO as a loopback device, I try installing from
CD using /dev/loop0 as the custom CD device.

23. Rejoyce, as it's finally installing.

24. 20min later I'm asked to insert disc 2, as expected.

25. I delete /dev/loop0 from the CD1 ISO and attach it to the CD2 ISO.

26. Insert disc 2.

27. Check that I can mount /dev/loop0 and that it is in fact the second
CD. It is.

28. Insert disc 2.

29. Holding down the enter key, I see that an 'eject' command is running
a lot. Testing what happens when I eject /dev/loop0 on my main PC
and finding I get an error, I replace /bin/eject with a script that
returns a success code just in case the failure to eject is
confusing the installer.

30. Insert disc 2.

31. Get really annoyed, given that I expected the installation to take
about 20 minutes like the last two dozen or so installations I've
done.

32. Resort to installing over the network.

33. Mount the ISOs on my main PC, export them via NFS and mount them on
the client successfully.

34. Installer wants me to enter IP address and everything again even
though I just mounted it successfully.

35. Type everything in, then do it all again because in my frustration I
made a typo in the export path and it couldn't mount the NFS folder.

36. Go through the normal install, then when I'm just ready to go I get
pushed back to the main menu.

37. Try again, get pushed back to the main menu.

38. Just notice a message coming up on the bottom of the screen, after
three minutes trying to hit Scroll Lock at the crucial point,
finally get it and copy the message down.

39. Wonder why it's trying to "rm" a directory, go into another console
and "rm -rf" it.

40. Installation works, a sigh of relief is breathed.

41. Post a frustrated message to newsgroup detailing efforts, in the
hope that 1) it will make me feel better and 2) it may get at least
one thing fixed so someone else doesn't have to go through all this
again.

42. Told I should try harder.

Well, that about sums it up ;-)

Cheers,
Adam.

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 22:24:57 +1000, Adam Nielsen <a.nielsen@shikadi.rem.ove.net> wrote:

>
>Well, that about sums it up ;-)

Must be time to read the fine manual, trying harder does not mean
playing (running prior to walking) with the thing during install :-)

One thing I noticed early (me newbie, slack-9.1 onwards) was the
slack installer is unforgiving, so I start over when I goof up,
this means formatting partition holding /var to get a clean start.

One of slackware's delightful installer quirks...

Easily worked around? For difficult installs, you can transfer
the install files to the target machine and install from local
hard drive.

Recently somebody posted a method of booting the installer from
its own partition, this one I tried and really like 'cos my firewall
box doesn't boot CDs. See aols headers with syslinux in subject.

Grant.

> Must be time to read the fine manual, trying harder does not mean
> playing (running prior to walking) with the thing during install :-)

But that's half the fun! Plus, there is actually no fine manual - I did
quickly Google to see what path you're supposed to use to install from a
pre-mounted directory, but nothing showed up. Anyway, for some reason
about 75% of the stuff I need to look up nobody has ever done before, so
I'm just used to experimenting to figure things out on my own - usually
it's half the fun (until it gets tedious...)

> One thing I noticed early (me newbie, slack-9.1 onwards) was the slack
> installer is unforgiving, so I start over when I goof up, this means
> formatting partition holding /var to get a clean start.

That's true, but unfortunately it takes about 4-5 minutes to get to the
point where you're ready to install - it'll only take 12 attempts before
you've wasted an hour, and I'm too impatient for that.

> Easily worked around? For difficult installs, you can transfer the
> install files to the target machine and install from local hard drive.

I'm a little reluctant to do that, since then I've got an extra
partition laying around...although I suppose I could format the drive
first and copy the installer onto the destination partition. Still,
where's the fun in doing things the traditional way? Something I did
find quite impressive though was when selecting a destination
partition - the installer was quite happy to install Slackware onto the
external USB drive for me...you wouldn't find Windows doing that ;-)

> Recently somebody posted a method of booting the installer from its
> own partition, this one I tried and really like 'cos my firewall box
> doesn't boot CDs. See aols headers with syslinux in subject.

That's not a bad idea, but of course then you've got a lot more set up
than something like installing over the network. I guess it just
depends on what you're more comfortable with. I've done so many
Slackware installs now I've got to the point where it's more interesting
to try a different way each time - it just seems that by fluke I've
chosen all the ways that worked in the past but this time I hit all the
ones that are a bit more temperamental...

Cheers,
Adam.

Grant wrote:

> Recently somebody posted a method of booting the installer from
> its own partition, this one I tried and really like 'cos my
> firewall box doesn't boot CDs.

Track down sbootmgr.dsk from the Slackware bootdisks directory and
make a boot floppy. sbootmgr lets you boot from the Slack CD (or
any other bootable CD for that matter) if your BIOS is too old or
stupid to boot from CD. If it works on my steam-powered 486, it
should work on your computer.