Hi, > Am 19. Juli 2024 20:54:24 MESZ schrieb Diederik de Haas > <didi.deb...@cknow.org>: > >In bug #1076582 it was pointed out that the documentation at > >https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/apcs05.en.html > > > >has the following line: > >"create a small (25–50MB should suffice) partition at the beginning > >of the disk to be used as the boot partition" > > > >Earlier in that bug and also in #1076539 (which likely is the same > >issue) I made the argument that 512MB (the current d-i default) for the > >``/boot`` partition is already problematic. > > > >https://bugs.debian.org/960181#15 contains the following line: > > > >> There may be a bug here, in that the /boot partition was too small. > >> That has been fixed in the installer, but unfortunately we don't have > >> a general way to grow the partition on installed systems. > > > >And there have been other reports that the kernel is getting too big. > > > >Plymouth is installed by default and that includes the GPU modules and > >the firmware for it. And the firmware files have been getting bigger > >too, especially for nvidia where they just added firmware files which > >are respectively 23MB and 38MB in size ... (sigh) > > > >So the recommendation of a 25-50MB ``/boot`` partition is BAD. > >REALLY BAD as "we don't have a general way to grow the partition > >on installed systems." > > > >But then I read a bit further on the above referenced page and found the > >following: > > > >- - "If you have a large IDE disk" > >- - "This restriction doesn't apply if you have a BIOS newer than around > >1995–98" > >- - Seeing the word "cylinder" all over the place ... > >- - "CHS translation mode (“Large”)" = Cylinder/Head/Sector I presume? > > > >At that point I fell off my chair :-O > > > >Or as I phrased it in https://bugs.debian.org/1076582#27 : > >"Maybe that document should be updated for this CENTURY?"
I have prepared a patch, to update the installation-guide (attached), mostly a removal of outdated / no longer needed information. Holger -- Holger Wansing <hwans...@mailbox.org> PGP-Fingerprint: 496A C6E8 1442 4B34 8508 3529 59F1 87CA 156E B076
diff --git a/en/partitioning/partition/x86.xml b/en/partitioning/partition/x86.xml index fd8d9aa3e..6c6ed629f 100644 --- a/en/partitioning/partition/x86.xml +++ b/en/partitioning/partition/x86.xml @@ -30,85 +30,25 @@ need to resize its partition to free up space for the &debian; installation. The installer supports resizing of both FAT and NTFS filesystems; when you get to the installer's partitioning step, select the option <guimenuitem>Manual</guimenuitem> and then simply select an existing partition and change its size. </para><para> While modern UEFI systems don't have such limitations as listed below, the old PC BIOS generally adds additional constraints for disk partitioning. There is a limit to how many <quote>primary</quote> and -<quote>logical</quote> partitions a drive can contain. Additionally, with pre -1994–98 BIOSes, there are limits to where on the drive the BIOS can boot -from. More information can be found in the -<ulink url="&url-partition-howto;">Linux Partition HOWTO</ulink>, but -this section will include a brief overview to help you plan most situations. +<quote>logical</quote> partitions a drive can contain. </para><para> <quote>Primary</quote> partitions are the original partitioning scheme for PC disks. However, there can only be four of them. To get past this limitation, <quote>extended</quote> and <quote>logical</quote> partitions were invented. By setting one of your primary partitions as an extended partition, you can subdivide all the space allocated to that partition into logical partitions. You can create up to 60 logical partitions per extended partition; however, you can only have one extended partition per drive. -</para><para arch="linux-any"> - -Linux limits the partitions per drive to 255 partitions for SCSI disks -(3 usable primary partitions, 252 logical partitions), and 63 -partitions on an IDE drive (3 usable primary partitions, 60 logical -partitions). However the normal &debian-gnu; system provides -only 20 devices for partitions, so you may not install on partitions -higher than 20 unless you first manually create devices for those -partitions. - -</para><para> - -If you have a large IDE disk, and are using neither LBA addressing, -nor overlay drivers (sometimes provided by hard disk manufacturers), -then the boot partition (the partition containing your kernel image) -must be placed within the first 1024 cylinders of your hard drive -(usually around 524 megabytes, without BIOS translation). - -</para><para> - -This restriction doesn't apply if you have a BIOS newer than around -1995–98 (depending on the manufacturer) that supports the <quote>Enhanced -Disk Drive Support Specification</quote>. -&debian;'s Lilo alternative <command>mbr</command> must use the BIOS to read the -kernel from the disk into RAM. If the BIOS int 0x13 large disk access -extensions are found to be present, they will be utilized. Otherwise, -the legacy disk access interface is used as a fall-back, and it cannot -be used to address any location on the disk higher than the 1023rd -cylinder. Once &arch-kernel; is booted, no matter what BIOS your computer -has, these restrictions no longer apply, since &arch-kernel; does not use the -BIOS for disk access. - -</para><para> - -If you have a large disk, you might have to use cylinder translation -techniques, which you can set from your BIOS setup program, such as -LBA (Logical Block Addressing) or CHS translation mode (<quote>Large</quote>). -More information about issues with large disks can be found in the -<ulink url="&url-large-disk-howto;">Large Disk HOWTO</ulink>. If you -are using a cylinder translation scheme, and the BIOS does not support -the large disk access extensions, then your boot partition has to fit -within the <emphasis>translated</emphasis> representation of the -1024th cylinder. - -</para><para> - -The recommended way of accomplishing this is to create a small (25–50MB -should suffice) partition at the beginning of the disk to be used as -the boot partition, and then create whatever other partitions you wish -to have, in the remaining area. This boot partition -<emphasis>must</emphasis> be mounted on <filename>/boot</filename>, -since that is the directory where the &arch-kernel; kernel(s) will be stored. -This configuration will work on any system, regardless of whether LBA -or large disk CHS translation is used, and regardless of whether your -BIOS supports the large disk access extensions. - </para> </sect2>
