Re: Planning for 12.7/11.11

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, Jun 20, 2024 at 10:35:35PM +0100, Jonathan Wiltshire wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> A finally-final point release is required for bullseye, and we're a bit
> constrained on dates. The security team (CC) wish to cease security support
> from Wednesday 14th August and hand over to LTS as soon as a wash-up release
> can be organised.
> 
> The weekend of 24th August is unworkable. That leaves two options:
> 
>  - Saturday 17th August: this would mean freezing on the 10th, before
>security support ends, so the security team's cooperation in keeping
>non-critical DSAs off the table during the freeze period would be
>required
> 
>  - Saturday 31st August: it's later than ideal, leaving a gap before LTS
>starts work, but that may be unavoidable.
> 

Should be able to do either of these.

> Most likely this will need to be a double release again to avoid version
> and cadence skew for bookworm.
> 

Good for consistency - boo for double amounts of work :(

> Please could you indicate your availability for these dates as soon as
> possible.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
All best, as ever,

Andy
(amaca...@debian.org)
> -- 
> Jonathan Wiltshire  j...@debian.org
> Debian Developer http://people.debian.org/~jmw
> 
> 4096R: 0xD3524C51 / 0A55 B7C5 1223 3942 86EC  74C3 5394 479D D352 4C51
> ed25519/0x196418AAEB74C8A1: CA619D65A72A7BADFC96D280196418AAEB74C8A1
> 

Re: Planning for 12.6/11.10

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, May 27, 2024 at 01:07:17PM +0100, Jonathan Wiltshire wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The final bullseye point release 11.10 (and therefore also 12.6 for
> versioning) should be soon after 10th June, when security team support
> will end.
> 
> Please indicate availability for:
> 
>   Saturday 15th June
>   Saturday 22nd June
>   Saturday 29th June
> 

I should be able to do any of these three at the moment.

Andy Cater
[amaca...@debian.org]

> Thanks,
> 
> -- 
> Jonathan Wiltshire  j...@debian.org
> Debian Developer http://people.debian.org/~jmw
> 
> 4096R: 0xD3524C51 / 0A55 B7C5 1223 3942 86EC  74C3 5394 479D D352 4C51
> ed25519/0x196418AAEB74C8A1: CA619D65A72A7BADFC96D280196418AAEB74C8A1
> 

Re: Re-planning for 12.6

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Apr 20, 2024 at 05:41:13PM +0100, Jonathan Wiltshire wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 18, 2024 at 10:58:41PM +0100, Steve McIntyre wrote:
> > Hiya!
> > 
> > Not wanting to pester *too* much, but where are we up to?
> > 
> 
> Right now I can still have 27th April on the cards but we're missing FTP and
> press. It's next week, we'd have to know this weekend and get frozen.
> Mark indicated "maybe" and no answer from press.
> 
> If that date works please reply urgently otherwise we're looking into May
> and possibly just skipping to line up with the final bullseye anyway.
> 

Works for me: it's possible I won't get across to Cambridge but help with image 
release here 

Andy

amaca...@debian.org
> 
> -- 
> Jonathan Wiltshire  j...@debian.org
> Debian Developer http://people.debian.org/~jmw
> 
> 4096R: 0xD3524C51 / 0A55 B7C5 1223 3942 86EC  74C3 5394 479D D352 4C51
> ed25519/0x196418AAEB74C8A1: CA619D65A72A7BADFC96D280196418AAEB74C8A1
> 

Re: Re-planning for 12.6

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Apr 01, 2024 at 01:07:27PM +0100, Adam D. Barratt wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> As we had to postpone 12.6, let's look at alternative dates.
> 

Can do all, I think,

Andy
(amaca...@debian.org)
> 
> Adam
> 

Re: Planning for 12.6

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Feb 12, 2024 at 06:04:17PM +, Jonathan Wiltshire wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> 12.6 should be around 10th April, so please indicate availability for:
> 
> 7  April
> 13 April
> 20 April
> 
> Thanks,
> 

Should be available for all these

Andy

> -- 
> Jonathan Wiltshire  j...@debian.org
> Debian Developer http://people.debian.org/~jmw
> 
> 4096R: 0xD3524C51 / 0A55 B7C5 1223 3942 86EC  74C3 5394 479D D352 4C51
> ed25519/0x196418AAEB74C8A1: CA619D65A72A7BADFC96D280196418AAEB74C8A1
> 

Re: Debian installation wifi card not being detected

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Feb 11, 2024 at 11:20:43AM +0100, Pascal Hambourg wrote:
> On 10/02/2024 at 20:06, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> > 
> > It may also be possible to tether via a cable to a mobile phone and do the
> >   netinst install that way.
> 
> Right, sorry for not mentioning it in my previous reply.
> 
> The OP mentioned in debian-user that they have an iOS (Apple) device. The
> package ipheth-utils provides a tethering driver for the iPhone (and
> possibly other iOS devices). I do not know whether it is required, but it is
> not available in the Debian installer environment. I did not find it in
> Debian live package lists 
> (https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/*.packages)
> either.
> 

I wouldn't expect there to be much in debian-live for Apple, no.

I'd always recommend netinst but this is one of the times when it just
won't work, obviously. For common wifi cards with loadable firmware -
it may well work. Broadcom, no.

The DVD-1 image at 
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/debian-12.5.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso
 has the installer on it, so that might well
be a candidate to try.

If you do install from DVD-1 and have no network at the time when you
install, you may need to fix up /etc/apt/sources.list afterwards :)

> > With my debian-user mailing list hat on: please post to one list primarily
> > and don't cross-post between lists unless invited to. Thanks :)
> 
> When in doubt, true cross-post to a couple of lists seems acceptable to me
> (so that replies can be cross-posted too), but it looks like the OP actually
> sent multiple independent posts.
>

Yes, I was possibly a bit grumpy here: apologies 

All the very best,

Andy
(amaca...@debian.org)

Re: Debian installation wifi card not being detected

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Feb 10, 2024 at 07:29:22PM +0100, Pascal Hambourg wrote:
> On 10/02/2024 at 12:48, Exeonz wrote:
> > I'm trying to install debian bookworm
> > 12.4 on MacbookAir7,2 that doesn't have an ethernet port and the installer
> > doesn't recognize it's wifi card and what drivers it needs for the card to
> > work. From searching the web I found that it uses Broadcom BCM 4360
> > wireless network adapter and requires broadcom-sda-dkms firmware drivers to
> > function. The installer doesn't detect the wifi card and none of the
> > drivers from the select list work and when I use 2nd bootable USB formatted
> > as FAT32 with broadcom-sda-dkms firmware drivers saved to root and firmware
> > folder it doesn't accept drivers and gives out error "ethernet card not
> > found"
> 
> broadcom-sta-dkms contains neither binary drivers (kernel module) nor
> firmware but only source files to build the kernel module (wl). Debian does
> not provide this driver as a binary module. Building a kernel module
> requires kernel headers, gcc, make... neither of which are available in the
> Debian installer environment.
> 
> > Could you please shed some light on how I can possibly install debian on
> > this macbook air.
> 
> Get a supported USB network adapter (about any USB-ethernet adapter should
> be) or do an offline installation from a DVD, Blu-ray or 16G installation
> image. Once you have a running system, you can install broadcom-sta-dkms and
> other required packages and build the wl kernel module.
>

It may also be possible to tether via a cable to a mobile phone and do the
 netinst install that way.

The offline DVD method will work well: install the build-essential package.

Unfortunately, this is one area where opinions differ between distributions and
so Ubuntu may have built the appropriate modules for you.

Broadcom has been particularly difficult with Wifi chipsets in the past:
 unfortunately, this is unlikely to change.

With my debian-user mailing list hat on: please post to one list primarily
and don't cross-post between lists unless invited to. Thanks :)

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy
(amaca...@debian.org)

Re: install isos with 6.1.0-16

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Jan 01, 2024 at 08:33:40PM +0100, Zargos wrote:
> Hi Steve,
> 
> Le 01/01/2024 à 15:10, Steve McIntyre a écrit :
> > Hi!
> > 
> > On Mon, Jan 01, 2024 at 12:32:41PM +0100, Zargos wrote:
> > > Sorry if i'm not on the right list address (i'd like to know which is the
> > > good one).
> > > 
> > > When will the install ISO will use 6.1.0-16 kernel? as when creating
> > > unofficial ISO all actual process use 6.1.0-15 kernel. Because of this,
> > > install failed with error because the version difference.
> > > 
> > > This is what happen with simple-cdd/debian-cd use to generate ISOs.
> > > 
> > > or maybe there is a trick to know to avoid the generation using 6.1.0-16
> > > udebs?
> > 6.1.0-16 isn't in stable yet, only in stable-updates. If you're using
> > simple-cdd, I'm guessing it (or your config) is trying to include
> > stable-updates too and that is the cause of your problem.
> 
> yes and now it is with 6.1.0-17 and still no update of installers :)
> 
> > 
> > As to how to do that, check the docs for simple-cdd. I can't help much
> > with that, as I've never used it.
> 
> Have to make some research to workaround the issue :) thanks
> 
> regards
>

Just as a datum point: I've just installed a machine using the 12.4.0 netinst
iso which has 6.1.0-15: assuming network connectivity, 6.1.0-17 will be 
installed if you choose to install linux-image-amd64, for example.

This is the general case: assuming that the netinst will boot, you will
get the opportunity to bring the system up to date within the install.

I suspect we won't get a complete set of install media prior to February 
2024 when 12.5 is anticipated.

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy
(amaca...@debian.org) 

Re: Planning for 12.5/11.9

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 09:25:06PM +, Jonathan Wiltshire wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> It's time to set a date for 12.5 (taking account of the emergency .4) and
> 11.9. I expect this to be the penultimate update for bullseye before LTS.
> 
> Please indicate availability for:
> 
>   Saturday  3rd February (preferred for cadence)

For those going, this is FOSDEM weekend, I think.

>   Saturday 10th February
>   Saturday 17th February

Can do either of these but will be dependent on Steve and RattusRattus for
moral support.

Thanks,

Andy
(amaca...@debian.org)

> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -- 
> Jonathan Wiltshire  j...@debian.org
> Debian Developer http://people.debian.org/~jmw
> 
> 4096R: 0xD3524C51 / 0A55 B7C5 1223 3942 86EC  74C3 5394 479D D352 4C51
> ed25519/0x196418AAEB74C8A1: CA619D65A72A7BADFC96D280196418AAEB74C8A1
> 

Re: Debian

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Oct 22, 2023 at 03:25:06PM +, rg738 wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I want to install Debian on my ASUS (Windows System 32) laptop. Could you 
> please provide me with a link for the download and the information how to 
> install it?
> 

This is probably a better question to ask on the debian-user mailing list.

www.debian.org will give you download links for the .iso images and some
information on how to install it. You can also search the Debian wiki
at wiki.debian.org

I'm assuming that the laptop is capable of running 64 bit software - the
default netinst you download should work.

> Is Debian compatible with OpenOffice, Firefox, Adobe, Protonmail, and Yandex?
> 

Libreoffice rather than OpenOffice - yes. Firefox - yes. Adobe - various
programs to deal with PDF. Protonmail and Yandex run within the browser, I
think, so yes.

> My laptop has crashed and I want to get rid of MS and at the moment Windows 
> does not open at all.
> 
> Can I download Debian on another laptop on a USB or DVD and then start it on 
> my laptop without Windows functioning? I can access command prompt.
> 

Yes: I'd suggest Balena Etcher perhaps for an easy write under Windows that
is new-user friendly / Rufus in dd mode.

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater
> Thank you.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Richard
> 
> Sent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/) secure email.

Re: Bug#1052545: os-prober in initramfs gets repeatedly disabled

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Sep 24, 2023 at 01:39:07PM +0200, Eduard Bloch wrote:
> Package: os-prober
> Version: 1.81
> Severity: normal
> 
> Something happened in the last months. Whenever I upgrade, it seems like
> the os-prober part is disabled. This is just PITA. I can use the usual:
> 
> dpkg-reconfigure -plow grub-efi-amd64
> 
> ... to turn it back on, and after an upgrade it's lost again. WHY?
> 
> Now I started seeing messages after installing a new kernel package:
> 

I think this changed with ?? debian 12.1 ?? due to a change in upstream
Grub - it's no longer enabled by default.
 
Check in /etc/default/grub - there's a line which has been commented out
saying 

#GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

Change that and reboot, perhaps? As ever, the change is noted in the
release notes, I think.

All the best,

Andy

> Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
> Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
> Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
> Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
> 
> Sorry, dear maintainer, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Which documentation? From
> which package? Why does this reset my settings?
> 
> Best regards,
> Eduard.
> 
> 
> -- System Information:
> Debian Release: trixie/sid
>   APT prefers unstable-debug
>   APT policy: (500, 'unstable-debug'), (500, 'oldoldstable'), (500, 
> 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (1, 'experimental-debug'), (1, 'experimental')
> Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
> Foreign Architectures: i386
> 
> Kernel: Linux 6.5.0 (SMP w/16 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
> Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not 
> set
> Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
> Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
> LSM: AppArmor: enabled
> 
> Versions of packages os-prober depends on:
> ii  grub-common  2.12~rc1-10
> ii  libc62.37-10
> ii  mount2.39.2-1
> 
> os-prober recommends no packages.
> 
> os-prober suggests no packages.
> 
> -- no debconf information
> 
> --
> * falky kann die Frauen einfach nicht verstehen
>  Die Frau, das unbekannte Wesen.
>  To boldy come where no man has come before?
> 

Bug#1040650: console-setup: transition from /etc/default/keyboard to /etc/vconsole.conf

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Jul 08, 2023 at 03:05:20PM +, snv5gh+elqseqrl4eotk@cs.email wrote:
> Package: console-setup
> Version: 1.221
> Severity: normal
> 
> Dear Maintainer,
> 
> Similarly to #1038798 please transition away from the debianism 
> /etc/default/keyboard to /etc/vconsole.conf which is used by many other 
> systems, and is systemd default. Thank you.
>

Both are present. Both contain similar information but one is tied to XKB.
It's quite possible that one will disappear as Wayland comes in for 
everything? 

Re: 12.1 planning

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Wed, Jun 28, 2023 at 08:21:54AM +0100, Jonathan Wiltshire wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The proper cadence for 11.8 and 12.2 is the weekend of 30th September 2023.
> Please indicate your availability for:
> 
> 23 Sep
> 30 Sep (preferred)
> 7 Oct
> 
> Thanks,
> 

Subject to willingness of others to accommodate me in Cambridge, I can do any 
of these dates (or participate remotely)

Andy C

> -- 
> Jonathan Wiltshire  j...@debian.org
> Debian Developer http://people.debian.org/~jmw
> 
> 4096R: 0xD3524C51 / 0A55 B7C5 1223 3942 86EC  74C3 5394 479D D352 4C51
> ed25519/0x196418AAEB74C8A1: CA619D65A72A7BADFC96D280196418AAEB74C8A1
> 

Re: Bug#1034041: Should firmware-amd-graphics be automatically installed? Check inbox

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, May 22, 2023 at 03:11:48PM -0700, Keith Proctor wrote:
> Yep unsubscribe was in subject.
> 
> > On May 22, 2023, at 2:45 PM, Geert Stappers  wrote:
> > 
> > Was 'unsubscribe' in the subject?
> 

https://www.debian.org/MailingLists/

Try

 debian-boot-requ...@lists.debian.org 

with a subject of unsubscribe

Here the capitalisation is important, I think.

Alternatively, there is a web page linked at which you can subscribe or
unsubscribe to multiple lists

https://www.debian.org/MailingLists/unsubscribe

Hope this helps - this is probably a question for Debian user

Re: Bug#1036038: debian-installer: Debian installer, graphical installer, live image, hang on Dell Inspiron 27

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, May 14, 2023 at 12:58:47AM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> Hi Ernesto,
> 
> Ernesto Alfonso  (2023-05-13):
> > I'm attempting to setup Debian on a Dell Inspiron All-in-One system,
> > either as dual boot or replacing the existing windows 10 OS.
> > 
> > The installer hangs after entering either the "graphical install",
> > "install" or "live" options from the initial menu. I used the latest
> > 64-bit installer: debian-11.7.0-amd64-netinst.iso, burned onto a USB
> > drive using the dd command:
> > 
> > sudo dd if=/debian-11.7.0-amd64-netinst.iso of=/dev/sda
> 

A couple more options may help: it's sometimes possible that you've extracted
the USB stick while files were still writing.

sudo dd if=/debian-11.7.0-amd64-netinst.iso of=/dev/sda bs=1M oflag=dsync 
status=progress

This forces a sync on each write to the usb so you don't lose data and also
gives you a brief status output on the size written.

> 
> Cheers,
> -- 
> Cyril Brulebois (k...@debian.org)
> D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Bug#1034117: (no subject)

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Apr 09, 2023 at 08:34:43PM +, Julian Groß wrote:
> Turns out that this is an “assumption” problem and not a bug.
> 
> I assumed that the default behaviour would be to set up sources.
> Turns out that the default behaviour of the installer is to *not* set up the
> sources, but only set up the installation media as a source.
> 
> Having the option for that seems sane, but shouldn't setting up network
> sources be the default selection?
> It seems to me that 99% of the time, people will want apt to be able to get
> packages from outside the installation media.

That does depend: if you set up from a DVD with no network, then that
may be the result. If you have a working network, then the installer
should offer you the option to include a network mirror.

All the very best, as ever,

Andy

Re: Installation Errors

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Mar 19, 2023 at 01:23:39PM -0400, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. wrote:
> Awesome, thanks!
> 
> How can we get those that make the mini disk or the other iso files to put
> in nmtui so that if a person that wants a text only installation as many
> blind users like have an easy way to connect without installing the GUI
> graphical desktop.
> 

nmtui and nmcli are both part of Network Manager which pulls in other
dependencies but it shouldn't be a problem in some sense. It might mean
adding Network Manager as part of Debian standard packages and the 
recent trend is to cut down on the number of Debian packages installed
to allow for smaller minimum machines, containers and VMs.

> Also it was promised that the installer would have an option to boot
> directly into text mode for those users who want this.
> 

*Which* installer? If you install using the debian-live media, then I think
all bets are off as far as accessibility goes for someone visually impaired -
though the Debian-live standard .iso is probably OK since it includes only
text mode programs. 

The text mode install is directly there in a Debian 
netinst as is the expert text mode install which asks all the questions
to include those at lower priority. I'd need to check - but I'm fairly
sure that the Bookworm installer coming up has a speech install option
and also a high contrast text mode install.

> No one answered my bug report about not being able to log in using my user
> account, so I will use "smartctl -t long" and see what is happening to my
> hard drive!
> 

Which bug report number, please?

> Thanks,
> 
> David
> 
> 

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy Cater

> > >
> > > One big thing to the Accessibility Community is that the base packages
> > > - that is just installing the base packages and standard utilities
> > > without Debian Desktop Environment and any other Desktop Environment
> > > like MATE, is that either nmcli or nmtui should be installed.  It's
> > > difficult for many including myself to remember how to get a WiFi
> > > connection up and running without such a program.
> > >
> > > Debian Accessibility mentioned that it was going to put in a request
> > > that there be a choice to boot into the CLI text mode, many blind
> > > users love the CLI because it's unambiguous.
> > >
> > > The instructions I was given was to do this in /var/log/
> > >
> > > tar -cf log.tar.bz2 ./hardware-summary lsb-release partman status syslog
> > >
> > > However none of the files except syslog are there, so I just include a
> > > pastebin link for syslog.
> > >
> > > syslog is here: https://pastebin.com/GzYARtRG
> > >
> > > What I have to do is log in as root giving the root password.  Then I
> > > can start X, I can also from the root prompt, enter "su myusername"
> > > and start X. I also from root prompt entered "passwd myusername" and
> > > entered my usename password.  I still cannot log in.
> > >
> > > Best regards,
> > > David Ring
> > >
> >

Re: Bug#1031923: d-i.debian.org: testing (bookworm): Unable to boot due to unsupported FEATURE_C12 in e2fsck

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Feb 25, 2023 at 12:46:39PM +0100, Enrique Garcia wrote:
> Package: d-i.debian.org
> Severity: grave
> Tags: d-i
> Justification: renders package unusable
> X-Debbugs-Cc: cqu...@arcor.de
> 
> I have installed Debian testing (bookworm) from one of the latest ISO images
> (https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/amd64/iso-cd/debian-testing-
> amd64-netinst.iso from 2023-02-21) and after an apparently succesfull
> installation the system cannot be booted.
> 
> The screen shows this message when trying to boot:
> 
> 
> 
> /dev/mapper/hostname--vg-root has unsupported feature(s): FEATURE_C12
> e2fsck: Get a newer version of e2fsck
> 
> /dev/mapper/hostname--vg-root: * WARNING: Filesystem still has errors
> **
> 
> fsck exited with status code 12
> The root filesystem on /dev/mapper/hostname--vg-root requires a manual fsck
> 
> 
> 
> And after that a BusyBox prompt is offered. I have tried several times the
> installation all of them with the same result. Installing Debian bullseye
> proceeded without errors in the same system.
>

This is a known issue - try using the Alpha 2 installer in which this issue is 
not present.

The e2fsprogs mismatch with grub is likely to be fixed by reverting problematic 
versions.

All the very best,

Andy Cater
  

Bug#1031594: os-prober is disabled by default in /etc/default/grub - Windows not found

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Package: os-prober
Version: 1.79
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

In testing for Debian Bookworm Alpha 2 release

Windows not found when dist-upgrade from existing 11.6 system

Disabled in /etc/default/grub

* grub2:
Add commented-out GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER to /etc/default/grub
to make it easier for users to turn os-prober back on if they want
it (#1013797, #1009336)

This needs to be discussed

Re: Bug#934822: ath9k-htc free firmware still an issue in free software distributions

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 09:58:05PM +0100, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> Holger Wansing  (2023-01-28):
> > I did not find any mention of ath9k-htc firmware in the list of
> > packages you identified for this apptoach,
> 
> Sure, that package is in main, so doesn't need to move from non-free to
> non-free-firmware so wasn't on that list. :)
> 

Kibi,

I think that there has previously been a request from the maintainer to 
move that package into the free firmware package from main so that it is 
installed when someone installs the firmware-linux-free bundle.

That makes sense as a starting point if you're looking for packages that
provide firmware.

All best, as ever,

Andy Cater

> > which made me ask for this. Sorry for the noise
> 
> No worries!
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> -- 
> Cyril Brulebois (k...@debian.org)
> D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

Re: Bug#1029848: hw-detect: decide how to configure firmware support

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Jan 28, 2023 at 08:09:58PM +0100, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> Package: hw-detect
> Severity: important
> 
> Hi,
> 
> 
> # Allowing for main-only
> 
> The next sentence of the text that was agreed to is:
> 
> The included firmware binaries will normally be enabled by default
> where the system determines that they are required, but where
> possible we will include ways for users to disable this at boot
> (boot menu option, kernel command line etc.).
> 
> I'd like us to determine the following things:
>  - the best name for an internal-only template for hw-detect;
>  - the best alias for it, to be used e.g. on the Linux command line, to
>save some typing;
>  - what values it should support;
>  - what semantics should be attached to those values.
> 

hwdet or hwdfrm as the name of the template / command line alias

It is relatively short, doesn't include a hyphen and is unlikely to overlap
with another utility.
 
> on supporting maybe fewer things, but supporting them well.
> 
> hw-detect already has a loop, the concept of searching for firmware on
> external media, the concept of asking, etc.
> 
> It really doesn't make sense to me to have any kind of per-file,
> per-module, or per-package granularity. This would mean many prompts,
> possibly with way too many lines (see how many files iwlwifi can
> request), and wouldn't really help users make an informed decision.
> Extra templates would also mean more work for translators…
> 
> Therefore, my current approach would be not to try and implement some
> yes/ask/no trichoice as originally envisioned, but to provide users
> wanting to avoid firmware altogether a way to do so.
> 
> 
> I'm proposing:
>  - “hw-detect/firmware” as template for hw-detect;
>  - “firmware” or “fw” as an alias for shorter typing (“fw” feels like
>extremely short);

fw would make me think of firewalls (although I do appreciate fwupd is
now established).

>  - “never” value to skip firmware handling altogether, meaning skipping
>both mechanisms mentioned above.
> 
> That would leave us a rather important flexibility regarding other
> behaviours that we might want to implement, depending on the use cases
> that might get identified (#1029543), without having to make a decision
> about those (names and associated semantic) right now.
> 
> Implementing this (and documenting it in the installation guide) would
> make us comply with what was agreed to.
> 
> 
> Swift feedback would be appreciated, thanks!
> 

Thank you very much indeed for all the hard work the rest of us can see is
going on.

Andy Cater
> 
> Cheers,
> -- 
> Cyril Brulebois (k...@debian.org)
> D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

Re: Install system problem.

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Nov 08, 2022 at 11:03:08AM +0100, Erik V wrote:

Hi Erik,

> I have a laptop.
> The installation no longer recognizes my internet.
> Not even my wireless.

What's the model - has it previously been running Debian successfully?

> The problem in not in GNU/Debian buster CD but in netinst CD for
> amd64/intel64 and debian testing xfce cd
> 

*Which* netinst CD - I would suggest you try at least:
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/11.5.0+nonfree/amd64/iso-cd/firmware-11.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso

or the corresponding firmware DVD at:
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/11.5.0+nonfree/amd64/iso-dvd/firmware-11.5.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso

Debian is no longer producing an xfce full desktop on CD as one image -
the image got too big for one CD size and was dropped some time ago.

> Is this a kernel problem?
> 

More likely than not to be a missing firmware problem therefore my advice
to use the firmware image explicitly.

> Display
> description: VGA compatible controller
> product: RV635/M86 [Mobility Radeon HD 3650]
> vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
> 
> Network
> description: Ethernet interface
> product: 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection
> vendor: Intel Corporation
> 
> description: Wireless interface
> product: PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh] Network Connection
> vendor: Intel Corporation
> 
> 
> Drivers must be installing
> 
> For display : firmware-amd-graphics_20210818-1_all.deb
> For Internet : ?
> FOR wireless : firmware-iwlwifi_20210818-1_all.deb
> 

If you look in /lib/firmware - what do you find?

> Kind regards,
> Erik

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Re: Re: Re: Issue with preseeded install - cannot skip apt media scanning

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, Oct 27, 2022 at 07:53:06AM +0200, Jerzy Patraszewski wrote:
> After some fiddling around, I think the logic is somehow broken. I might be
> wrong, but when mirror is defined (use_mirror=true) and network is
> configured (no_network is undef) than mirror-based install should take
> precedense over the cd/dvd, right? Therefore the 50mirror should be renamed
> to be before 40cdrom and 41cdset (and simple check should be done to skip
> media checks at all for apt-setup). Is there any reason to maintain the
> current sequence?
> 
> Rgrds,
> Jerzy

Hi Jerzy,

Not an expert - but I do a bunch of installs with the media team when we
do releases. The only corner case I can think of is when you install from
a .iso image like a DVD / BD.

In that instance, you're installing from CD media that is not a netinst -
most of the packages will be pulled first from the DVD and updates will
be pulled from the network after that, I think. It's one of those things
that I always notice after the fact because the cdrom entry is uncommented
at the top of /etc/apt/sources.list.

It's an odd case - but it might be the sort of thing that you would do
where you want to do a relatively complete install but your local
network bandwidth is low / intermittent.

The interaction of all the cases in preseed is the combinatorial explosion :(

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Laufwerke in Debian 11.3 funktioniert nicht

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, May 23, 2022 at 03:17:17PM +0200, Markus Kaul wrote:
> Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
> ich habe debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-gnome+nonfree.isoauf meinem Notebook
> installiert und wollte eine ext4 Partition auf meiner externen SSD
> mounten, da Timeshift diese nicht gefunden hat. Doch Laufwerke ist nicht
> gestartet. Auch eine Deinstallation und Neuinstallation von
> gnome-disks-utils hat keine Verbesserung gebracht.
> Mit freundlichen Grüßen
> Markus Kaul

Hi Markus, 

This is an English speaking list like most of the Debian mailing lists.

You can find a German speaking mailing list at 
https://lists.debian.org/debian-user-german/ and Debian information in general 
at https://www.debian.org/index.de.html

Attempted translation follows: - Google translate and my bad German :)

Dear sir or madam

I installed debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-gnome+nonfree.iso on my notebook. I wanted 
an ext4 partition on my external SSD mounted because Timeshift did not find it.
The external drive is not started (not found?). Uninstalling and reinstalling
gnome-disks-utils made no difference.

Best regards

Markus Kaul

It may also be necessary to file a bug report against debian-live, I think.

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Debian 11.3.0 and Realtek RTL1882ec wireless adaptor

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Apr 22, 2022 at 08:46:16AM +0100, Dinny wrote:
> Debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-mate.iso
> Laptop Geoflex110 (latest model).
> 
> Does not recognise Realtek RTL1882ec wireless adaptor.

Hi Dinny,

You may need to find the equivalent Debian-live .iso that specifically
includes firmware. This is unofficial in that it includes non-free
firmware but is prepared by Debian developers and maintainers.

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/11.3.0-live+nonfree/amd64/iso-hybrid/

and, specifically, 

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/11.3.0-live+nonfree/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-mate+nonfree.iso

You may want to ask further questions on IRC on OFTC on channel #debian-live
or the mailing list at https://lists.debian.org/debian-live/

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy Cater 

Re: Cannot boot

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 06:34:45AM +, Schwibinger Michael wrote:
> Hello Group
> We did update Debian LXDE 32
> and now we cannot boot.
> Can somebody help?
> Regards
> Sophie

Hello Sophie,

You may find it easier to ask this question on the Debian user mailing list.

Which version of Debian did you install - and from where dit you get the 
installation media.

"Cannot boot" is very wide: can you be more specific as to exactly what
does or doesn't happen, please?

Follow up to the debian-user list, maybe.

With every good wish, as ever,

Andrew Cater

Re: Debian Update Cycle

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 10:27:42PM +0100, phil995511 - wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Don't you think it would be smart to integrate all the updates contained in
> the Backports directory with each new minor update of our favorite OS ? For
> example for the versions 11.3, 11.4, etc ?
> 

In my (limited) view: no, this would not be a useful idea if we wanted
to maintain some degree of stability / backwards compatibility between
point releases.

The packages in backports generally are less general they are also very
much less tested. The net effect would be to render each point release
(roughly every three months or so) potentially less stable than the last.

> This would make Debian easily compatible with all the new devices
> available, without having to use the line of code too much... it would
> therefore make Debian more accessible to all non-experienced Linux users.
> 

It generally takes quite a time to make sure that Debian works on new
devices - certainly longer than a point release. Updates once every two
years on a major release seem sensible. [And some new devices never
achieve Debian support - that's in the way of things, especially, say
some with minority architectures].

> This would also facilitate the work of updating packages such as the Linux
> kernel, which would hardly need to be in the LTS version to be used on
> Debian and therefore maintained for many years by the Debian and Kernel.org
> maintainers.
> 

You need a kernel maintained for about five years by the time you reach the
end of ELTS: "shiny new stuff" is always sligthly problematic.

> It would seem to me to strengthen the overall security of Debian, with less
> effort/labor.
> 

Sadly, the same amount of labour to package and increased amounts of labour
to maintain distribution-wide I fear.
> Best regards.
> 
> Philippe

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Debian 11 after upgrade from debian 10 issue

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Mar 12, 2022 at 11:00:26AM +0100, Italo Canepa wrote:
> Good Day,
> I ask you to focus your attention on the known issue, see below:
> security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye Release does not have a
> Release file ..
> that happens with apt-get update command.
> This is a bug: a system cannot update himself.
> I think you agree the fact that it is not possible give motivation to the
> user about this, but the only possible action is a new update of debian 11
> that fix this behaviour.
> 
> *Can you give me the correct address in which forward this mail, if this is
> not the right place?*
> 
> Regards
> Italo Canepa

The release notes for Debian Bullseye make it clear that the stanza for 
security changed with the Debian release.

://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/release-notes/

https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/release-notes/ch-information.en.html#security-archive

See also:

https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Possible to force installing from the mirror instead of the installation media?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Feb 21, 2022 at 06:19:30PM +0800, Glen Huang wrote:
> @Geert
> > It is "netinst" that you are looking for.
> 
> I am using netinst. Appreciate the detailed steps listed, but with all
> due respect, my question was about how to make the installer install
> the base system from the mirror and not the installation media. The
> listed steps don't seem to help with that.
> 
> @Andrew @Holger @Steve
> I take that as it's not possible to force the installer to install the
> base system from the mirror? I guess the netboot image probably does
> something special.
> 
> Guess I'll just have to let the installer upgrade then.
> 
> @Andrew
> > an autoremove would remove the fallback kernel since you didn't boot from it
> 
> I'm not sure that's the case. I tried running "apt-get autoremove" in
> a newly installed Debian 11 with multiple kernels in /boot, no
> packages got removed. `apt-cache rdepends --installed
> linux-image-5.10.0-10-amd64` (which was the old kernel) showed
> "linux-image-amd64" depended on it, so it was not removed. "apt-cache
> depends --installed linux-image-amd64" showed it depended on
> "linux-image-5.10.0-11-amd64".
> 
> Regards,
> Glen
>

Netboot provides you a base kernel, an initrd and enough of the installer to 
start from there.

The netinst / DVD includes the base systme on it - but will still update
if packages are newer on the mirror.

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater 

Re: Possible to force installing from the mirror instead of the installation media?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Feb 21, 2022 at 12:05:53PM +0800, Glen Huang wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I remember reading it somewhere in a Debian doc (though I can no
> longer find it) that only netboot automatically installs the base
> system from a mirror, other media install from the media itself and
> then upgrade via the mirror if allowed.
> 
> I wonder if it's possible to force the installer to use the mirror for
> installing the base system? Currently, my installer installs two
> versions of kernels, one from the media, the other from upgrading via
> the mirror, which seems like a waste.
> 

This is intended behaviour, in some sense. If you install from DVD / other
media, as soon as it reaches a mirror, it will update from the package list
there - and, in fact, you often see it updating packages in the course of
the install at that point. That ensures that you're up to date at the
point you touch a mirror so that you don't have to apt-get update or 
whatever immediately afterwards.

This can cause problems if there is a kernel ABI bump or whatever and your
netboot kernel has changed significantly on the mirror (if your netinst
is too old / you're tracking dailies from testing, for example) but that's
an acceptable situation, I think. It nromally resolves quickly - or by
using an up to date netboot.

On first reboot, the newest kernel will be used anyway: an autoremove
would remove the fallback kernel since you didn't boot from it, if you
wished to do that.

> I couldn't find the preseed directive that controls this. Would be
> grateful if someone could shed some light.
> 
> Regards,
> Glen
> 

All best, as ever,

Andrew Cater

Re: Bug#1004838: installation-reports: when booting in pure UEFI mode the kernel fails to assemble the RAID0 array

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Feb 01, 2022 at 10:36:56PM -0600, Charles Bailey wrote:
> Package: installation-reports
> Severity: important
> X-Debbugs-Cc: cebaile...@charter.net
> 
> (Please provide enough information to help the Debian
> maintainers evaluate the report efficiently - e.g., by filling
> in the sections below.)
> 
> Boot method: DVD
> Image version: 
> https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/bt-hybrid/debian-live-11.0.0-amd64-lxde.iso.torrent
> Date: 
> 
> Machine: home built with Intel DH77KC motherboard
> Partitions: 
> Filesystem Type 1K-blocksUsed Available Use% Mounted on
> udev   devtmpfs   6055280   0   6055280   0% /dev
> tmpfs  tmpfs  12159161200   1214716   1% /run
> /dev/md126p9   ext4  32765808 7855020  23216684  26% /
> tmpfs  tmpfs  6079580   26612   6052968   1% /dev/shm
> tmpfs  tmpfs 5120   4  5116   1% /run/lock
> /dev/md126p1   vfat523248  119320403928  23% /boot/efi
> tmpfs  tmpfs  1215916  44   1215872   1% /run/user/1000
> 
> 
> Base System Installation Checklist:
> [O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
> 
> Initial boot:   [O]
> Detect network card:[O]
> Configure network:  [O]
> Detect media:   [O]
> Load installer modules: [O]
> Clock/timezone setup:   [O]
> User/password setup:[O]
> Detect hard drives: [O]
> Partition hard drives:  [O]
> Install base system:[O]
> Install tasks:  [O]
> Install boot loader:[O]
> Overall install:[E]
> 
> Comments/Problems:
> I installed Debian bullseye on my UEFI motherboard using a lxde live DVD.
> My system has two 500GB SATA drives configured in the BIOS as one 1TB RAID0 
> array. This Intel motherboard has what is sometimes called "fake RAID" in 
> the Linux world.
> 
> I previously had Windows, Artix Linux and CentOS installed and running 
> in separate partitions on the RAID0 array. All of these were booting in 
> pure UEFI mode. I booted the Debian live DVD, also in UEFI mode, and went 
> through the installation procedure. All seemed to go well until it came time 
> to boot Debian. It would not boot. It sat there for a while, with the hard 
> disk activity light flashing occasionally, and then displayed these messages 
> on the screen: 
> mdadm: error opening /dev/md?*: No such file or directory
> Gave up waiting for suspend/resume device
> Gave up waiting for root file system device.  Common problems:
>  - Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
>- Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
>  - Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
> ALERT!  UUID=6ae760b1-58a7-4b88-8373-5342d04deba2 does not exist.  Dropping 
> to a shell!
> 
> BusyBox v1.30.1 (Debian 1:1.30.1-6+b3) built-in shell (ash)
> Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
> 
> (initramfs)
> 
> After scratching my head for a while, trying to figure out what went wrong, 
> I tried going into BIOS setup and selecting UEFI+Legacy mode. That worked. 
> Debian booted right up.
> 
> 
> Why did the Debian DVD boot in pure UEFI mode but the installed kernel 
> requires UEFI+Legacy? The installed kernel is apparently different from the 
> DVD kernel. It appears that the installed kernel requires some legacy BIOS 
> feature that the installation DVD did not.
> 
> If I enter 
> mdadm --examine --scan --verbose
> 
> from the initramfs prompt I get this response:
> 
> ARRAY metadata=imsm UUID=f46ce314:c874c458:5630027e:d4375317
>devices=/dev/sdb,/dev/sda
> ARRAY /dev/md/WD1TBRAID0 container=f46ce314:c874c458:5630027e:d4375317 
> member=0 UUID=58b9905f:2a773399:518dbd70:7b52bdc0
> 
> But, if I enter
> mdadm --assemble --scan
> I get a null response.
> 
> It seems that, when booting in pure UEFI mode, the kernel recognizes the
> RAID0 array but doesn't assemble it.
> 
> So, I do have a workaround, by setting UEFI+Legacy in the BIOS, but the other
> operating systems installed on the same system don't require it and turning
> on the Legacy option causes the system to take longer to boot.
> 
> I am hoping that someone knowledgable about the kernel can suggest some
> boot parameter I can add that will cause the kernal not to require some
> legacy function.
> 
> 
> 
> -- Package-specific info:
>

Fake raid is a problem - and, to be honest, I'm surprised it ever worked at 
all and that it worked for the other Linuxes. I'd have been tempted to set it
up from the outset using mdadm and not using any other driver.

I guess it does very much depend what signatures are on the disks and
how these are seen. I know I had similar problems with trying to set up
an HP Microserver using built in RAID and ended up making the four disks
JBOD and layering mdadm and LVM on top of them. There's always more than one
way to do it.

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater

 

Re: Bug#1003973: Should we pull in fwupd by default for most systems?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Jan 18, 2022 at 04:40:02PM -0300, Osmario Avila wrote:
> How to unsubscribe from this newsletter?
> 
> 
> Em ter., 18 de jan. de 2022 às 16:39, Osmario Avila 
> escreveu:
> 
> > How to unsubscribe from this newsletter?
> >
> >

Osmario,

I think you may be subsribed to notifications about the bug report itself.

This part from https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Developer may help

[Em portugues:://www.debian.org/Bugs/Developer.pt.html ]

It is also possible to unsubscribe from a bug. Unsubscribing can be done by 
sending an email to nnn-unsubscr...@bugs.debian.org. The subject and body of 
the email are again ignored by the BTS. Users will be sent a confirmation 
message which they must reply to if they wish to be unsubscribed from the bug.

By default, the address subscribed is the one found in the From header. If you 
wish to subscribe another address to a bug, you will need to encode the address 
to be subscribed into the subscription message. This takes the form of: 
nnn-subscribe-localpart=example@bugs.debian.org. That example would send 
localp...@example.com a subscription message for bug nnn. The @ sign must be 
encoded by changing it to an = sign. Similarly, an unsubscription takes the 
form nnn-unsubscribe-localpart=example@bugs.debian.org. In both cases, the 
subject and body of the email will be forwarded to the email address within the 
request for confirmation.

If you are also subscribed to Debian-boot mailing list:

https://www.debian.org/MailingLists/unsubscribe

YOu will receive a confirmation email so that you can confirm that
the unsubscription request is not a mistake.

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy Cater




> > Em ter., 18 de jan. de 2022 às 16:15, Steve McIntyre 
> > escreveu:
> >
> >> Source: tasksel
> >> Severity: normal
> >> Tags: security
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> At the moment, fwupd will only be installed by default on systems
> >> installed to use a Gnome desktop (checked for Buster, Bullseye and
> >> Sid).
> >>
> >> We should probably pull it in and enable it by default for most
> >> systems (i.e. all desktops and servers) - it's the primary way
> >> expected to drive updates to UEFI system firmware and the DBX
> >> list. Maybe just for UEFI installations?
> >>
> >> -- System Information:
> >> Debian Release: 10.11
> >>   APT prefers oldstable-updates
> >>   APT policy: (500, 'oldstable-updates'), (500, 'oldstable-debug'), (500,
> >> 'oldoldstable'), (500, 'oldstable')
> >> Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
> >> Foreign Architectures: i386
> >>
> >> Kernel: Linux 5.10.0-0.bpo.9-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
> >> Kernel taint flags: TAINT_CPU_OUT_OF_SPEC
> >> Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8),
> >> LANGUAGE=en_GB:en (charmap=UTF-8)
> >> Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
> >> Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
> >> LSM: AppArmor: enabled
> >>
> >> -- debconf information excluded
> >>
> >>

Re: realtek usb wifi

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Wed, Dec 29, 2021 at 03:41:28AM +, oppdalloen wrote:
> Hello i thought i could try asking if you guys have knowledge about the about 
> usb wifi driver, i've tried to locate evrywhere and no luck
> below is the usb wifi information
> 
> Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bda:b812 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL88x2bu 
> [AC1200 Techkey]
> 
> thank you so much

Hi oppdalloen,

Which distribution / version of Debian is this? If you're not sure,
cat /etc/debian_version and paste it here.

Have you tried the Debian firmware-realtek package from Debian non-free?

Googling also showed that it may be possble to load a driver from a 
Github site. Have you seen those pages?

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Bug#1002976: installation-reports: Installer Fault Accessibility No Screen Reader Heard

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Jan 02, 2022 at 07:56:46AM -0500, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 2, 2022, 03:59 Holger Wansing  wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> >
> > Am 2. Januar 2022 02:40:16 MEZ schrieb "David J. Ring, Jr."  > >:
> > >
> > >lspci -knn: 00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U
> > Audio Controller [8086:160c] (rev 09)
> >
> >
> > As I already wrote:
> > my best guess for this one would be
> > https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/debian-installer/#errata
> >
> >
> > Holger
> >
> >
> > --
> > Sent from /e/ OS on Fairphone3
> >
> 
> Holger,
> 
> So is this fixed? Does the daily our weekly installer with firmware allow
> speech to be heard during installation?
> 
> Thank you,
> David
> 
> >

Hi David,

No: it's one of the annoyances at the moment that there are three areas
where firmware is increasingly required - and they vary from machine to machine.

It has got to the stage where the stock installer - without firmware - is,
effectively, unusable to install over WiFi with most chipsets, for example.

Various video chipsets now require firmware from the outset: some of them
may, exceptionally, drop back to a VESA-compliant mode so that you could
do a text mode install - but will give you a black screen thereafter.

We have the situation - which may be yours - where some Intel chipsets now
require dedicated firmware for sound to work.

All rather frustrating: there is talk of a GR [General Resolution] on 
firmware to be put to the Debian developers once the current round of
voting is over because the position that we've held for many years on 
firmware and non-freeness is now actively detrimental to the success
of Debian installs. 

Other distributions may vary: Ubuntu has a different outlook and more liberal
policy and Fedora - which is equally concerned with software freedom - 
has a very clear policy set out here: 
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing:Main#Binary_Firmware 

Hope this helps, all the very best, as ever.

Andy Cater

Re: passsword

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Wed, Nov 17, 2021 at 08:16:44PM -0300, Milena Machado wrote:
> hi,
> 
> I just got my first linux laptop but the password asked by system whenever
> I want to download anything is not working. I've tried changing it several
> times and still... it's a nightmare.
> 
> can you help me?

Hi,

This is possibly not the best mailing list for this. Could you possibly
try sending this query to the Debian user mailing list - 
debian-u...@lists.debian.org - and we will try and help you there, please?

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Bug#940528: installation-reports: b43 firmware not found or installed (Debian 11 bullseye installer from image with firmware non-free)

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Oct 26, 2021 at 10:09:17AM +0200, Laura Arjona Reina wrote:
> Hello
> 
> I recently installed Debian 11 bullseye on a laptop with BCM4312 with a 
> non-free
> firmware image, and could reproduce this issue.
> 
> Below you can find my installation report.
> 
> TL;DR: The installer reported: failed to load B43/ucode15.fw for my wireless 
> card.
> I continued the installation with the Ethernet adapter.
> After finishing installing Debian and rebooting I had wired network but no
> wireless network. Manually installing firmware-b43-installer package solved 
> the
> problem.
> I'm not sure if debian-installer is able to automatically install
> firmware-b43-installer or the mechanics is designed for simpler firmware
> packages (the ones that include the firmware in the proper package, not
> downloading it on the fly as firmware-b43-installer does).
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> -- 
> Laura Arjona
> https://wiki.debian.org/LauraArjona
> 

Hi Laura,

I think you've hit a common edge case. With this specific chipset, the
firmware-b43-installer package needs to connect to the internet to pull
down the firmware blob and cut out the bits that are needed to make
the WiFi work for the Broadcom chip. It's a chicken and egg problem -
without connectivity, you can't get the bits you need to provide 
connectivity.

In this instance, the work around is to do just as you've done: install
via wired connection and then connect to pull the firmware cutter package.
I believe that to be the case, anyway - I haven't owned one of these
in a while.

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy Cater


> 
> Boot method: USB
> Image version:
> https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/11.1.0+nonfree/i386/iso-cd/firmware-11.1.0-i386-netinst.iso
> Date: 2021-10-09 14:15 564M
> 
> Machine: Compaq N110 netbook (intel Atom, 1GB RAM, Wireless Broadcom BCM4312 
> LP-PHY)
> 
> Base System Installation Checklist:
> [O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
> 
> Initial boot:   [O]
> Detect network card:[O]
> Configure network:  [E]
> Detect media:   [O]
> Load installer modules: [O]
> Clock/timezone setup:   [O]
> User/password setup:[O]
> Detect hard drives: [O]
> Partition hard drives:  [O]
> Install base system:[O]
> Install tasks:  [O]
> Install boot loader:[O]
> Overall install:[O]
> 
> Comments/Problems:
> 
> The installer reported: failed to load B43/ucode15.fw for my wireless card.
> I continued the installation with the Ethernet adapter.
> I was expecting the ISO including firmware to install automatically the
> firmware-b43-installer package
> After manually installing it, I could use my wireless card.
> 
> This is the relevant dmesg output after installing firmware-b43-installer
> package and rebooting:
> 
> [   29.831448] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4312 WLAN found (core revision 15)
> [   29.876277] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 6, Type 5 (LP), Revision 1
> [   29.876303] b43-phy0: Found Radio: Manuf 0x17F, ID 0x2062, Revision 2, 
> Version 0
> [   29.892558] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PNLS ]
> [   29.987553] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: direct-loading firmware b43/ucode15.fw
> [   30.001227] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: direct-loading firmware 
> b43/lp0initvals15.fw
> [   30.006248] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: direct-loading firmware 
> b43/lp0bsinitvals15.fw
> [   30.006326] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
> [  431.884370] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 784.2 (2012-08-15 21:35:19)
> [  441.397152] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 784.2 (2012-08-15 21:35:19)
> 
> Below you can find the info that installer-report gathered:
> 
> -- Package-specific info:
> 
> ==
> Installer lsb-release:
> ==
> DISTRIB_ID=Debian
> DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Debian GNU/Linux installer"
> DISTRIB_RELEASE="11 (bullseye) - installer build 20210731+deb11u1"
> X_INSTALLATION_MEDIUM=cdrom
> 
> ==
> Installer hardware-summary:
> ==
> uname -a: Linux portatil21 5.10.0-9-686 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.70-1 (2021-09-30)
> i686 GNU/Linux
> lspci -knn: 00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GSE 
> Express
> Memory Controller Hub [8086:27ac] (rev 03)
> lspci -knn: Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:308f]
> lspci -knn: 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile
> 945GSE Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27ae] (rev 03)
> lspci -knn: Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:308f]
> lspci -knn: 00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile
> 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a6]
> (rev 03)
> lspci -knn: Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:308f]
> lspci -knn: 00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family 
> High
> 

Re: debian-installer for mac

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Oct 24, 2021 at 02:20:08PM -0400, Nicholas D Steeves wrote:
> "Andrew M.A. Cater"  writes:
> 
> > As mentioned on debian-user: the debian-11.1.0-amd64-netinst.iso or the
> > debian-11.1.0-amd-DVD-1.iso are the appropriate ones to use.
> >
> > The debian-mac images are for a couple of specific models from 2008/2009
> > which had problems recognising El Torito images.
> >
> 
> Oh yeah!  I remember having to ask about this for a 2014 installation I
> did on a 2012 MBP.  Has it not been documented yet?
> 
> Seems like the website and installation guide could benefit from bug
> reports requesting documentation of this fact.  I believe it's worth the
> effort, because recent macOS versions don't work well with older Apple
> hardware.
> 

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd/ references
"What is a mac netinst image" and points back to Debian Wiki.

Issues referenced here: https://wiki.debian.org/MacMiniIntel#Macmini_2.2C1

It is fairly well referenced: it just takes you to read from the top of
the page on the downloads page.

https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Apple is also quite a good location
to work out what's what. [And I note the problematic machines are 2007/2008
so anyone who has one will be running on 13 year old hardware - we had a 
similar discussion at https://lists.debian.org/debian-cd/2021/04/msg8.html

Most of this will be up in the air with Mac machines based on the M1 chip
though given Apple demonstrated Debian as their first demo when the chips
were announced, the arm64 variant can certainly run as a virtual machine.

Hope this helps,

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater

> Regards,
> Nicholas

Re: debian-installer for mac

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Oct 24, 2021 at 12:36:06PM +0200, Pascal Hambourg wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Le 23/10/2021 à 01:34, westlake a écrit :
> > hello d-i team members, i noticed there is probably an area for
> > improvement regarding getting bullseye to boot correctly on a mac.
> > (mac-mini 2012 in my case --- which has intel x86)
> > 
> > I discovered where the problem was for my particular case and the fix
> > was relatively simple.
> > 
> > Basically all I did was take one of the official bullseye installer
> > iso's and gave it a GPT-header.
> 
> Which ISO image ? AFAICS,
> 
> debian-11.1.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso
> debian-11.1.0-amd64-i386-netinst.iso
> debian-11.1.0-amd64-netinst.iso
> debian-11.1.0-i386-DVD-1.iso
> debian-11.1.0-i386-netinst.iso
> 
> already have a GPT header and an EFI system partition. Only
> 
> debian-mac-11.1.0-amd64-netinst.iso
> debian-mac-11.1.0-i386-netinst.iso
> 
> do not have either.
> 

As mentioned on debian-user: the debian-11.1.0-amd64-netinst.iso or the
debian-11.1.0-amd-DVD-1.iso are the appropriate ones to use.

The debian-mac images are for a couple of specific models from 2008/2009
which had problems recognising El Torito images.

Hope this helps,

Andy Cater

Re: Bug#995235: debian-installer-11-netboot-arm64: debian installer live and firmware fail on empty machine

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Sep 28, 2021 at 12:30:09PM +, r wrote:
> Package: debian-installer-11-netboot-arm64
> Severity: important
> 
> Dear Reader,
> 
> 0 The troubles happen on a new and empty machine (specially bought for Debian)
> :
> - Intel Core i3-10100
> - Gigabyte B560 HD3
> - Kingston Fury beast 16 Go
> - Crucial P2 M.2 PCIe NVMe 500 Go (SSD)
> 
> 1 I download debian-live-11.0.0-amd64-gnome.iso, put it on a key and execute
> the whole graphical installation.
> It works fine but when the machine starts to reboot
> - few lines appear very very fast (RAM something, processor something ...) and
> then
> - black screen with only a cursor in the top left quarter for 2 seconds and
> then
> - back to bios where I see the ssd disk with the right name, manually exit and
> then
> - few lines appear ...
> - black screen ...
> and again and again
> The only possibility was to power off.
> 
> 
> 2 I download debian-11.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso, put it on a key ..
> It works fine but ...
> Same story as 1.
> I install 2 other times but the result remains the same.
> 
> 
> 3 I use reportbug (#995089) but not knowing the name of the package the answer
> starts with "There is no such package in Debian".
> The suggestion is to use an installer containing firmware.
> 
> 
> 4 I download firmware-11.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso an start graphical 
> installation.
> Things start the right way but the mirror gets slower and slower and 
> completely
> stops to send files.
> I wait 2 hours but nothing happens.
> I power off the modem and disconnect the cable of the machine.
> The screen offers no possibility to stop the running operation so I can only
> power off the machine.
> 
> 
> 5 Then modem on, cable connected, key always in its proper place, machine on
> - first of all, very fast on black screen something like "hardware error cpu
> machine check" and 3 or 4 other lines talking about hardware
> - bios, key was always selected
> - installing starts but is not able to deal with dhcp
> - many tries (even debian-live-11.0.0-amd64-gnome.iso again) but the installer
> does not see the network card anymore
> - the bios sees the card, so it looks like installer and card don't like each
> other
> 
> When the key is in its place I found that there is a little console (Nano) but
> I don't know what to do with it (reach logs, clean, ...)
> I have the datasheet of each component.
> 
> Programmer during the last 35 years (tons of SQL on W machines), but new in
> Debian (04/2021, Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) on a W7 existing machine).
> I want to stay in this free software and try to help (Diversité et équité).
> 
> 
> Many thanks
> Renaud Roche (Marseille France)
> 

Hello Renaud,

Can I suggest first that you again try Debian 11 - "Bullseye" since this was
released on 14th July 2021. The release notes suggest to start with the 
unofficial firmware .iso file if there is a problem with WiFi/graphics 
hardware.

Debian 11 is also two years newer than Debian 10 - a new kernel, up to date
software and the likelihood of supporting new hardware better. 

Try 

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/11.0.0+nonfree/amd64/iso-cd/firmware-11.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso

If you still have difficulties, I suggest that you should try the text only 
install
and also that you try first by not installing any desktop environment. 

It may depend on the make and model of your graphics card as much as anything
else: if you do manage to get something installed, the output of the lspci
command might also help.

By installing to text only first, it eliminates some of the problems of 
possible incorrect selection of video drivers. Especially for NVidia, it 
helps to install the proprietary drivers (if used) _before_ installing a
desktop environment.

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy Cater

> 
> 
> -- System Information:
> Debian Release: 10.10
>   APT prefers oldstable-updates
>   APT policy: (500, 'oldstable-updates'), (500, 'oldstable')
> Architecture: i386 (i686)
> 
> Kernel: Linux 4.19.0-17-686 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
> Locale: LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), 
> LANGUAGE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
> Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
> Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
> LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Re: Help with installing debian

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 08:28:46PM +0530, Rohan J. Tilwani wrote:
> Hello there,
> I am facing a serious issues installing the "Bullseye" version of debian.
> Especially with Disks. I would be glad if you help me out. I am trying to
> install live+nonfree latest version of debian. Initially i get error that
> says SM bus busy. After I boot into live environment, I get another issue.
> I cant locate my secondary HDD on Lenovo slim 5.(i5 11th gen, Nvidia MX450,
> 8gigs RAM, 256gigs SSD+1TB HDD). Please help.
> Thank you.

Hello Rohan,

This might be better asked on debian-user which is the mailing list for 
user support.

A couple of straightfrorward questions:

Is this a first ever Debian install for you?

Do you have any other operating system on the laptop that you wish to 
retain?

Do you wnt the laptop to only run Debian?

I would suggest that you use the standard Debian installer (rather than a 
Live DVD) and also that you use the unofficial installer which does contain
the firmware found in non-free.

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/current/amd64/iso-cd/firmware-11.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso
 is the small
netinst image.

Hope this helps,

With every good wish,

Andrew Cater

Re: not loading non-free firmware in 11.00 network installation debian-installer

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Wed, Sep 15, 2021 at 11:47:29AM -0500, Nick Gawronski wrote:
> Hi, I was going to see if the network installation image would work
> successfully to reinstall debian 11.00 with non-free firmware needed for my
> network cards.  When I ran the installer at low priority so everything would
> work as expected and so I would have full control of the installation when
> it got to the firmware loading it fails to load the firmware for any of my
> network cards when before on this same system in earlier versions of debian
> it worked just fine.  Attached is the syslog from the installer.  Can
> someone please tell me what is going on with this installation image?  Nick
> Gawronski

> Feb 25 15:44:03 cdrom-detect: Detected CD 'Debian GNU/Linux 11.0.0 "Bullseye" 
> - Unofficial amd64 NETINST with firmware 20210814-10:09'
> Feb 25 15:44:04 cdrom-detect: Detected CD with 'stable' (bullseye) 
> distribution

> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.728909] r8169 :03:00.0 eth0: 
> RTL8168evl/8111evl, e8:03:9a:1e:91:3f, XID 2c9, IRQ 38
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.728911] r8169 :03:00.0 eth0: jumbo 
> features [frames: 9194 bytes, tx checksumming: ko]
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.734463] r8169 :03:00.0 enp3s0: renamed 
> from eth0

> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.763346] platform regulatory.0: firmware: 
> direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777430] Intel(R) Wireless WiFi driver for Linux
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777615] iwlwifi :02:00.0: can't disable 
> ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777956] iwlwifi :02:00.0: firmware: failed 
> to load iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode (-2)
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777957] firmware_class: See 
> https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware for information about missing firmware
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777958] iwlwifi :02:00.0: Direct firmware 
> load for iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode failed with error -2
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777969] iwlwifi :02:00.0: firmware: failed 
> to load iwlwifi-6000g2b-5.ucode (-2)
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777970] iwlwifi :02:00.0: Direct firmware 
> load for iwlwifi-6000g2b-5.ucode failed with error -2
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777971] iwlwifi :02:00.0: minimum version 
> required: iwlwifi-6000g2b-5
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777972] iwlwifi :02:00.0: maximum version 
> supported: iwlwifi-6000g2b-6
> Feb 25 15:44:42 kernel: [   87.777973] iwlwifi :02:00.0: check 
> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git

> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.131549] platform regulatory.0: firmware: 
> direct-loading firmware regulatory.db
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.131561] platform regulatory.0: firmware: 
> direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.144553] Intel(R) Wireless WiFi driver for Linux
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.144743] iwlwifi :02:00.0: can't disable 
> ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.145478] iwlwifi :02:00.0: firmware: failed 
> to load iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode (-2)
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.145481] iwlwifi :02:00.0: Direct firmware 
> load for iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode failed with error -2
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.145496] iwlwifi :02:00.0: firmware: failed 
> to load iwlwifi-6000g2b-5.ucode (-2)
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.145498] iwlwifi :02:00.0: Direct firmware 
> load for iwlwifi-6000g2b-5.ucode failed with error -2
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.145500] iwlwifi :02:00.0: minimum version 
> required: iwlwifi-6000g2b-5
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.145502] iwlwifi :02:00.0: maximum version 
> supported: iwlwifi-6000g2b-6
> Feb 25 15:44:56 kernel: [  101.145503] iwlwifi :02:00.0: check 
> git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git
> Feb 25 15:44:57 check-missing-firmware: looking at dmesg again, restarting 
> from timestamp: [   87.777973]
> Feb 25 15:44:57 check-missing-firmware: timestamp found, truncating dmesg 
> accordingly
> Feb 25 15:44:57 check-missing-firmware: saving timestamp for a later use: [  
> 101.145503]
> Feb 25 15:44:57 check-missing-firmware: looking for firmware file 
> iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode requested by iwlwifi
> Feb 25 15:44:57 check-missing-firmware: looking for firmware file 
> iwlwifi-6000g2b-5.ucode requested by iwlwifi
> Feb 25 15:44:57 check-missing-firmware: missing firmware files 
> (iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode iwlwifi-6000g2b-5.ucode) for iwlwifi
> Feb 25 15:45:36 kernel: [  141.144918] usb 3-1.2: USB disconnect, device 
> number 3
> Feb 25 15:45:36 kernel: [  141.162899] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronizing SCSI 
> cache
> Feb 25 15:45:36 kernel: [  141.162956] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronize 
> Cache(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_NO_CONNECT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
> Feb 25 15:47:44 init: starting pid 590, tty '/dev/tty2': '-/bin/sh'
> Feb 25 15:48:09 kernel: [  294.275973] EXT4-fs (sda1): 

Re: Install Manual

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Sep 11, 2021 at 02:32:13AM +0300, mh2 drake wrote:
> Hi i want to help with project

I can't do better than to copy and quote Paul Wise about how to 
contribute to Debian documentation in general and the how to help
link at the end.

The install manual will also be mainteined in a git repository on salsa
but I'm sure the folks who write and translate it can contribute more.

>From Paul:

[Y]ou can find some information about
how the Debian website works and how to contribute at this page:

https://www.debian.org/devel/website/

In short the website is static HTML and CSS (without JavaScript) that
is currently produced using a language called WML, which is mostly
HTML but also some other tags to provide programmability and other
features. The WML files are stored in a git repository hosted on
salsa, the Debian GitLab instance, and you can contribute changes back
using GitLab merge requests or patches in Debian bug reports against
the www.debian.org pseudo-package. The WML files are translated into
many human languages, so to avoid translators having to do extra work,
when making mechanical changes that don't involve English language
(for eg updating links), a script called smart_change.pl can update
the translations at the same time.

PS: there are many different Debian web services that can use help,
and many other ways to contribute to Debian:

https://wiki.debian.org/Services
https://www.debian.org/intro/help

Hope this helps, with every good wish as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Need help debootstrapping Ubuntu impish

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Sep 04, 2021 at 03:50:39PM +, Joshua Peisach wrote:
> Hello Boot team,
> 
> I'm coming after asking for help from the live-team. The issue was narrowed 
> to debootstrap. I'm trying to build an impish image for Ubuntu Cinnamon 
> Remix, and I'm having issues with the base packages.
> 
> Last time I had an issue was with pinetab/pine64 stuff, and we could safely 
> exclude it, but these are issues with base packages like bsdutils, 
> base-passwd and others I didn't want to fully track down and remove. Some of 
> the files already exist and then the package manager steps on top of it. 
> Instead of doing anything about it, it complains that a file already exists 
> and just quits.
> 
> I'm not sure what's going on, so can someone give a hint?
> 
> Thanks,
> -Josh
> 
> Repo: https://github.com/Ubuntu-Cinnamon-Remix/iso-builder

Hi Joshua,

Ubuntu does things very differently - can I suggest you chat first to the folks
who produce the main Ubuntu install media (which does have a live image
buried inside to do the install with) / some of the other Ubuntu desktop
variants and remixes.

It's likely that we won't be able to help directly because Ubuntu does
things differently - in Debian, this would be done by installing a 
desktop metapackage or equivalent, but Ubuntu suggests a remix per
desktop.

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater

Re: Bug#992034: installation-guide: Include a note on how to change init system during install

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Aug 27, 2021 at 12:19:11PM +0200, Holger Wansing wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Justin Rye  wrote (Fri, 27 Aug 2021 07:38:17 
> +0100):
> > Holger Wansing  wrote:
> > > I wonder if "the easiest time to select an alternative init system is 
> > > during the
> > > installation process" is correct English.
> > >
> > > Maybe better "the best time ... " ?
> > >
> > > Asking debian-l10n-english for advise.
> > >
> > > @debian-l10n-english:
> > > Hi all, could someone please comment on the merge request
> > > mentioned above?
> > 
> > There's nothing wrong with the English of "the easiest time to do X is
> > during Y"; "best" is also okay but asserts something different (which
> > is slightly more a matter of subjective opinion).
> 
> Ok.
> 
Rather than easiest / best, maybe use "most appropriate" or 
"most straightforward" since it can be quite hard afterwards.

All best, as ever,

Andy Cater

> 
> Moreover, when thinking about this implementation, I'm quite uncomfortable 
> with 
> adding such paragraph into the "Using individual components" section, since 
> this 
> "change-init-system part" is no "installer component" like the others in this 
> section (say: there is no 'change-init-system udeb').
> 
> Therefore, I would be in favor of adding a separate section for such things as
> section 6.5 after the "Loading missing firmware" section, like this:
> 
> 
> 
> snip==
> diff --git a/build/templates/docstruct.ent b/build/templates/docstruct.ent
> index dd3e8d273..81702c32d 100644
> --- a/build/templates/docstruct.ent
> +++ b/build/templates/docstruct.ent
> @@ -126,6 +126,8 @@
> "##SRCPATH##/using-d-i/modules/pkgsel.xml">
> "##SRCPATH##/using-d-i/loading-firmware.xml">
>  
> +   "##SRCPATH##/using-d-i/misc-adaptions.xml">
> +
>
> "##SRCPATH##/using-d-i/modules/mips/arcboot-installer.xml">
> "##SRCPATH##/using-d-i/modules/mipsel/colo-installer.xml">
> diff --git a/en/using-d-i/using-d-i.xml b/en/using-d-i/using-d-i.xml
> index 3561ced2d..fe9c4628e 100644
> --- a/en/using-d-i/using-d-i.xml
> +++ b/en/using-d-i/using-d-i.xml
> @@ -446,6 +446,7 @@ report installer software problems to  developers 
> later.
>  
>  
>  
> +
>  
>  
> 
> snap==
> 
> 
> Plus adding a new file en/using-d-i/misc-adaptions.xml:
> 
> +
> +
> +
> + 
> + Miscellaneous adaptions
> +
> +You may make custom adaptions of the installation process, to make it fit 
> +your needs:
> +
> +
> +  Installing an alternative init system
> +
> + uses systemd as its default init system. However, other init
> +systems (such as sysvinit and OpenRC) are supported, and the
> +easiest time to select an alternative init system is during the
> +installation process. For detailed instructions on how to do so,
> +please see the  +url="https://wiki.debian.org/Init#Changing_the_init_system_-_at_installation_time;>Init
> +page on the Debian wiki.
> +
> +
> +  
> + 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @debian-l10n-english: How does this look like for you (especially the first 
> part, since review for the second part has already been done) ?
> 
> @debian-boot: any objections against this solution?
> 
> 
> 
> Holger
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Holger Wansing 
> PGP-Fingerprint: 496A C6E8 1442 4B34 8508  3529 59F1 87CA 156E B076
> 

Re: Finding a tentative bullseye release date

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Jul 17, 2021 at 10:25:17PM +0200, Paul Gevers wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> On 11-07-2021 21:11, Paul Gevers wrote:
> > With less than three weeks to go until the tentative release date, I
> > would love to confirm the date by now, but there is a serious issue with
> > crucial infrastructure (cdbuilder.d.o). Apart from this issue (and what
> > it means for solving the debian-installer blocking issues in time), I'm
> > not aware of other blocking issues, so let's hope the teams involved can
> > recover in time.
> 
> Albeit there is some progress, we think it better for the people
> involved to now say that we will *not* release on July 31.
> 
> Unfortunately, that means that we have to start looking for a new date
> again. Assuming what we'll learn in the upcoming week or two is good, I
> propose to already start the list below with two weeks after the
> previous date. Upcoming time is around DebConf, I can imagine it could
> even be an advantage, especially as that's on-line, let's see.
> 
> 14 August (day before DebCamp)
> 21 August (last day of DebCamp)
>   RT: elbrus
> 28 August (DebConf)
>   RT: elbrus
> 4 September
>   RT: elbrus
> 11 September:
>   RT: elbrus
> 
> Paul
> 

Count me for the same as Sledge and Andy Simpkings as far as the 28th goes
and I can't do anything without them. If we do have to postpone until Sept.
it'll be a shame but, hey, it's summer and stuff happens.

All best, as ever,

Andy C.

Re: Installer annoyance - a bug? [SOLVED - loop mount .iso images]

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Jun 07, 2021 at 05:23:47AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 06/06/2021 09:51 AM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> > On Sun, Jun 06, 2021 at 07:48:06AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > > There is *functional/quality/?* difference between an install from a
> > > physical CD/DVD and from an "equivalent" flash drive.
> > 
> > There's no functional difference: the .iso image is exactly the same.
> 
> YOU ARE IN ERROR!
> There IS a functional difference *BECAUSE* the the image is identical.
> There is a hard-coded ASSUMPTION that the installation medium is a physical
> DVD.
> 

There is no functional difference. None whatever.

I have just installed a machine from scratch using a flash drive with the
image of DVD1 written to it using dd.

-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 3972317184 Jun  7 16:19 debian-10.9.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso

The .iso images are hybrid - so bootable from either physical media or USB.

I used the expert install method. I disconnected any ethernet cables. I did
not include any firmware. When the installer detected network hardware, I let
DHCP fail and selected to not configure the network at this time.

I selected a minimum install set - text only, no GUI so unchecked the box
for a desktop environment, unchecked the box for printing but did select an
ssh server - when this is put on a network, I might want to SSH into it.

That installed a bare minimum - 116 packages or thereabouts.

I rebooted the machine, having removed the flash drive at the appropriate
point.

/etc/apt/sources.list referenced DVD1 - all other entries were commented out
because the machine had no network.

I then replaced the flash drive with DVD1 on once the machine had safely 
booted.

I ran the dmesg command as root to find out where the flash disk had been
mounted. On this machine it was /dev/sdc - the last line of the dmesg output.

I ran apt-cdrom add to see which mount point it needed the medium to be
mounted to. The default is /media/cdrom

I then loop mounted the drive to get access to the iso file system

mount -o loop -t iso9660 /dev/sdc /media/cdrom

cd /media/cdrom, type ls and you see the file structure of the iso file that
you booted from.

At that point, running apt-cdrom add and hitting enter a couple of times and
you can install packages e.g. apt install vim

umount /media/cdrom - unmounting the flash drive effectively - and you're 
done.

If you have other .iso files for DVD2, DVD3, DVD4 or whatever on a USB stick
do exactly the same for those .iso files.

If you then install a large metapackage like GNOME, you may be prompted to 
change disks - you now know how to do that.

If you want to get fancy, you can mount all four DVDs to different 
mount points and use apt-cdrom to add them all at once.

>From what I understand from your earlier posts on debian-user you don't like
loop mounting but it is the way to do this in the canonical way.

The files - and the installer - behave identically for physical disks or
for .iso images when loop mounted.

Hope this helps - glad to be of use to someone who searches for this again

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater





> > [SNIP]
> > > 
> > > Is there some way, during the initial installation, to drop to a terminal 
> > > to
> > > specify additional packages to be installed? As preseeding can do
> > > essentially the same thing the required framework must exist.
> > > 
> 
> Is there some way, during the initial installation, to drop to a terminal to
> specify additional packages to be installed?
> { As preseeding can do essentially the same thing the required framework
> must exist.}
> 
> The installation manual recognizes that flash drives exist but does not go
> far enough that the new user can have the same access to all the packages on
> THAT installation medium.
> 
> 
> 

Re: Installer annoyance - a bug?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Jun 06, 2021 at 07:48:06AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> There is *functional/quality/?* difference between an install from a
> physical CD/DVD and from an "equivalent" flash drive.

There's no functional difference: the .iso image is exactly the same.
An install from a physical CD/DVD boots from the boot sector there:
an install from a flash drive to which the image is copied boots from that.

> 
> I have a very atypical use case:
>   1. internet is *not* available to support installation.
>   2. my goal is what I consider a minimalist GUI
> 
> When I first used Squeeze:
>   1. an internet install was impractical as I was on dial-up.
>   2. physical CD/DVDs were readily available
>   3. after booting into a minimal command line system my custom
>  system could easily be installed using apt-get
> 
> Although I now have high speed connectivity, my data cap is low enough to
> strongly discourage ANY installation related internet usage.
> 
> I can easily install a command line system. BUT installing desired GUI
> components via apt-get is impossible because it searches for a
> *non-existent* physical CD/DVD.

This has been covered in detail on debian-user in various posts to/from you
and replies there.

If you use a physical DVD: at one point in the install, it asks if you want
to add another CD/DVD. If you physically eject the DVD at that point and 
put in a second DVD, the installer will read the index files from a second
or subsequent DVD. That's _exactly_ the same as "apt-cdrom add"

If you install from a single DVD image on a flash drive - you can complete 
the minimal command line GUI-less install without using the network.

In order to access the first DVD .iso on a flash drive afterwards, you need to 
use 
loop mount - that allows you to "read down" to the .iso file system, as 
it were.

If you have several CD/DVD images on one flash drive - you can mount any of them
using loop mount, use apt-cdrom add to add them and install files from them.

If you have a complicated install like GNOME and several other packages, you 
may be prompted to "insert" DVD2, DVD3 - loop mount them to the appropriate 
mount point - probably /media/cdrom -and then install from them.

If you use one of the larger images - the 16G iso image / the BD images - 
those are equivalent to a "large DVD" and can be written to media / a flash
drive. To create those, you (or someone else you trust) will need to use
jigdo files to build them because we don't routinely distribute images of
those sizes. It will act effectively as a large DVD.

Ask whoever provided you with phsyical DVDs to provide the files on a 
USB stick?
> 
> An install using a preseed file is possible but I find it cumbersome.
> 
> Is there some way, during the initial installation, to drop to a terminal to
> specify additional packages to be installed. As preseeding can do
> essentially the same thing the required framework must exist.
> 
> TIA
> 
> 

All best, as ever,

Andy C.

Re: jigdo

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Jun 05, 2021 at 08:02:40PM +, valentí juanola wrote:
> Cannot download via jigdo because
> 
> Jigdo downloads fail at address
> https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/jigdo-dvd/
> 
> file: debian-10.9.0-amd64-DVD-1.template
> from: https://laotzu.ftp.acc.umu.se(???)
> 
> Debian mirror [ftp://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/]:
> jigdo-file: loadlocale.c:130: _nl_intern_locale_data: Assertion `cnt <
> (sizeof (_nl_value_type_LC_TIME) / sizeof (_nl_value_type_LC_TIME[0]))'
> failed.
> jigdo-file: loadlocale.c:130: _nl_intern_locale_data: Assertion `cnt <
> (sizeof (_nl_value_type_LC_TIME) / sizeof (_nl_value_type_LC_TIME[0]))'
> failed.
> Error - template checksum mismatch!
> The .template file does not belong to the .jigdo file
> 
> Please help. Thank you. Val.

You've got a problem because the template file failed checksum - 
not necessarily anything else.

Download just the .jigdo file and then use jigdo-lite

If you don't already have the template file, jigdo-ltie will
download it for you.

Hope this helps,

Andy Cater

Re: Bug#988797: RC1 installation report

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 10:59:37AM +0200, Paul van der Vlis wrote:
> Op 19-05-2021 om 20:06 schreef Cyril Brulebois:
> > Goedendag Paul,
> > 
> > and thanks for your report.
> > 
> > Paul van der Vlis  (2021-05-19):
> 
> Correction, I did use: "pci=noaer", no capitals.
> 
> I guess this will become a problem on some machines.
> 
> > > 2. After the installation the sources.list had a "deb cdrom" line.
> > > Important to tell that I've used the official DVD ISO image. This
> > > problem was there too in Debian 10. I will add the sources.list.  I
> > > think most people who use a DVD-iso will use internet to install more
> > > packages, and will remove the DVD or stick. I sell Debian DVD's.
> > 
> > I think deactivating cdrom entries was implemented several release
> > cycles ago. That should be the case for both buster and bullseye at the
> > minimum (if memory serves).
> > 
> > Please share your /var/log/installer/syslog (compressed, due to bugs.d.o
> > and/or lists.d.o size limits) so that we can check what happens there?
> 
> Attached the installer-syslog (attached) of another machine. This is
> *always* the case with the DVD-version of the installer (not with the
> netinstaller!).
> 

>From a conversation with Steve McIntyre a while back: 

The netinst doesn't expect that you'll use any other medium other than
the 'Net to continue to install.

The DVD could be used in a standalone mode with no network access: in that
case a deb cdrom entry is useful (though latterly you get warning messages
about apt-secure when you try ot use it).

The deb cdrom entry is deliberate, I think - though it should probably 
come commented out.

All best,

Andy Cater


> I am a "Debian pre install vendor" and I also sell USB-sticks with Debian,
> so I have seen this really often.
> 
> With regards,
> Paul
> 
> -- 
> Paul van der Vlis Linux systeembeheer Groningen
> https://www.vandervlis.nl/

Re: moving graphical installer to GTK 3

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 08:54:29AM +0200, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
> On 5/20/21 12:54 AM, Steve McIntyre wrote:
> > Even if was decided to recommend that new users use live media for
> > installations, the flexibility of d-i is massively powerful, and we
> > shouldn't give up on it. The ability to support everything from a
> > serial terminal up to a graphical installer on the same media is
> > lovely.
> 
> Yes, debian-installer is a fantastic piece of software and the right installer
> for a distribution that can be installed on everything, from a toaster to an
> IBM zSeries mainframe. And it's fun hacking the codebase.
> 
> We can still use Calamares for the live-medium to suit non-expert users.
> 
> Adrian
> 

A working text mode installer is the safest way to install the largest number
of systems but it does look complicated to many people and somewhat dated to
others. It works, though, and text mode installs on other Linux variants
are similar..

A working GTK version tied into d-i is the next best: when things get tough
or configurations are fairly non-standard, there's always the expert mode
to help debug.

IMHO, Calamares and live-install media are not currently supportable given the
level of developer effort and the method of live-building currently used. If
we _really_ want to put effort into live install media we'll need more devs
doing it and a consistent level of support that we haven't at the minute -
see discussions on -devel referenced earlier, I think.

All best,

Andy Cater

> -- 
>  .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> : :' :  Debian Developer - glaub...@debian.org
> `. `'   Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaub...@physik.fu-berlin.de
>   `-GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
> 

Re: Extracting documentation from Debian installer

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, May 13, 2021 at 05:08:33AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 05/12/2021 03:09 PM, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> > Steve McIntyre  (2021-05-12):
> > > So look around the other projects under the installer-team umbrella.
> > > The same still applies for messages in the installation - look in the
> > > templates files.
> > 
> > The translation process implies gathering all templates into a central
> > location, which might make it easy to spot the exact wording, and also
> > where it comes from.
> 
> If that is true, it will solve not only my immediate problem but resolve a
> larger loosely related issue. I've been poking at an idea for something
> analogous to a FAQ but made up of questions I've had but haven't seen
> addressed.
> 
> > 
> > See the packages/po directory in this git repository:
> >https://salsa.debian.org/installer-team/d-i/
> > 
> > Grepping into sublevel*/templates.pot for strings in English should give
> > results quite rapidly, and filenames/source packages should be easy to
> > spot in the comments.
> 
> I don't immediately see how to do that.
> This is the first time I've encountered https://salsa.debian.org, I'll be
> exploring its help section which appears to be encouragingly extensive.
> 
> Is there a shortcut to how to follow your suggestion?
> Thank you.
> 

Hi Richard,

>From the README:

--
  This is the main directory of the debian-installer project.
--

It is coordinated on the debian-boot mailing list, debian-boot@lists.debian.org
(Go to http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/subscribe#debian-boot to subscribe).

How to get started?
===

  To check out d-i, you will need Git, as well as the `mr`
  command. `mr` is in the `mr` package, or see
  

  First, check out the base d-i repository. If you have an account on
  salsa, use ssh:

 git clone g...@salsa.debian.org:installer-team/d-i.git

  Or for an anonymous checkout:

 git clone https://salsa.debian.org/installer-team/d-i.git

 Now run these commands to check out the rest of the installer, from git:

 cd d-i
 ./scripts/git-setup
 mr checkout

  Then see the docs in d-i/installer/doc. If you just want to build
  bootable images, see d-i/installer/build/README. If you don't
  understand something, post to debian-boot@lists.debian.org.

Daily builds:
=

  See http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer for locations
  of daily built images.

More information
===

  For more information about the debian-installer project please check
  out the following pages:


  http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ -- Project page at w.d.o

  http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller  -- Project page in wiki.debian.org

  Up-to-date information on how to checkout the repository might
  be found at http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/CheckOut
(END)


> 
> > 
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > 
> 
> 

Hope this helps, all best, as ever

Andy C.

Re: Extracting documentation from Debian installer

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Wed, May 12, 2021 at 07:53:24AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 05/10/2021 11:02 AM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> > On Mon, May 10, 2021 at 10:00:01AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > > On 05/10/2021 09:32 AM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> > > > On Mon, May 10, 2021 at 08:18:06AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > > > > Debian's goal might be described as providing "the most power to a 
> > > > > maximally
> > > > > diverse audience". My underlying problem is that it does that *TOO* 
> > > > > well.
> > > > > 
> > > > > I need two types of information that I doubt are documented anywhere 
> > > > > except
> > > > > in the source code.
> > > > > 
> > > > > I.  Text of error/cautionary messages.
> > > > >   Specifically, what is the _exact_ text of the message given 
> > > > > when the
> > > > >   operator chooses to install neither Grub nor LILO.
> > > > > II. Content of menus presented to the operator.
> > > > >   Early in the installation a list of optional auxiliary programs 
> > > > > is
> > > > >   presented. I don't recognize any of the names, but if I looked 
> > > > > them
> > > > >   up I might find something very useful.
> > > > 
> > > > Which image?
> > > > 
> > > > Which machine architecture?
> > > > 
> > > > Which intended boot method - Legacy/MBR or UEFI?
> > > > 
> > > > The nature of the message will be "bootloader not found" but it depends
> > > > very much on WHICH boot loader you don't install.
> > > > 
> > > > What sort of things in terms of optional auxiliary programs at which 
> > > > stage?
> > > > Bearing in mind that you can take screenshots from an installer in-a VM
> > > > have you tried this?
> > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > "If you like more flexibility or just want to know what's going on 
> > > > > ..."
> > > > >Section 4.3.3  of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide"
> > > > > 
> > > > > TIA
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Andy C - seeking info from you, as ever :)
> > > 
> > > I've only used i386 and AMD64 installers.
> > > I asked to be directed to *SOURCE* code.
> > > 
> > 
> > debian-installer/packages/grub-installer/debian is your starting point
> 
> Using the MATE search tool I don't find such a directory.
> Is that a portion of a URL under debian.org?
> 
> > 
> > The templates file inside there gives you your questions and answers
> > 
> > grub-installer.templates is the file you need, I think.
> 
> What I'm looking for  would more likely be more toward the main program
> level.
> 
> Someone suggested running the installer under a VM to be able to grab an
> image of menus/messages of interest. I've never used a VM. Is there one
> recommended for a first time user? I have a machine dedicated to experiments
> so no valuable data is threatened.
> 
> 
> > [snip]
> 
That's from a git clone of debian-installer source code and a dig through.

It does depend what you want to do in a VM: you probably need a fair 
amount of memory. I quite like using virt-manager under a graphical 
environment - it's relatively easy to navigate. If you also have ovmf
installed, then you get UEFI.

I could potentially do this for you, if you really wanted.

All best,

Andy C.

Re: Extracting documentation from Debian installer

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, May 10, 2021 at 10:00:01AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 05/10/2021 09:32 AM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> > On Mon, May 10, 2021 at 08:18:06AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > > Debian's goal might be described as providing "the most power to a 
> > > maximally
> > > diverse audience". My underlying problem is that it does that *TOO* well.
> > > 
> > > I need two types of information that I doubt are documented anywhere 
> > > except
> > > in the source code.
> > > 
> > > I.  Text of error/cautionary messages.
> > >  Specifically, what is the _exact_ text of the message given when the
> > >  operator chooses to install neither Grub nor LILO.
> > > II. Content of menus presented to the operator.
> > >  Early in the installation a list of optional auxiliary programs is
> > >  presented. I don't recognize any of the names, but if I looked them
> > >  up I might find something very useful.
> > 
> > Which image?
> > 
> > Which machine architecture?
> > 
> > Which intended boot method - Legacy/MBR or UEFI?
> > 
> > The nature of the message will be "bootloader not found" but it depends
> > very much on WHICH boot loader you don't install.
> > 
> > What sort of things in terms of optional auxiliary programs at which stage?
> > Bearing in mind that you can take screenshots from an installer in-a VM
> > have you tried this?
> > 
> > > 
> > > "If you like more flexibility or just want to know what's going on ..."
> > >   Section 4.3.3  of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide"
> > > 
> > > TIA
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > Andy C - seeking info from you, as ever :)
> 
> I've only used i386 and AMD64 installers.
> I asked to be directed to *SOURCE* code.
> 

debian-installer/packages/grub-installer/debian is your starting point

The templates file inside there gives you your questions and answers

grub-installer.templates is the file you need, I think.

e.g.

Template: grub-installer/apt-install-failed
Type: error
# :sl2:
_Description: GRUB installation failed
 The '${GRUB}' package failed to install into /target/. Without the GRUB
 boot loader, the installed system will not boot.

Template: grub-installer/grub-install-failed
Type: error
# :sl2:
_Description: Unable to install GRUB in ${BOOTDEV}
 Executing 'grub-install ${BOOTDEV}' failed.
 .
 This is a fatal error.

Template: grub-installer/update-grub-failed
Type: error
# :sl2:
_Description: Unable to configure GRUB
 Executing 'update-grub' failed.
 .
 This is a fatal error.

as examples.

So those will return you to the menu, I think, at that point.

The installer is mostly built as cdebconf. The logs you need from an install
are under /var/log/installer

Hope this helps,

Andy C.

Re: Extracting documentation from Debian installer

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, May 10, 2021 at 08:18:06AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> Debian's goal might be described as providing "the most power to a maximally
> diverse audience". My underlying problem is that it does that *TOO* well.
> 
> I need two types of information that I doubt are documented anywhere except
> in the source code.
> 
> I.  Text of error/cautionary messages.
> Specifically, what is the _exact_ text of the message given when the
> operator chooses to install neither Grub nor LILO.
> II. Content of menus presented to the operator.
> Early in the installation a list of optional auxiliary programs is
> presented. I don't recognize any of the names, but if I looked them
> up I might find something very useful.

Which image?

Which machine architecture?

Which intended boot method - Legacy/MBR or UEFI?

The nature of the message will be "bootloader not found" but it depends
very much on WHICH boot loader you don't install. 

What sort of things in terms of optional auxiliary programs at which stage?
Bearing in mind that you can take screenshots from an installer in-a VM
have you tried this?

> 
> "If you like more flexibility or just want to know what's going on ..."
>  Section 4.3.3  of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide"
> 
> TIA
> 
> 

Andy C - seeking info from you, as ever :)

Re: Is _Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide_ current?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, May 07, 2021 at 09:46:47AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I wish to install Debian 10 on a laptop with no internet connectivity
> following instructions at
> 
> https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch04s03.en.html#usb-copy-flexible
> 
> The system I'm using to prepare the flash drive is running Debian 9.13 {the
> i386 flavor IIRC}
> 
> It responds
> > root@defaultinstall:/home/richard# install-mbr /dev/sdc
> > install-mbr:/dev/sdc: Probable detection of modern MBR format which is 
> > currently
> > incompatible with install-mbr.  Installing will probably break Windows 
> > installations
> > on this system.  Use --force to override.
> 
> Is this expected?
> TIA
> 
The Debian install guide is probably correct - but don't do this.

Use the Linux laptop to dd the DVD to a USB stick. Boot from that. 

Doing magic installing/copying files is far more error-prone. The message
you give may even be because of the USB stick format if it's a new stick.

Assuming that the new laptop is 64 bit capable, take a USB stick that's 8G
or greater and dd the amd64 DVD1 to it and boot from it assuming that the
laptop will do so. Likewise, on the new laptop, set it to use UEFI if it 
will. You are likely to have fewer problems and MBR/Legacy boot will
probably disappear from all machines sometime during the life of Debian 11.

All best, as ever,

Andy C.

> 

Re: Tentative summary of the AMD/ATI/NVidia issue

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 12:18:03PM +0100, Rebecca N. Palmer wrote:
> Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> > getting my hands on relevant hardware is in progress
> 
> Note that https://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2021/04/msg00247.html implies
> the affected hardware is _not_ simply "all AMD/ATI or NVidia hardware".  Do
> we know of hardware that is reproducibly affected?
> 
> YunQiang Su wrote:
> > The problem is that:
> > the older version of GNOME, or Mate, can work with vesa driver,
> > while current GNOME cannot.
> 
> Do non-GNOME-based desktops work (either KDE, or one of the
> lightweight/for-old-hardware ones e.g. icewm), or is the problem further
> down the stack?
> 
> Though even if these do work, the performance penalty of using vesa may well
> be too large for this to be a good solution.
> 

>From looking earlier and response to Holger from my bug report:

if you are using UEFI, then there is an EFI VGA fallback mode - which might
be the same as VESA - so in my case is 800x600x16 or so.

With my AMD machines - requiring firmware-amd-graphics == older Radeon,
if the firmware is not there, then the machines will fall back to EFI VGA 
graphics mode.

If the firmware is there, they will transfer to radeondrmfb framebuffer
device.

So for _one_ set of AMD hardware and specific radeon drivers, there exists
a fallback mode, irrespective of graphical environment, I think.

All best,

Andy C.

Re: [AMD/ATI graphics] Missing firmware not declared / kernel modules not included in initrd

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 10:26:42AM +0200, Holger Wansing wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Holger Wansing  wrote (Sun, 25 Apr 2021 10:08:32 +0200):
> > >I don't understand:
> > >does this mean that the issue that you reported in
> > >https://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2020/12/msg00026.html can be
> > >considered fixed? And that the situation improved between buster and
> > >bullseye?
> > 
> > For this (old) hardware: yes, seems so.
> > 
> > However, we have several user reports, that not installed firmware leads to 
> > problems 
> > like black or garbled screen.
> 
> To be more clear:
> 
> The main point of my report at
> https://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2020/12/msg00026.html ist:
> the installer is - per design - unable to detect, that the hardware needs
> firmware to be installed.
> 
> And this situation did not change!
> 
> The bullseye installation yesterday did not install the firmware package.
> 
> What seems to have changed is:
> GNOME seems to work (at least on this hardware !!!), even without the 
> firmware 
> installed.
> 
> (Also: Look at the other reports I quoted in my mail above for more user 
> cases.)
> 
> 
> Holger
> 

Adding to this, if I may. 

I've got two machines which both turn out to need firmware-amd-graphics
rather than the more modern firmware-amdgpu.

Installing with Bullsye RC1 netinst for amd64 but NOT the unofficial firmware 
version. debian-bullseye-DI-rc1-amd64-netinst.iso 

Even on an expert text mode install.the installer does not prompt for the 
firmware-amd-graphics package to be installed - it does complain about 
Realtek ethernet drivers and a Ralink WiFi card suggesting that you install 
the firmware for these. Booting the install medium does show, in passing,
in text that you need Radeon firmware R600 for modesetting.

If you _do not_ install the firmware, then on these two machines at least
there is a fallback mode to 800x600x16 so graphics remains (just) usable.
GNOME and Wayland work but it's not really practicable.

AT that point, you can install firmware-amd-graphics and it just works.
The meta-package which does this is firmware-linux-nonfree which also includes 
amd64-microcode

Once the firmwre is installed, these machines will drive a 2k monitor

This is explicitly NOT amdgpu which is where people are reporting black 
screens and no output whatsoever, I think.

Hope this helps,

Andy C.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Holger Wansing 
> PGP-Fingerprint: 496A C6E8 1442 4B34 8508  3529 59F1 87CA 156E B076
> 

Bug#987492: installation-reports: Successful upgrade of Bullseye from Buster

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Package: installation-reports
Severity: normal

(Please provide enough information to help the Debian
maintainers evaluate the report efficiently - e.g., by filling
in the sections below.)

Boot method: Upgrade from buster
Image version: 
Date: 

Machine: Thinkpad T470
Partitions: 


Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Initial boot:   [O ]
Detect network card:[O ]
Configure network:  [O ]
Detect media:   [O ]
Load installer modules: [O ]
Clock/timezone setup:   [O ]
User/password setup:[O ]
Detect hard drives: [O ]
Partition hard drives:  [O ]
Install base system:[O ]
Install tasks:  [O ]
Install boot loader:[O ]
Overall install:[O ]

Comments/Problems:



Upgrade from Buster -> Bullseye - all successful with no particular problems. 
Used apt-get to do the upgrade and apt-get autoremove after reboot.

Please make sure that any installation logs that you think would
be useful are attached to this report. Please compress large
files using gzip.


-- Package-specific info:

==
Installer lsb-release:
==
DISTRIB_ID=Debian
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Debian GNU/Linux installer"
DISTRIB_RELEASE="10 (buster) - installer build 20190702+deb10u4"
X_INSTALLATION_MEDIUM=cdrom

==
Installer hardware-summary:
==
uname -a: Linux T470 4.19.0-9-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.118-2 (2020-04-29) 
x86_64 GNU/Linux
lspci -knn: 00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Skylake Host 
Bridge/DRAM Registers [8086:1904] (rev 08)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation HD 
Graphics 520 [8086:1916] (rev 07)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP 
USB 3.0 xHCI Controller [8086:9d2f] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: xhci_pci
lspci -knn: 00:14.2 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation 
Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem [8086:9d31] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Sunrise 
Point-LP CSME HECI #1 [8086:9d3a] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:16.3 Serial controller [0700]: Intel Corporation Device 
[8086:9d3d] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: serial
lspci -knn: 00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9d10] 
(rev f1)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1c.6 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI 
Express Root Port #7 [8086:9d16] (rev f1)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1d.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI 
Express Root Port #9 [8086:9d18] (rev f1)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1d.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9d1a] 
(rev f1)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP LPC 
Controller [8086:9d48] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:1f.2 Memory controller [0580]: Intel Corporation Sunrise 
Point-LP PMC [8086:9d21] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD 
Audio [8086:9d70] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:1f.4 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus 
[8086:9d23] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:1f.6 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet 
Connection I219-LM [8086:156f] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: e1000e
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: e1000e
lspci -knn: 04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 8260 
[8086:24f3] (rev 3a)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0010]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: iwlwifi
lspci -knn: 3e:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Lenovo Device 
[17aa:0003]
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:1003]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: nvme
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: nvme
usb-list: 
usb-list: Bus 01 Device 01: xHCI Host Controller [1d6b:0002]
usb-list:Level 00 Parent 00 Port 00  Class 09(hub  ) Subclass 00 Protocol 01
usb-list:Manufacturer: Linux 4.19.0-9-amd64 xhci-hcd
usb-list:Interface 00: Class 09(hub  ) Subclass 00 Protocol 00 Driver hub

Bug#987491: installation-reports: Successful install AMD A6 - nonfree AMD Radeon firmware needed

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Package: installation-reports
Severity: normal

(Please provide enough information to help the Debian
maintainers evaluate the report efficiently - e.g., by filling
in the sections below.)

Boot method: USB
Image version: 
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/bullseye_di_rc1/amd64/iso-cd/debian-bullseye-DI-rc1-amd64-netinst.iso
Date: 

Machine: Zoostorm MSI Motherboard AMD A6-3670 APU
Partitions: 


Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Initial boot:   [O ]
Detect network card:[O ]
Configure network:  [O ]
Detect media:   [O ]
Load installer modules: [O ]
Clock/timezone setup:   [O ]
User/password setup:[O ]
Detect hard drives: [O ]
Partition hard drives:  [O ]
Install base system:[O ]
Install tasks:  [O ]
Install boot loader:[O ]
Overall install:[O ]

Comments/Problems:

Requires non-free Radeon drivers for r600 - firmware-amd-graphics




Please make sure that any installation logs that you think would
be useful are attached to this report. Please compress large
files using gzip.


-- Package-specific info:

==
Installer lsb-release:
==
DISTRIB_ID=Debian
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Debian GNU/Linux installer"
DISTRIB_RELEASE="10 (buster) - installer build 20190702+deb10u4"
X_INSTALLATION_MEDIUM=cdrom

==
Installer hardware-summary:
==
uname -a: Linux T470 4.19.0-9-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.118-2 (2020-04-29) 
x86_64 GNU/Linux
lspci -knn: 00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Skylake Host 
Bridge/DRAM Registers [8086:1904] (rev 08)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation HD 
Graphics 520 [8086:1916] (rev 07)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP 
USB 3.0 xHCI Controller [8086:9d2f] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: xhci_pci
lspci -knn: 00:14.2 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation 
Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem [8086:9d31] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Sunrise 
Point-LP CSME HECI #1 [8086:9d3a] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:16.3 Serial controller [0700]: Intel Corporation Device 
[8086:9d3d] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: serial
lspci -knn: 00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9d10] 
(rev f1)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1c.6 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI 
Express Root Port #7 [8086:9d16] (rev f1)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1d.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI 
Express Root Port #9 [8086:9d18] (rev f1)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1d.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9d1a] 
(rev f1)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP LPC 
Controller [8086:9d48] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:1f.2 Memory controller [0580]: Intel Corporation Sunrise 
Point-LP PMC [8086:9d21] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD 
Audio [8086:9d70] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:1f.4 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus 
[8086:9d23] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: 00:1f.6 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet 
Connection I219-LM [8086:156f] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2245]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: e1000e
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: e1000e
lspci -knn: 04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 8260 
[8086:24f3] (rev 3a)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0010]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: iwlwifi
lspci -knn: 3e:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Lenovo Device 
[17aa:0003]
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:1003]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: nvme
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: nvme
usb-list: 
usb-list: Bus 01 Device 01: xHCI Host Controller [1d6b:0002]
usb-list:Level 00 Parent 00 Port 00  Class 09(hub  ) Subclass 00 Protocol 01
usb-list:Manufacturer: Linux 4.19.0-9-amd64 xhci-hcd
usb-list:Interface 00: Class 09(hub  ) 

Re: Finding a tentative bullseye release date

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 09:25:09PM +0200, Paul Gevers wrote:
> Hi Cyril,
> 
> On 23-04-2021 15:13, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> >> Seems like our current best option is May 22 if you can make it.
> > 
> > That's definitely not what I would call “best option” from an
> > installer point of view.
> 
> I hear you. So, I fear that we're getting into a situation where
> everything except the installer is more or less ready for the bullseye
> release. (Well assuming the shim is signed any time soon).
> 
> > D-I Bullseye RC 1 was published a few hours ago. And at the risk of
> > sounding like a broken record: I have *absolutely no guarantee* to
> > have a fix or workaround for the amdgpu issue in less than a month,
> > that would be tested somewhat.
> > 
> > Can we please *not* release with black screens for AMD users?
> 
> Indeed, let's not. But can't we get the full Debian community on board
> to search for good solution? I have the feeling there's much interest to
> release sooner rather than late, so maybe there's brains we can use to
> help the installer forward? I'm going to draft a bits shortly, is there
> a bug number or mail thread we can point at?
> 
> Also, I recognize that the debian-installer is largely handled by you
> alone. I estimate that it's not going to help you on the short term if
> people volunteer to help with the coding as you would be spending time
> on on-boarding them. So, how can we, the Debian Community, help you
> getting the installer in releasable shape? I can think of testing RC1,
> but what else? Do you have the right hardware available for the amdgpu
> issue? Can people try out solutions for you? Tell us, or tell us how to
> find out.
> 

I've got the right hardware to try with an older AMD card (radeon firmware)
and a newer one (amdgpu) - that's not so much the problem, it's that users
will expect it to "just work" and it's quite hard to see ahead of time 
whether it will or not. GPUs and installing over WiFi - if we could sort
that, we'd be golden.

Andy C.

> That said, I still think it's good to keep May 22 in the agenda as an
> option to do the release, with the remark that we'll not release when
> we're not ready (as Debian always does).
> 
> Paul
> 

Re: Debian Installer Bullseye RC 1 release

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 04:39:59PM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> Andrew M.A. Cater  (2021-04-23):
> > Unfortunately, the website links to media still only point to the
> > Alpha-3 release :(
> 
> I'm pretty sure I've both checked after triggering a website rebuild
> and right now, and I'm seeing rc1 links all over the place.
> 
> Which pages, which links, and what does www.debian.org resolve to on
> your side?
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> -- 
> Cyril Brulebois (k...@debian.org)<https://debamax.com/>
> D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

There now, All looks good kibi 

All the very best,

Andy C.

Re: Debian Installer Bullseye RC 1 release

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Unfortunately, the website links to media still only point to the Alpha-3 
release :(

All best,

Andy C

Re: why doesn't d-i include firmware-b43-installer and firmware-b43legacy-installer?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Wed, Apr 14, 2021 at 09:13:20AM +0200, Tomas Pospisek wrote:
> In #740499 Chris Bainbridge writes that:
> 
> > [...] but firmware-7.4.0-amd64-netinst.iso does not contain
> > Broadcom firmware (at least not b43).
> 
> I can see that there are firmware packages for Broadcom b43 in contrib:
> 
> https://packages.debian.org/search?suite=bullseye=all=any=names=firmware-b
> 
> Could anybody in the known comment why those firmware packages are not
> included in the non-free installer images? Is there anything preventing
> their inclusion? Or asked in a different way: could they be included so the
> Debian installer supports the users with that hardware?
> 
> Thanks,
> *t
> 

I think this is because this is the infamous Broadcom chipset which uses a
firmware cutter script to extract the blob needed from something like a 
Windows driver - it's not something we can distribute and this is the 
only way round it.

So the script is in contrib because it depends on something that we can't
package as non-free but can be accessed over the web.

As ever, WiFi hardware is difficult - if you can once install using Ethernet /
a cable to a Wifi point then you're fixed.

Hope this helps,

Andy C

Re: Issues with bullseye installer, graphics related

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Feb 20, 2021 at 10:04:28AM +0100, Fab Stz wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I just tried to install testing/bullseye from DVD (image of 15/02/2021)
> 
> I faced 2 problems related to graphics. This is in BIOS mode (didn't try in 
> UEFI mode)
> 
You state lower down that you needed to install amdgpu firmware. If there is 
no data on the machine that you must keep and you can boot in UEFI mode: redo
the install with UEFI and see if this improves. "Modern" cards from the last
few years often require UEFI in subtle ways.

You may want to try the unofficial non-free installer at 
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/weekly-builds/amd64/iso-dvd/
which includes firmware. Any firmware it doesn't include on the image itself 
can best be isntalled by adding the metapackages firmware-linux-nonfree and 
firmware-misc-nonfree.

> - The GUI of the installer doesn't display well, it is completely weird in 
> such a way it is not possible to understand what is displayed. Workaround for 
> me was to add vga=794 or vga=791. I also faced that problem with buster 
> installer.
> 
> - At 1st bootup, the kernel says amdgpu firmware is missing. Then the system 
> doesn't enter/start sddm (the GUI). I had to install the firmware manually to 
> make it work.
> Actually the kernel also asked for r8168 firmware which I added too.
> Is the installer supposed to install them automatically ? (non-free packages 
> were enabled at install time)
> 

The standard installer has a step which asks whether non-free firmware needs 
to be installed. At that point, you would install the firmware from a USB 
stick or similar see https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware

> System runs on Asus PRIME B450M-A Motherboard with AMD Athlon200GE CPU (with 
> integrated Vega graphics = Raven 0x1002:0x15DD)
> Monitor is 17", max resolution 1280x1024
> 
> I did accept "non-free" packages during setup since it is in apt/sources.list
> 
> Do you think this is considered an issue or is it by design ? Should this be 
> fixed ? Should I file a bugreport ? In this case towards which package ? 
> "debian-installer" ?
> 

Hope this helps, all the best

Andy

> Thank you
> Fab
> 
> 
> 

Re: [AMD/ATI graphics] Missing firmware not declared / kernel modules not included in initrd

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Feb 14, 2021 at 12:53:01PM +0100, Holger Wansing wrote:
> Hallo Karl-Heinz,
> 
> no surprise, that the problem is still there, because nothing has been done
> against it yet :-((
> 
> There has been a lot of discussion in some mailinglist on this topic, however
> there seems to be not much interest in the installer-team apparently, to do 
> some
> changing (or maybe with other words: lack of manpower prevents the team from 
> fixing this).
> 
> I sent a proposal to debian-boot for this, but got no answer (neither positiv
> nor negativ) ...
> 
The problem may be that you need to install firmware-amd-graphics which isn't
on the boot media. If you can boot into rescue mode / a text only mode by
moving to a different console (or by using ssh to log in from another machine)
install that package.

This is so for most modern cards from AMD. I hit this the other day
when upgrading a machine and replacing a graphics card.

If you do a text mode expert install - which I would recommend in the 
event of graphics card problems as a fail-safe - then at the point at
which there is a prompt for additional firmware, you can insert it then.

If the machine is NOT booting using UEFI, then you may be on your own - as
some people have reported problems because cards expect UEFI to be present
in order to hook in to UEFI to boot.

Hope this helps,

Andy C.




> 
> Holger
> 
> 
> 
> Karl-Heinz Künzel  wrote (Sun, 14 Feb 2021 
> 12:27:46 +0100):
> > Am 01.01.21 um 21:49 schrieb Holger Wansing:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > Karl-Heinz Künzel  wrote:
> > >> Am 01.01.21 um 20:26 schrieb Holger Wansing:
> > >>> To complete your upgrade from Buster to Bullseye: did you now installed
> > >>> "firmware-misc-nonfree" (from non-free), to see, if it then works 
> > >>> correctly
> > >>> with a Bullseye kernel, too?
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> Holger
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> No, but just did it. Booted 4.19, installed "firmware-misc-nonfree" and
> > >> rebooted with 5.9 and it is working.
> > >
> > > That's good.
> > >
> > >
> > >> But Holger, that is not the way, as I understand, it should work.
> > >>
> > >> I used 'debian-bullseye-DI-alpha3-amd64-netinst.iso' and firmware from
> > >> http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/firmware/bullseye/current/
> > >> on second stick.
> > >>
> > >> and
> > >>
> > >> 'firmware-bullseye-DI-alpha3-amd64-netinst.iso' with no success.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> The problem, as I understand, is with the alpha3 installer, but please
> > >> correct me, if I am wrong.
> > >
> > > You think so, because you can install Debian Buster without problems, 
> > > right?
> > >
> > > But the reason, why the Bullseye installation fails, lies in the new 
> > > kernel
> > > resp. the new graphics driver version. They enforce the firmware to be 
> > > existing
> > > to make graphic output work.
> > > In the old 4.19 kernel this was a bit more relaxed (firmware not strictly
> > > required).
> > >
> > > The installer has a conceptional problem here:
> > > the installer detects, if firmware is needed, when a kernel module is 
> > > loaded,
> > > and then you are asked to provide the firmware via an usb stick or 
> > > similar.
> > >
> > > However the specific kernel modules for those modern graphic cards are not
> > > included in the installer environment. Because of that the installer is
> > > unable to detect, that you have hardware in your pc, which requires
> > > firmware files.
> > >
> > > That's what I pointed out in the mailinglist post under
> > > https://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2020/12/msg00026.html
> > >
> > > So, with the concept we currently have in the installer, this is the 
> > > expected
> > > behaviour at the moment ...
> > >
> > >
> > > Holger
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > Hi Holger.
> > 
> > Sorry for coming back to this issue again.
> > 
> > Bullseye is now in software freeze and today I did another test
> > installation with a fresh [ISO] debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso from 
> > here
> > 
> > https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/amd64/iso-cd/
> > 
> > Same like before, grub and then a black screen.
> > 
> > And my GeForce GT 1030 is not so unusual 
> > 
> > Any idea, when this will be fixed?
> 
> 
> -- 
> Holger Wansing 
> PGP-Fingerprint: 496A C6E8 1442 4B34 8508  3529 59F1 87CA 156E B076
> 

Bug#980777: FIT-PC: Fails to find driver for Ethernet, Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Jan 23, 2021 at 05:03:35PM -0700, Charles Curley wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 20:07:22 +
> "Andrew M.A. Cater"  wrote:
> 
> > > > 8.6 is old - I'd be surprised that 10.7 firmware iso wouldn't
> > > > work.  
> > > 
> > > I didn't try 10.x. 8.6 was what I had handy, i.e. it came up first
> > > in the midden. However, debian-10.4.0-i386-netinst.iso also fails
> > > to detect the NIC and gives the shortened menu of drivers to try.
> > > 
> > > -- 
> > > Does anybody read signatures any more?
> > > 
> > > https://charlescurley.com
> > > https://charlescurley.com/blog/  
> > 
> > Firmware-linux-free is usually installed by default. I would
> > sincerely suggest that you try 10.7 unless you want to wait until
> > 10.8 comes out (scheduled for the weekend of 6th February 2021.
> > 
> > I think you just hit a problematic install - I've had laptops with
> > that particular Realtek Ethernet and they're normally just found.
> > 
> > All best, as ever,
> > 
> > Andy C.
> 
> I tried 10.7. Same problem.
> 
> This time I am attaching the syslog to this email.
> 
> I then did a search on the syslog, and got this:
> 
> root@hawk:/media/disk# grep 8139 syslog 
> Jan 23 23:11:36 kernel: [0.416093] pci :00:0d.0: [10ec:8139] type 00 
> class 0x02
> Jan 23 23:11:36 kernel: [0.416722] pci :00:0e.0: [10ec:8139] type 00 
> class 0x02
> Jan 23 23:11:36 kernel: [   22.813925] usb 1-1.2: Product: DataTraveler 2.0
> root@hawk:/media/disk# 
> 
> On another FIT-PC which is running Bullseye:
> 
> root@white:/var/log/apt# dmesg | grep 8139
> [   10.897167] pci :00:0d.0: [10ec:8139] type 00 class 0x02
> [   10.898147] pci :00:0e.0: [10ec:8139] type 00 class 0x02
> [   44.971388] 8139cp: 8139cp: 10/100 PCI Ethernet driver v1.3 (Mar 22, 2004)
> [   44.979230] 8139cp :00:0d.0: This (id 10ec:8139 rev 10) is not an 
> 8139C+ compatible chip, use 8139too
> [   45.141373] 8139cp :00:0e.0: This (id 10ec:8139 rev 10) is not an 
> 8139C+ compatible chip, use 8139too
> [   45.438841] 8139too: 8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.28
> [   45.534101] 8139too :00:0d.0 eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0xccfc2a96, 
> 00:01:c0:03:f4:11, IRQ 10
> [   45.729725] 8139too :00:0e.0 eth1: RealTek RTL8139 at 0x2e6d8dc8, 
> 00:01:c0:03:d8:78, IRQ 5
> [   48.858651] 8139too :00:0e.0 enp0s14: renamed from eth1
> [   48.960869] 8139too :00:0d.0 enp0s13: renamed from eth0
> [   56.400301] 8139too :00:0d.0 enp0s13: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, 
> lpa 0xC5E1
> root@white:/var/log/apt# 
> 
> Considerably different.
> 
> 
OK. This might be a bug in the i386 iso - as you've seen, we can't test all
i386 easily. This might just be a regression. Given that we're about to release 
10.8 on Feb 6th, can I suggest that you send a mail into debian-boot
(or debian cd) referencing the bug number and including the syslog entries 
above.

These are the machines with Geode but limited to 256M memory? As a matter of
interest, what are you using them for - what's the use case - because 256M
is marginal now, I think.

All best,

Andy C.


> 
> 
> -- 
> Does anybody read signatures any more?
> 
> https://charlescurley.com
> https://charlescurley.com/blog/

Bug#980777: FIT-PC: Fails to find driver for Ethernet, Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 05:01:52PM -0700, Charles Curley wrote:
> 
> Package: installation-reports
> Severity: normal
> X-Debbugs-Cc: charlescur...@charlescurley.com
> 
> Dear Maintainer,
> 
> Please see Comments/Problems below.
> 
> -- Package-specific info:
> 
> Boot method: DVD
> Image version: debian-bullseye-DI-alpha3-i386-DVD-1.iso
> Date: Jan 20 2021 16:36 MST
> 
> Machine: FIT-PC 1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fit-PC#fit-PC_1.0
> Partitions: 
> 
> root@white:~# df -Tl
> Filesystem Type  Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
> udev   devtmpfs  108M 0  108M   0% /dev
> tmpfs  tmpfs  23M  560K   22M   3% /run
> /dev/sda6  ext2   55G  1.1G   51G   3% /
> tmpfs  tmpfs 111M 0  111M   0% /dev/shm
> tmpfs  tmpfs 5.0M 0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
> tmpfs  tmpfs 4.0M 0  4.0M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
> /dev/sda1  ext2  236M   20M  204M   9% /boot
> tmpfs  tmpfs  23M 0   23M   0% /run/user/0
> /dev/sdb   vfat  1.4M  209K  1.2M  15% /media/disk
> /dev/sdc1  vfat  2.0G  1.2G  748M  62% /mnt
> root@white:~# fdisk -l /dev/sda
> Disk /dev/sda: 55.89 GiB, 60011642880 bytes, 117210240 sectors
> Disk model: Hitachi HTS54166
> Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> Disklabel type: dos
> Disk identifier: 0x0005c92c
> 
> Device Boot   Start   End   Sectors  Size Id Type
> /dev/sda1  *   2048499711497664  243M 83 Linux
> /dev/sda2501758 117209087 116707330 55.7G  5 Extended
> /dev/sda5501760   1445887944128  461M 82 Linux swap / Solaris
> /dev/sda6   1447936 117209087 115761152 55.2G 83 Linux
> root@white:~# 
> 
> 
> Base System Installation Checklist:
> [O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
> 
> Initial boot:   [O]
> Detect network card:[E]
> Configure network:  [ ]
> Detect media:   [O]
> Load installer modules: [O]
> Clock/timezone setup:   [ ]
> User/password setup:[O]
> Detect hard drives: [O]
> Partition hard drives:  [E]
> Install base system:[O]
> Install tasks:  [ ]
> Install boot loader:[O]
> Overall install:[ ]
> 
> Comments/Problems:
> 
> 
> I own three FIT-PC 1s, two of which provide network
> services. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fit-PC#fit-PC_1.0 I'd like to
> keep them running for a few more years yet. So I tried the alpha 3
> installer.
> 
> In the process, I hit several problems.
> 
> * The NIC finding software failed to detect the two NICs. This has
>   worked in the past.
> 
You'll likely need the firmware .iso including the non-free firmwares - though 
I'm surprised that itr doesn't find the Ethernet devices, they're common.


> * When I tried to select the driver manually, I was given a list of
>   two NICs, neither one of them appropriate. On other hardware, a much
>   longer list, including the ones I need (8139.*), appears.
> 
> * When I tried to read the drivers from a USB floppy device, the
>   software did not find the floppy. This, in spite of the fact that I
>   could mount the floppy manually and read the preseed file from
>   it. The floppy drive should be /dev/sdb or sdc, depending on what
>   else I have on the USB bus.
> 
> * When putting file systems on the hard drive, ext4 and ext3 were
>   absent from the menu of possible file systems. ext2 was there, and
>   that's what I selected and got.
> 
> Is something eating my menus?
> 
> The first two problems are not new. I got the same with a Buster 10.4
> netinst CD. I then fell back to a Debian 8.6 netinst CD. That
> correctly found and set up the two NICs.
> 
8.6 is old - I'd be surprised that 10.7 firmware iso wouldn't work.

> Just in case I had hardware issues, I have tried this on two machines,
> one of which has been in continuous service since I bought them.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Please make sure that the hardware-summary log file, and any other
> installation logs that you think would be useful are attached to this
> report. Please compress large files using gzip.
> 
> Once you have filled out this report, mail it to sub...@bugs.debian.org.
> 
> ==
> Installer lsb-release:
> ==
> DISTRIB_ID=Debian
> DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Debian GNU/Linux installer"
> DISTRIB_RELEASE="11 (bullseye) - installer build 20201202"
> X_INSTALLATION_MEDIUM=cdrom
> 
> ==
> Installer hardware-summary:
> ==
> uname -a: Linux (none) 5.9.0-4-686 #1 SMP Debian 5.9.11-1 (2020-11-27) i586 
> GNU/Linux
> lspci -knn: 00:01.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 
> CS5536 [Geode companion] Host Bridge [1022:2080] (rev 33)
> lspci -knn:   Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] CS5536 [Geode 
> companion] Host Bridge [1022:2080]
> 

Re: remove email from message body

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2021 at 03:45:23PM +0200, niko...@yahoo.com wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> 
> When I reported an issue many years ago I also added my email by mistake. If
> you could please remove it
> 
> from the message that would be good.
> 
> 
> https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=718720
> 

Hi Nikos,

Sorry - there's no straightforward way to remove emails from the Debian lists.
The lists are archived, others copy them, Google probably has a cache.

The more you try to do this, the worse the problem becomes - it's the 
Streisand effect - and your mail requesting this has added to it.

With apologies - but in this instance, it's beyond the ability of the Debian 
project to do this even if we wished to.

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy C

> 
> Thanks
> 
> Nikos
> 

Re: Debian Installer Bullseye Alpha 3 release

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Dec 06, 2020 at 06:04:45PM +0100, Mechtilde Stehmann wrote:
> Hello,
> one question:
> 
> Am 06.12.20 um 17:37 schrieb Cyril Brulebois:
> > The Debian Installer team[1] is pleased to announce the third alpha
> > release of the installer for Debian 11 "Bullseye".
> 
> 
> > Hardware support changes
> > 
> > 
> >  * debian-cd:
> > - Enable graphical installer for arm64.
> > - Exclude lilo-installer and elilo-installer udebs for all archs.
> > - Stop making XFCE single CD images.
> 
> Does it mean, the iso is bigger than the space at a CD? so you can use
> the iso with an USB-Stick?

I think there were some problems making it small enough to fit on a single CD
size, yes. But you can always use the .iso image with a USB stick on i386 and 
amd64. I tend to use the netinst .iso anyway.

Andy

> 
> Kind regards
> 
> -- 
> Mechtilde Stehmann
> ## Debian Developer
> ## PGP encryption welcome
> ## F0E3 7F3D C87A 4998 2899  39E7 F287 7BBA 141A AD7F
> 

Re: Custom bootable install for 32/64 bit machines

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 01:34:25AM +, Gustavo Pinent wrote:
> Hi! First of all, congratulations for this awesome OS!
> I have a Mac Mini mid 2007 with hybrid architecture, a 32 bit firmware with 
> 64 bit CPU. I installed a Debian 10 32 bits and it runs just fine! Problem 
> is, 32 bits has been abandoned, products has been discontinued, soon there 
> will be not much to run on it besides FireFox. So I am trying to install a 64 
> bit version...
> Then the problems starts: this machine does not have an optical drive 
> anymore, I changed it for more HDD storage. Only USB boot, and more 
> compatibility issues. As long I decided to change again and work only with a 
> SDD and to buy some used superdrive, this initiative can be useful to some 
> situations when you just don't have an optical drive connected to the core. 
> External ones won't boot, in fact, using USB ports will only boot Mac OS 
> Lion, a special third part Mac OS Mojave, Windows 7 and Debian. And in the 
> particular case of Debian, only through BIOS emulation mode, EFI refuses to 
> run the installer.
> My two attempts of installing the 64 version was... - To build a hybrid 
> bootable USB image by keeping the 32 bit boot but change the call for the 64 
> bit installer. Basically mixing 32 with 64 versions. But I could not make the 
> image, don't have the tools for that. - Converting the 32 bit version already 
> installed into a 64 bit on-the-fly by, well, changing the files. I could make 
> it boot in 64 bit! But it didn't go through the end and goes to command line. 
> At some point I lost the partition and didn't try again, thought is too 
> complicated.
> So I'm asking for help on this. First, witch way is easier, thinking about 
> left some legacy, and once decided the way, how can be done. Of course, if 
> this is not the right place to ask, please point me the right direction.
> My working machine now is a MacBook Pro 2012 running Mojave (Catalina does 
> not work well). I have a Windows 10 in a partition and I am thing in 
> installing some Linux too. I have Virtual Box but it is a bit slow, and you 
> know, never perfect.
> Thanks for hearing me!Gustavo.

On a PC, the multi-arch netinst boots and does this - 32 bit UEFI and 64 bit 
userland.

You are using 

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd/debian-mac-10.6.0-amd64-netinst.iso
 ?

If not, you might be stuck with the 32 bit version at 

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/i386/iso-cd/debian-mac-10.6.0-i386-netinst.iso

There was also some discussion about whether we needed the oldest of the Mac
images on the debian-cd list a few months ago. The original Intel mac mini
needed the 32 bit version, I think, but the firmware could be upgraded.

https://lists.debian.org/debian-cd/2020/07/msg00017.html refers and the wiki
page at https://wiki.debian.org/MacMiniIntel#Macmini_1.2C1 is also helpful.

Hope this helps,

Andy C.

Re: 10.7 planning

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 07:10:20PM +, Adam D. Barratt wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> In an attempt to be slightly more efficient than usual at planning a
> point release... it's about a month since 10.6, so let's start looking
> at dates for 10.7.
> 
> Please could you confirm your availability, and any preferences, for
> the following:
> 
> - November 21st
> - November 28th
> - December 5th
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Adam
> 
No problems with any - will fit in with Steve and RattusRattus

Andy C

Re: Problem reading data from CD-ROM, failed to copy.

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Jan 30, 2018 at 05:11:31PM -0600, James Byrnes wrote:
> This dilemma is a result of a hackjob, something that normally shouldn't be
> able to run: loading Linux on a $59 WinBook TW-700.
> 
> I downloaded a copy of debian-9.3.0-amd64-netinst via torrent and extracted
> it to a bootable USB. I had to replace bootx64.efi with bootia32.efi as
> this tablet uses a 32bit EFI while also having a 64bit OS, otherwise it
> would not boot from USB.
> 
> Halfway through load installer components from CD, the process fails to
> read the USB and crashes without ability to recover.
> 
> Since this tablet only has 1 USB port, I am relegated to using a hub for
> keyboard input.
> 
> I believe this issue stems from the fact that the iso was downloaded via
> torrent, and the data could have possibly be corrupted. Hopefully I'll be
> able to obtain a copy from dead-slow HTTP download (forced to use 128kb/s
> cellular data for download).

Wrong medium - use the multi-arch flavour: that will correctly install
32 bit UEFI and 64 bit for everything else.

This is fairly similar to the hacks needed to get Acer Transformer to
work. 

HTH,

All the best,

Andy C.

Re: Requesting for help

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Dec 29, 2017 at 07:56:58PM +, eamanu15 . wrote:
> Hello everybody,
> 
> Sorry if this is not the correct mailing list, but maybe you can help me.
> 
> I have a Lenovo laptop with Windows10 native and UEFI. I read (really a
> friend) on various forums and tell that Debian installation is difficult
> on systems with UEFI. That is correct?
> 
> Thanks!
> Regards!
> Emmanuel
> 
> 
> -- 
> Arias Emmanuel
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmanuel-arias-437a6a8a
> http://eamanu.com

Not a problem, particularly. You do need to turn off Secure Boot in
the setup. You can boot the install medium and just go on from there.

It's probably a good idea to back up any data that you want to keep in
case of any problems. It is also useful to know which hardware there is
in your laptop. It is easiest to install using a wired connection to
Ethernet.

The instructions on the Debian wiki should help. If you're really not
sure, it is worth booting with a live DVD to check how it works without
installing Debian first.

All the very best.

Andy C

Re: Easier installer?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Nov 18, 2017 at 01:15:22AM +0100, Samuel Thibault wrote:
> Thomas Lange, on ven. 17 nov. 2017 19:20:09 +0100, wrote:
> > On Thu, Nov 16, 2017 at 01:17:47PM +0100, Samuel Thibault wrote:
> > > In Debian, using netinst, we have
> > .
> > .
> > > and that's it.
> > >
> > > That's a bit more items, but not by so much.
> > No, that's a lot more than other installers.
> 
> Please tell me what items are there that are not in other installers,
> apart from the ones I mentioned as potentially to be moved to expert
> mode, and the ones I believe we don't want to move to expert mode,
> whatever other installers chosed to do.
> 
> > IMO our installer is not for beginners, it's for advanced users and
> > for experts we have much more questions. d-i lacks a beginners mode
> > with only the minimal questions.
> 
> Really, the current set is almost minimal.
> 
> > All questions were we normally just hit return can be omitted, if it's
> > still possible to switch to a "show-me-more-questions"-mode.
> 
> Among the ones I mentioned,
> 
> - language/country/keyboard: we can't afford to omit them.

If you _really_ want to do this (and I don't think it's possible) then
you can have a super easy - "Oh, you're in the UK, so you want UK
timezone, British keyboard" where you click on a map and highlight UK
and click OK / hit Enter

This is very similar to the first run of something like MacOS
but - it doesn't cater for minority languages, where you might want to
set your machines to a fixed timezone without daylight saving time ...

To be honest, real simplification may add hidden complexity

> - hostname: other installers invent hostnames, but they still show it
> and allow to modify it. That's really useful.
> - domain name, as I said it could be moved to expert
> - password, can't avoid it
> - username, do we really want to avoid it?
> - timezone, can't avoid it
> - confirmation for using the whole disk, can't avoid it
> - choosing the disk, can't avoid it
> - partition layout. One could argue that it's just confirmation that
> could be skipped. If we do skip it, I believe a lot of people will shout

It would be handy for laptops / dual boot machines if something would
flag up - "You have another operating system here, installed using UEFI.
Stop, check, enter OK twice to continue" because it's easy for people to
mess this step up.

> - last confirmation, don't really want to avoid it.
> - additional CD input, can't avoid it, or else we should just throw away
> the whole sets of CD images as useless.

If we're gradually moving to suggest installations connected to a
network and netinst or similar, yes, 99% of the time this question is
useless to installers.

It might be worth relegating it to expert install and changing our
instructions to say something like: "Debian easy install works well
where there is a possibility of using a wired connection and a steady
speed  network. We don't recommend initial iinstall using wireless
because that will involve installing firmware for the installation to
continue. In all other cases / where there is no established network
connetion, please use the expert installation method"

> - mirror selection, as I said perhaps we could avoid it by using
> deb.debian.org by default if it works nice enough. If it doesn't, then
> that's were work should be done.
> - http proxy: that's arguably something one can't avoid. Quite a few
> networks really require it. This question could however be automatically
> skipped if d-i notices that it is able to download over http without
> problems. Again something to be fixed, not just blindly ignored.
> - task selection: can't avoid it.
> - bootloader installation: that has been discussed here several
> times. The result of the discussion is that we just can not detect this
> properly, so we can't avoid it.
> 
> So?
> 
> Put another way: I *don't* think we want to change this set of
> questions, we'd just lose users. Thus the other proposal, proposed right
> from the start of the thread: have *another* panel of questions really
> meant for beginner, and that advanced users can easily skip, for the 90%
> cases that often match beginners cases.
> 
> > > - bootloader installation (we really can not avoid this step, it poses
> > >  too many problems).
> > Why can't we avoid this question? I wonder because other distributions
> > do not ask it.
> 
> History has shown that we can't have a sane default for this.
> 
> > A CentOS 7 installation just asks me the language, which disk to use,
> > a password for root a user name and password. Nothing more.
> > But I still can have a different timezone or keyboard beside the good
> > defaults they set.
> 
> It's just crazy to assume that knowing the language allows to know the
> timezone and keyboard. For a huge portion of the world this will just
> fail. And the corresponding users won't even know that they have to
> change the timezone.
> 
> Don't try to change that balance it took us years to find just because
> 

Re: Clarification of Appendix B of Installation Guide

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 08:18:29AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> My long term goal is a "minimal" install -- my precise definition of
> "minimal" to be specified.
> 
> Constraints when accomplishing this goal:
>   1. the installer will be on a USB flash drive.
>   2. the installation target will also be a USB flash drive.
>  The underlying purpose is having a Debian system available
>  to any machine capable of booting from a USB flash drive.
>  This implies installing Grub to MBR of the flash drive.
> 

This is slightly tricky - not completely impossible but you need to be
very clear which USB stick is which at all times :)

DD a netinst to one USB stick.

Plug in the other USB - make it a large one - greater than 16GB would be
my prreference.

Do an expert install which will ask questions at low priority.

Standard installation includes enough to bring up a command line
environment well.

No tasks installed at all will result in only installing about 300
packages altogether.

Installing GRUB ought to be asked as a question.

[And no, I haven't get two USB sticks to try it now to see how well it
works for you.]

All the best,

Andy


> Two Questions:
> Section B.4.10. "Package selection" says in part "You can also choose to
> install no tasks, ...  We recommend always including the standard task." I
> need to know what is installed when no tasks are specified
> and when the standard task is specified.
> 
> 
> Section B.4.11. "Boot loader installation" covers when/where Grub is
> installed. I'll always install to _*A*_ MBR. I need to force the installer
> to ask which device is target. It is unclear to me.
> 
> I note that 
> https://wiki.debian.org/Installation+Archive+USBStick?action=AttachFile=view=preseed.cfg#CA-92ec8c7fca7565142e8daa9b4577891ee95c_56
> says "d-i grub-installer/choose_bootdev select manual". But I do not see
> anything similar in Section B.4.11.

Re: A survey of boot process in Debian on i386 with Legacy BIOS

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 11:19:17AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I want a very custom installer. I'm looking for something that takes a broad
> view of the boot process. I've found much on the fine details, but "the
> forest is being hidden by the leaves on the branches". Browsing historical
> links from  suggest my peculiar goals may have
> been used ~10 years ago.
> 
> TIA
> 

What are you actually after - one way or another, you're likely to have
to use the installer Debian uses if you want to get stuff to work ...

All the best,

Andy C.

Re: Bug#872867: is ISO-3166 really the optimal list for our users?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Aug 22, 2017 at 12:28:18AM +0200, Daniel Pocock wrote:
> Package: localechooser
> Version: 2.69
> Severity: wishlist
> 
> While visiting Kosovo, I have met several people interested in becoming
> Debian users.
> 
> The first time I helped one of them run the Debian installation, I was
> baffled to find that their country was not in the list offered by the
> installer.
> 
> It is potentially not a good situation for a developer to be in a
> country, surround by 1.8 million people who consider themselves to be
> citizens of a country that our installer doesn't know about. 
> Fortunately Kosovans are really nice people and weren't upset about this
> but I can image they must feel quite sad each time something like this
> happens.
> 
> According to this section in the Debian Installer i18n guide[1], the
> list of countries is based on ISO3166.
> 
> According to wikipedia, ISO3166 comes from a group of 10
> representatives[2] from mostly rich countries.
> 

The fact that these were rich countries doesn't matter, particularly.
Internet TLDs are IETF, I think. There's also a UN list for things like
car registrations and country codes. It's not quite as simple as it
looks.


> The Debian Social Contract[3], point 4, requires us to put our users
> first.  Can Debian do more to listen to the 1.8 million potential users
> in Kosovo and other countries like it?  Are we actually obliged to
> respect how our users see themselves over and above the way some
> bureaucrats in Geneva see them?
> 
> I would propose that we regard ISO3166 as a subset of the list of
> countries perceived by our users and that for the next installer
> release, the locale chooser offers a list of countries with a disclaimer
> that some of them are not in ISO3166 but they are included at the
> request of our users.

Please go back and review the lists for mails round Taiwan / Hong Kong
/ China / Taiwan (R.O.C) status - this sort of thing is incredibly
tricky. Also, some countries / states / regions have two or three valid
keyboard layouts, some groups span nation boundaries - Kurds spring to
mind - and the installer is already complicated and arcane. Debian is
apolitical and largely border-agnostic but we lost developers because of
this sort of thing - ?? Herbert ?? Xu springs to mind.
> 
> Maybe the list can show two columns, country and country code.  For
> countries where ISO3166 is not competent, the country code column could
> be blank.
> 
> Implementing this might be tricky but not impossible.  For example, a
> crude implementation may simply display the extra countries in the main
> list, but if somebody selects one of them, the installer shows a message
> apologizing for the fact they are not fully supported and offering to
> help them choose from a subset of related country codes.  Maybe their
> preferred choice (verbose country name) could be saved somewhere for
> later use when their country is fully supported and a future version of
> localechooser will help them adapt to their eventual country code during
> a future dist-upgrade.
> 
> For Kosovo in particular, Wikipedia notes[4] that "The code XK is being
> used by the European Commission
> ,^[21]
>  the IMF
> , and SWIFT
> ,^[22]
>  CLDR and
> other organizations as a temporary country code for Kosovo
> .".  Other 2-letter codes are
> mentioned elsewhere so the ideal solution may avoid using a 2 letter
> code for such countries or maybe it can borrow one of the codes used by
> other international organizations who didn't wait for ISO3166.

Then when you find that there's two or three conflicting codes? See also
the Russian / Ukrainian character set messes of long ago. [Windows
character sets, koi8r and similar]

All best, however, 

Andy C
> 
> It may be interesting to support micronations like the Principality of
> Hutt River[5] too.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Daniel
> 
> 
> 1. https://d-i.alioth.debian.org/doc/i18n/ch01s05.html#idm45330184240096
> 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166#Members
> 3. https://www.debian.org/social_contract
> 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2
> 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River
> 

Re: d-i-netboot-images package outdated (was Re: Debian Installer Stretch RC 5 release)

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Wed, Jun 14, 2017 at 08:45:47AM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> Holger Levsen  (2017-06-13):
> > On Tue, Jun 13, 2017 at 10:19:17AM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> > > Known bugs in this release
> > > ==
> > [...] 
> > > See the errata[2] for details and a full list of known issues.
> > 
> > https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/debian-installer-netboot-images hasn't seen 
> > an
> > update in a while (and thus is unusuable due to kernel version skew), is it
> > on your collective radar to update the package til Saturday?
> > 
> > (Debian Edu uses that packages to support installation via PXE out of the 
> > box.)
> > 
> > Shall I file an RC bug to make the problem more visible and known?
> 
> As mentioned in the announce: We're doing another d-i upload for the
> release anyway.
> 
> Not that the latest d-i-n-i upload was a bad thing. It's just going to
> be superseded.
> 
> (Last two items on my r0 checklist:
> d-i
> d-i-n-i after d-i
> 

Seeing the post on PXE for UEFI on planet.debian.org and noting that
you're planning another d-i release.

Is there any chance of putting in the symlink in d-i that will link 
bootnetx64.efi in the same way as pxelinux as below

Also in netboot.tar.gz similarly

bootnetx64.efi -> debian-installer/amd64/bootnetx64.efi

This is exactly the way that pexlinux.0 and pxelinux.cfg are already
linked and would be a trivial change that would allow UEFI booting
more readily.

Thank you for your consideration

Andy C.


> … and Karsten has committed the d-i fixes for i2c, so we should be go to
> go for an upload; need to catch up with some more mails before that
> though.)
> 
> 
> KiBi.

Re: Debian Installer Stretch RC 4 release

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, May 27, 2017 at 04:47:57PM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> The Debian Installer team[1] is pleased to announce the fourth release
> candidate of the installer for Debian 9 "Stretch".
> 
> 
> Improvements in this release
> 
> 
>  * apt-setup:
> - Switch default hostname from ftp.debian.org to deb.debian.org in
>   the 92updates and 93backports generators (#860472).
>  * debian-installer:
> - Fix speech-enabled boot menu entries for advanced options.
> - Fix extraneous 32bit speech entry on multiarch images.
> - Bump Linux kernel version from 4.9.0-2 to 4.9.0-3.
>  * netcfg:
> - IPv6 autoconfiguration: fix NTP server name handling, which
>   would be stored as the DHCP-provided hostname (#862745).
>  * os-prober:
> - Remove code using device mapper (#860833, #853927, #853163) as
>   it doesn't seem to work properly in a Debian Installer context,
>   and rely on grub-mount instead (which was already the default
>   anyway).
> 
> 
> Hardware support changes
> 
> 
>  * debian-installer:
> - armel/orion5x: Use DTB for Buffalo Linkstation LiveV3 (LS-CHL).
> - Re-enable u-boot images for OpenRD.
>  * flash-kernel:
> - Add support for Xunlong Orange Pi Plus / Plus 2.
> - Switch to DTB for Buffalo Linkstation LiveV3 (LS-CHL).
>  * linux:
> - udeb: Include all AHCI drivers in sata-modules (#860335).
> - udeb: Add tifm_7xx1 to mmc-modules (#861195).
> - udeb: Move mfd-core to kernel-image, as both input-modules and
>   mmc-modules need it.
> 
> 
> Localization status
> ===
> 
>  * 75 languages are supported in this release.
>  * Full translation for 21 of them.
> 
> 
> Known bugs in this release
> ==
> 
>  * An extraneous open-iscsi step is performed right before the end of
>each installation, even if there are no iSCSI devices (#863435).
> 
> See the errata[2] for details and a full list of known issues.
> 
> 
> Feedback for this release
> =
> 
> We need your help to find bugs and further improve the installer,
> so please try it. Installer CDs, other media and everything else you
> will need are available at our web site[3].
> 

Is it possible to link bootnetx from the debian installer in the same
way that pxelinux is linked? It would help enormously for PXE booting
UEFI if bootnetx were immediately visible and available. It would be
really good if this could be done prior to release.

All the very best,

Andy C.


> 
> Thanks
> ==
> 
> The Debian Installer team thanks everybody who has contributed to this
> release.
> 
> 
>  1. https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Team
>  2. https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/errata
>  3. https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer
> 
> -- 
> Cyril Brulebois
> on behalf of the Debian Installer Team

Bug#858181: Package: installation-reports

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Package: installation-reports

Boot method:  PXE boot
Image version: 
http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz
Date: 201703182350

lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Debian
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Debian GNU/Linux installer"
DISTRIB_RELEASE="9 (stretch) - installer build 20170318-00:06"
X_INSTALLATION_MEDIUM=netboot

Machine: Acer Revo M1-601 - 32G flash disk, 8G memory [Upgraded from initial 2G]
Partitions: 

Filesystem Type 1K-blocksUsed Available Use% Mounted on
udev   devtmpfs   4036584   0   4036584   0% /dev
tmpfs  tmpfs   8096369096800540   2% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p1 ext4  21753000 1299184  19325780   7% /
tmpfs  tmpfs  4048180   0   4048180   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs  tmpfs 5120   0  5120   0% /run/lock
tmpfs  tmpfs  4048180   0   4048180   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs  tmpfs   809636   0809636   0% /run/user/0
tmpfs  tmpfs   809636   0809636   0% /run/user/1000

Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Initial boot:   [O]
Detect network card:[O]
Configure network:  [O]
Detect CD:  [ ]
Load installer modules: [O]
Clock/timezone setup:   [O]
User/password setup:[O]
Detect hard drives: [O]
Partition hard drives:  [O]
Install base system:[O]
Install tasks:  [O]
Install boot loader:[O]
Overall install:[O]

Comments/Problems:

This is a problematic machine. It requires to be booted in Legacy - MBR - mode.
It requires the kernel arguments noapic and edd=off or it fails.
Most reports of this under Linux are where people have given up in disgust 
after tryning to install Ubuntu.

Would not complete install with Stretch RC2 netboot.tar.gz as the kernel 
versions are now different hence the download of
the newer netboot.tar.gz - from the dailies

This was also tried under UEFI - the UEFI install does not recognise the 
EMMC/SD flash disk type so the install fails.




uname -a: Linux acer 4.9.0-2-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.13-1 (2017-02-27) x86_64 
GNU/Linux
lspci -knn: 00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium 
Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series SoC Transaction Register [8086:2280] (rev 
21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:1073]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: iosf_mbi_pci
lspci -knn: 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 
Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics 
Controller [8086:22b1] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:1073]
lspci -knn: 00:0b.0 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation 
Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Power Management 
Controller [8086:22dc] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:1073]
lspci -knn: 00:10.0 SD Host controller [0805]: Intel Corporation 
Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series MMC Controller 
[8086:2294] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:1073]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: sdhci_pci
lspci -knn: 00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 
Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series USB xHCI Controller 
[8086:22b5] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:1073]
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
lspci -knn: Kernel modules: xhci_pci
lspci -knn: 00:1a.0 Encryption controller [1080]: Intel Corporation 
Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Trusted Execution 
Engine [8086:2298] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:1073]
lspci -knn: 00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium 
Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller 
[8086:2284] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:1073]
lspci -knn: 00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium 
Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCI Express Port #1 [8086:22c8] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium 
Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCI Express Port #2 [8086:22ca] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium 
Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCI Express Port #3 [8086:22cc] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium 
Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCI Express Port #4 [8086:22ce] (rev 21)
lspci -knn: Kernel driver in use: pcieport
lspci -knn: 00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 

Re: How to preseed.cfg with official installation cdrom

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Sep 05, 2016 at 12:38:41PM +0200, Geert Stappers wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Well, Question: So what could one campaign or achieve as a volunteer to
> > > > help to fix this bug in end and in these cases and after all? Boo! some
> > > > secrets!?! Some Tips from your part for on how to help it from
> > > > here? Some pointers on how to precede for such cases?
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Just do.
> > > 
> >
> > Feel comfortable, accept the journey,
> > image being Livingstone,  Marco Polo  or another great traveller.
> > 
> > Prepare an USB storage device.
> > 
> > Boot from CDROM.
> > 
> > At the boot menu of the installation CDROM
> > tell that preseed file is available at USB device.
> > 
> > Keep feeling comfortable, overcome the nuisances.
> >
> 
> Write about the journey.

Plug a USB stick into a Linux machine.

Format the USB stick as FAT32

Copy an example preseed file to the USB stick.

Edit the preseed file as appropriate.

As Geert says above

Boot the install CD ROM - use the expert install.

It's not too complicated and is documented in the install manual, 
wiki.debian.org or, if you have a Debian system, install debian-handbook

Hope this helps,

Andy C

Bug#813055: debian-installer: Partman-auto recipe for UEFI install for preseed / network install please

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Package: debian-installer
Version: 20150422+deb8u3
Severity: wishlist

Dear Maintainer,

*** Reporter, please consider answering these questions, where appropriate ***

   * What led up to the situation?
   * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
 ineffective)?
   * What was the outcome of this action?
   * What outcome did you expect instead?

*** End of the template - remove these template lines ***


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 8.3
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: armhf, i386

Kernel: Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

-- no debconf information

Preseeding over the network: network boot set to UEFI.

Default preseed sets auto recipe which assumes an atomic partition layout which 
has MBR

Can we please have a UEFI layout as a possible default?

It seems from partman-doc that there is an EFI layout: is it possible to create 
a UEFI atomic partition layout?

Something like this, perhaps

512 512 650 fat16
$primary{ }
method{ efi }
format{ } .

500 1 100 ext4
$primary{ }
method{ format }
format{ }
use_filesystem{ }
filesystem{ ext4 }
mountpoint{ / } .

64 512 300% linux-swap
method{ swap }
format{ } .


Thank you for your consideration

Re: Installing Debian

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Aug 07, 2015 at 11:54:20AM -0400, Abe Sternberg wrote:
 Folks - I admit that I am a complete dolt.  I have read the Installation
 HowTo for Debian twice and am still baffled at how to download and install.
 

Write down a checklist of what you've already got:

Model of laptop

Whether 32 or 64 bit capable.

Amount of RAM

Size of hard disk

Can the laptpp boot from a USB stick?

What drivers/manufacturers Windows 7 System reports for:

Video card, sound card, WiFi card - this to find out whether you will need 
non-free firmware to be installed.

This should help in debugging issues if they arise.

 First, I plan on installing Debian on a laptop that is currently running
 Windows 7 and I am not interesting keeping both operating systems.
 

Do you have another laptop / desktop available to you? If you do not have prior 
experience
using Linux, I wouldn't advise that you jump wholeheartedly and immediately to 
Linux.

Do you have a Linux using friend / local Linux user group who can help and 
advise if called on for general advice?

It might be worth using a Live CD to try out Debian first without changing 
anything on the existing
Windows install (see below)

 I am completely unfamiliar with Linux, Bit torrent, or using iso files and
 don't understand any of the shop talk about how to download and install.  I
 have sent e-mails to two of the sites that are supposed to provide CDs/DVDs
 but no one has responded to me thus far.
 

A CD or DVD image containing software can be written in a recognised format: 
the images ending in .iso are raw images
to be written to a CD or DVD by your CD/DVD writing software.

There may be an option to write image to disk

The Live CDs

http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd-64/iso-hybrid/ 

Under the link CD/DVD/USB are files you can download (in
a web browser if you have to).

This link has images around 1G or over for a full desktop so will need a 
DVD-size medium if you write to physical media rather than USB stick.

There are various images with the different desktops to try.

 Is anyone out there willing to talk me through this one step at a time in
 very simple terms?
 
 Thanks for listening; I hope someone can help.
 
 Regards,
 
 Abe

This for a start - will follow up dependent on response.

All the best,

AndyC


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UEFI PXE step by step instructions?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Suffering an XY problem here: I want to set up a small machine to work as DHCP/ 
TFTP server to serve as part of an autobuilder to provision lots of machines 
built as a 
standard build for Debian 8. I have a set up for providing PXE from a 
Cubietruck running Debian.

I have a TFTP/DHCP set up which uses the netboot.tar.gz files and will serve 
PXE quite happily if the client machine is using legacy boot mode.

I can't find any references for how to PXE boot UEFI: I find lots of posts 
complaining that pxelinux.0 is not compatible with UEFI and not much more.

I can obviously install to a UEFI machine with a netinst CD/USB stick but that 
doesn't help me set up the PXE for a UEFI machine.

Ubuntu folk have previously made much of UEFI support, Secure Boot etc - their 
docs specify that you shoud use a specific Ubuntu image if you can find it - 
not much 
use at all even if you trust Ubuntu to do the
right thing with their own documentation.

Debian docs - can't find much except posts by Paul Wise around about the time 
that Sledge was developing the UEFI images for Jessie.

I can serve other files other than pxelinux.0 but there doesn't seem to be any 
usable documentation explaining what to set up.

Anybody willing to talk me through this in words of one syllable - we might 
then get better instructions for the next iteration of the installation manual 
or the Wiki.

All help very gratefully received

Andy CAter

[Copied self because unsure if currently subscribed to the list: I don't mind 
receiving extra copies of replies :) ]


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Bug#783304: debian-installer: Autoinstall fails waiting on realtek 8169 firmware despite having working wired network connection

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Apr 25, 2015 at 08:24:47PM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
 Andrew M.A. Cater amaca...@galactic.demon.co.uk (2015-04-25):
  Package: debian-installer
  Version: 20150422
  Severity: normal
  
  Dear Maintainer,
  
  *** Reporter, please consider answering these questions, where appropriate 
  ***
  
 * What led up to the situation?
  
  Selecting auto install: hangs waiting for firmware, same hardware works 
  fine if expert install used
 * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
   ineffective)?

This is a Zotac zbox id-6 - dual core AMD, iwlwifi, realtek 8169, Radeon.

The installer reports that iwlwifi firmwre is needed and realtek firmare is 
also needed. In fact, the realtek
firmware is not needed - the wired interface works fine without it to install, 
so it's fine to skip installation
of non-free firmware when first prompted.

A standard install / expert install will allow you to complete the install 
properly. An automated install - whether
command line or graphical - locks up waiting for firmware. The syslog shows 
that it goes through about three cycles
and fails waiting for the non-free realtek firmware.

I haven't got syslog to hand - but I could reproduce this on the CLI 
automatated install and also on the graphical
automated install.

On first boot after install, systemd reports that firmware-iwlwifi is needed as 
is Radeon firmware for the R600.
Firmware-realtek, firmware-iwlwifi and firmware-linux-nonfree provide the 
firmware needed.

All the best,

AndyC



 * What was the outcome of this action?
 * What outcome did you expect instead?
  
  System is zotac zbox id-6 - normally requires radeon, realtek, wifi 
  firmware.
 
 We'll need to know more. Are you actually supplying firmwares? If so,
 how? What are you doing for this firmware step when performing a
 (manual?) expert install?
 
 Also, what's the contents of syslog in the “hanging” case?
 
 Mraw,
 KiBi.


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Bug#783304: debian-installer: Autoinstall fails waiting on realtek 8169 firmware despite having working wired network connection

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Package: debian-installer
Version: 20150422
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

*** Reporter, please consider answering these questions, where appropriate ***

   * What led up to the situation?

Selecting auto install: hangs waiting for firmware, same hardware works fine if 
expert install used
   * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
 ineffective)?
   * What was the outcome of this action?
   * What outcome did you expect instead?

System is zotac zbox id-6 - normally requires radeon, realtek, wifi firmware.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 8.0
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: armhf

Kernel: Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

-- no debconf information


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Re: Minimal required packages for booting Debian

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Mar 14, 2015 at 12:57:06AM +0530, Abhilash Mhaisne wrote:
 Hello,
   I want to try to perform a bootstrap init of debian. Which will
 be the packages required for bootstrapping? I mean just enough to get it
 started.
 
 Regards,
 
 Abhilash

Look at how debootstrap works ...

AndyC


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Re: new tasksel

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Sep 07, 2014 at 10:52:27PM -0400, Joey Hess wrote:
 I have made some significant changes to tasksel, that will need changes
 elsewhere. I plan to upload this to unstable pretty soon, feedback permitting.
 
 Some of the more popular desktop environments are individually
 selectable in tasksel, in a little sub-menu.
 (Of course that's displayed suboptimally due to debconf, wah.)
 (There is still, obviously, a default desktop.)
 


Joey,

It would be handy to have a text only, no X Windows option for servers / small 
development boards.

This would ideally appear as something like: 

(*) Minimal text only install

possibly installing only SSH as an additional service. Ideal for the most 
minimal of server installations.

Something fairly similar to Robert Nelson's installation for console only for 
BeagleBone Black / Ivo's
minimal installation for Cubieboard. This would also make an ideal starter for 
a server install in a datacenter, for
example.

Is there any scope/space for this: essentially only a tiny step up from what 
you'd get by installing using a netinst
without a mirror?

All the very best,

AndyC



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[owner@bugs.debian.org: [debian-installer] Sparc 20 install fails - no CDROM

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Machine is a dual processor Sparc 20 with about 200M of RAM and two
18G SCSI disks internally, external SCSI CD-ROM.

rc2 doesn't work - bterm bug I think, hangs when console changes to 
Unicode.

daily d-i build from 15/10 gets further - boots into busybox, some
keyboard trouble in selecting country (resolved, eventually, arrow
keys not working properly - Sun type 5 GB keyboard here).

Although installer boots from CD-ROM and all SCSI modules appear to load
successfully, can't find CD-ROM so install fails at this point.

HTH,

Andy

- End forwarded message -


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Re: Apology re mail probs

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Aug 29, 2004 at 04:12:42PM +0800, John Summerfield wrote:
 The author of the program has asked me to offer his apologies. Full 
 details attached (unless there's an attachment stripper in effect).
 
Thanks for this John.  It looks as if we've now had a full apology from
Frank Carmickle and a full apology from the ASK program author.  It is
not normal practice for Debian to purge mail lists - I wonder if we can
ask for the duplicates to be removed from the archive so that the people
mirroring and gatewaying the messages don't have to archive 800 messages
we/they don't need.  It doesn't put either Frank or Marco Paganini in a
good light - but it looks as though it was an honest mistake.  We've all
learnt something :)

All the best to all the list,

Andy


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RC1 - successful install on SPARCServer20 (32 bit - 2.4.26SMP)

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Totally excellent dudes, RC1 rocks. It needed a bit of thinking about
partitioning to get /boot and the start of / within the first 1G of the
18.2G - the auto partitioner resulted in something that wouldn't boot -
but being offered the correct SMP kernel by default was totally awesome
:)

Now downloading the best part of 450M of new packages to get the desktop
installed.  Since I have a spare 18G drive in the machine, I may yet run
this machine as a show demo machine in October - one drive with Etch,
one drive with Sarge :)

As you may have noticed from other posts, I've had problems with aboot -
all help with silo/OpenPROM also gratefully received - I currently have to type
in a long string because it appears that the SCSI disks are
automagically reversed post install???  This is not new - I've had to do
this since Woody.

Andy


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Successful install with latest current image 20040816

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Subject says it all: aboot stanza appears correct: 2.4.26 works
- just installing x-window-system and kde on my PWS433AU - scsi with
qlogicisp now working perfectly.

All a _lot_ better than woody: this should potentially be put forward
as RC2 - do you know if 2.6 will work on an old machine with minimal
memory?

Andy


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Re: Bug#266066: Alpha netboot doesn't mount initrd, causing kernel panic

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Aug 16, 2004 at 12:21:24PM -0700, Steve Langasek wrote:
 boot ewa0 -fl  always works for me.
 
 -- 
 Steve Langasek
 postmodern programmer

Steve,

I know you're very busy right now.  The above doesn't work for me :(
As mentioned elsewhere on this list, my PWS433AU with qlogic fails
horribly after an otherwise successful install.  Any idea where to
start would be appreciated - is this feasible for RC2?

Andy


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RC1 - successes and failures.

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

Just a very quick note on five installs on various hardware.

Alpha PWS433 Miata with QLogic scsi card - install goes perfectly but
ends in kernel panic on reboot. Either aboot is not correctly set up /
the qlogic module is loaded by the installer kernel and not by the real
kernel. This is currently a showstopper for me - Steve Langasek and co.
are aware of the problem. It'll be fixed in RC2, I've no doubt. But the
install process is pretty bloody perfect up to that point :)

Dell Dimension PIII 500MHz machine: full of obscure SCSI devices. RC1
correctly detects and initialises two separate SCSI cards, an Adaptec
2940 and a Tekram DC390T which had always been problematic. APM/ACPI on
this machine has always been iffy so I wasn't surprised when it didn't
power down immediately after the install completed.  Perfect, quick
install.

Self build machine based on an Intel desktop board with P4 at 1.6GHz,
40GB Maxtor drive as /dev/hdb. Initial install passing linux26 as the
boot parameter failed at the partitioning stage when no disk was found.
expert26 succeeded at this point and produced a working installation
Standard 2.4 install went through without a hitch. [Three install
attempts, one failure here]

Compaq Prosignia 500 server: has a (known) bug whereby the EISA firmware only
reports 16M of memory no matter how much is installed :( Won't boot the 
installer: will boot Woody from floppies if need be, so will have to rebuild 
this machine, updating buggy Compaq software firmware and then update
to Sarge. Should be OK, will keep you posted on this. All SCSI
hardware - that was recognised without a problem, at least.

Now on to Sparc 20 with SMP :)

HTH,

Andy


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Re: RC1 - successes and failures.

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sun, Aug 15, 2004 at 12:13:48PM -0300, Joey Hess wrote:
 Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
  Self build machine based on an Intel desktop board with P4 at 1.6GHz,
  40GB Maxtor drive as /dev/hdb. Initial install passing linux26 as the
  boot parameter failed at the partitioning stage when no disk was found.
  expert26 succeeded at this point and produced a working installation
  Standard 2.4 install went through without a hitch. [Three install
  attempts, one failure here]
 
 Did you do something different in expert mode (than just taking the
 defalts)? I suppose you must have, or the problem must be intermittent.
No, that was what surprised me.  However I jumper the drive, it always
seems to come out as /dev/hdb - so it may be a drive/cable oddity.
However, the expert install, asking a few more questions, worked fine -
as did the 2.4.  It may be worth adding a note to the install notes in
general advising that, if the defaults don't work immediately when you
use linux26 then it could be appropriate to retry with expert mode but
at the cost of more questions.

HTH,

Andy


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Re: Debian-Installer release candidate 1

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Aug 10, 2004 at 12:07:00AM -0700, Steve Langasek wrote:
 
  What other archs face the same problem?
 
 It appears that alpha does.  I haven't conned the kernel into loading
 matroxfb_base for me yet, anyway.
 
Same here. I also have the problem mentioned by someone else that the
install on Alpha goes fine but the values given for aboot don't work
and at least one of them causes an aieee from the qlogicisp SCSI card.

The installer appears to load the correct modules: I'm not sure this is
carried over to the final installation

/dev/sda1 1MB for aboot
/dev/sda2 80MB ext2 for /boot
/dev/sda3 2GB for /
/dev/sda4 123.5MB swap

All help appreciated on what the correct aboot conf might be :)

Andy


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Bug#248071: should load before netbase?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, May 11, 2004 at 11:13:58AM +0200, Per Olofsson wrote:
 On Mon, May 10, 2004 at 16:06 -0700, Joshua Kwan wrote:
  Ah, ok... I guess we can just parse /var/run/stab anew. something like
  is_in_stab.
  
  Cardbus devices seem like they're SOL in general though. This is a good
  interim solutoin, I think.
 
 What does SOL mean? I couldn't find a definition.
 
Sure Out [of] Luck - ironic - the same sort of meaning as British
English fat chance i.e. you don't have much of a chance :( [For hardware
the connotation that is implied is that you may _never_ have a chance
e.g. fully closed drivers or whatever.]

HTH,

Andy



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Re: Changing the wording of countrychooser main question

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Mar 20, 2004 at 09:49:26AM +0200, George Papamichelakis wrote:
 Thiemo Seufer wrote:
 
 Christian Perrier wrote:
  
 
 I'm considering changing the wording of the main countrychooser
 question.
 
 Currently, this is, very simply:
 
 Choose a country:
 
 
 Indeed, several entries in the list (taken from ISO-3166) are not
 countries, strictly speaking.
 
 The most important example seems to be Taiwan which is, BOTH for the
 People Republic of China (usually called China, member of UN) and
 the Republic of China (usually calle Taiwan, non UN member) *only*
 Taiwan, Province of China.

 
 
 Other politically sensitive ones would be AFAICS Palestine or
 Northern Cyprus.
 
 
 Thiemo
 
 
  
 
 wouldn't it also be FYROM (or FYRO Macedonia)  for The Former Yugoslav 
 Republic Of Macedonia  instead of plain  Macedonia ?
 
Potentially, yes.  However, we do risk several thousand locales if
we're not careful and wish to duplicate things based on borders/disputed
politics :( 

Hypothetical example: - Moldova - contains Russians, Moldovans and 
other ethnic groups - Moldovan language similar to Romanian.  

So you have Moldova - Russian keyboard/Cyrillic, Moldova - Latin keyboard,
Moldovan, Moldova - Cyrillic keyboard, Moldovan.  

[In the breakaway region of Trans-Dniester - which is part of Moldova
/independent depending on whose side you take - the ??majority?? are either 
ethnic Russians, wanting to be governed by Russia or a Turkic speaking group.]

What are you going to do - three Moldovan keyboards, three
trans-Dniester keyboards for one small region?

If you have a Macedonian language locale (irrespective of capital/which side
of the Greek/FYROM border you're on/what you want to call your state) is 
the problem solved for Macedonia?

If you have a Greek language locale, will that suffice for Cyprus for 
Greek speaking Cypriots? [Turkish language locale suffice for Turkish 
Cypriots/UK English for Akrotiri and Episcopi?] 

There are no easy answers :(

Andy


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Re: chinese case in current languagechooser (was Re: Languagechooser changes)

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 07:59:19AM +0100, Christian Perrier wrote:
 
 The problem with Chinese is?this duality Simplified/Traditional. 
 There is also this mandarin/cantonese duality.Indeed I don't
 really understand how Simplified/Traditional and mandarin/cantonese
 are related?:
 
 Simplified is a simplified Chinese, yes. But which one?? Mandarin or
 Cantonese?
Disclaimer - I am not Chinese but did spend a little while in HK :) 

China is a big country.  When Chinese characters evolved, they acquired
standard meanings across the whole country.  Political and military
control shifted around China - but the characters stayed the same.
Mandarin == Manchu dialect which came from the north of China.  The
dynasty established themselves in Beijing and Manchu became court 
Chinese.  This never meant that it necessarily became widespread in 
Guangdong / Fujian / Shanghai - local people spoke local Chinese and 
still do :) So you can have Chinese I write and Chinese I speak :)

Traditional Chinese in written form is standard characters and also
potentially the base for Japanese/Korean (and also used/understood
elsewhere in SE Asia at various times for various purposes).

In 1949, as the People's Republic was founded, there were concerted 
efforts to establish a national dialect and to reduce illiteracy -
to attempt to bring the bulk of the people up to the level of the 
educated classes.  Part of that involved broadcasting / education
and Mandarin was chosen as the standard.  Part of that involved
perceived simplification of written language complex forms.  
[The Russian Govt. did something very similar in 1917/18 which is
why Cyrillic is a complex subject and you have nearly similar 
alphabets for various Slavic dialects and 
pre-Revolution/post-Revolution editions of the Russian classics :) ]

_Unfortunately_ part of that also now involves politics and geopolitical 
issues :( [The following does not assume any political bias, correctness
or predicate any viewpoint on which is the right Chinese :) ]

 
 Traditional Chinese is the good old Chinese language. But, again,
 which one? Madarin or Cantonese?
 

See above: Simplified for the mainland of China (unless you want to
read anything prior to 1949). Simplified for Singapore (which 
standardised on Mandarin as I understand it because Singapore Chinese 
had come from all over SE Asia and also standardised on Simplified for 
literacy purposes.)

Traditional for Taiwan and the rest of Asia. 

HK may choose either or a slightly extended HK variant.

 What will we do for people who speak
 Chinese in Hong-Kong (valid locale)? Carlos mentions they speak
 cantonese. So?

HK is now an SAR of China. In HK, as in Guangdong, the local population 
mostly _speak_ Cantonese.  HK educated Chinese probably see
more Traditional characters but will potentially understand Simplified
: cousins in Guangdong will probably see Simplified but understand 
Traditional (so there is potential for cross-border written confusion)
but its now also a political/attitudinal question. 

Many/most expatriate Chinese get round it by speaking English :)  
In the long term, its an open question whether HK gets to speak Mandarin 
throughout.

What you do get, of course, is some Chinese who are tri/quadrilingual in
Chinese by necessity e.g. a Cantonese who goes to work in Shanghai (as
has happened to a friend of my family's) :(

Foreign diplomats get to learn Mandarin in training - but if they are
posted to Shanghai/Hong Kong they then have to learn the local language
to eat :)

HTH

Andy

 
 /me goes lurking on ISO 639 sites in order to get clearer ideas about
 all this.
 
HTH
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Re: Up/Down/PgDn/PgUp not working anymore in cdebconf?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Feb 16, 2004 at 07:18:07AM +0100, Christian Perrier wrote:
 With a 20040212 netinst ISO image, the direction keys do not work
 anymore for moving around d-i menus.
 
I saw this one too.  I also got left with a half finished configure once
I'd finished following the first reboot.  It took three attempts 
before I managed to get it to work.  I'll be trying again tonight :)

Andy


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