Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:46:43 +0100 From: Ariane van der Steldt <ariane@stack.nl> To: Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@freebsd.org> Cc: freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org, eadler@FreeBSD.org, freebsd-sysinstall@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: bin/164094: bsdinstall(8): installer progress over 100% Message-ID: <20120120094642.GB64559@stack.nl> In-Reply-To: <4F165F36.5070302@freebsd.org> References: <201201140116.q0E1Gj7E055563@freefall.freebsd.org> <4F10DF18.9020703@freebsd.org> <20120114064224.GA66588@stack.nl> <20120118052308.GB31973@stack.nl> <4F165F36.5070302@freebsd.org>
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On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 11:57:10PM -0600, Nathan Whitehorn wrote: > On 01/17/12 23:23, Ariane van der Steldt wrote: > > Hi Nathan, > > > > On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 07:42:24AM +0100, Ariane van der Steldt wrote: > >> On Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 07:49:12PM -0600, Nathan Whitehorn wrote: > >>> On 01/13/12 19:16, eadler@FreeBSD.org wrote: > >>>> FreeBSD installer changed my MBR-only partition table to MBR+GPT > >>>> partition table. > > > >>>> The other OS does not have GPT logic; I want to be at least warned > >>>> this is happening and prefer to have the option at least. > >>>> Alternatively, the installer may opt not to install a GPT if the disk > >>>> does not require it (as in the case in this machine) > >>> Can you give some more details here? This is something that the > >>> installer is not programmed to do and that I cannot reproduce. > >> Sure. I used a VM to reproduce the problem, so I could provide pretty > >> screenshots in an attempt to better explain the problem. > >> > >> > >> Pre-install: > >> only 1 OS installed, windows XP, using MBR partition table. > >> > >> Using a live CD, I can instruct fdisk to (pointlessly) alter the active > >> partition, as can be seen in attached screenshot 1 > >> > >> > >> Post-install: > >> Both windows XP and FreeBSD are installed. > >> Unfortunately, fdisk can no longer be used to alter the active > >> partition, gpart is to be used instead. > >> As can be seen in attached screenshot 2, fdisk fails. > >> > >> After install, only gpart can be used to change the active partition. > > Upon rereading the manpage for gpart, I'm wondering if what I concluded > > really happened. On closer examination, it's possible the geom logic > > blocked fdisk from modifying the partition table. Can you tell me how I > > can confirm out what partitioning schemes are present on my harddisk? > > I put the output of gpart show at the bottom of the e-mail, which > > suggests the mbr scheme is used regardless. > > > > If geom indeed blocks fdisk from altering the partition table, I'm > > wondering what the use of the binary is though, as it seems gpart does > > everything fdisk does, but without failing. > > > > # gpart show > > => 63 1250263665 ada0 MBR (596G) > > 63 209712447 1 ntfs [active] (100G) > > 209712510 102398310 2 ntfs (48G) > > 312110820 937426896 3 freebsd (447G) > > 1249537716 726012 - free - (354M) > > > > => 0 937426896 ada0s3 BSD (447G) > > 0 929038336 1 freebsd-ufs (443G) > > 929038336 8388559 2 freebsd-swap (4G) > > 937426895 1 - free - (512B) > > That implies it's just MBR + BSD label. Why did you think it was GPT? > Geom does prevent many utilities from altering the partition table. I > was under the impression that fdisk had been modified to actually use > geom these days, so it should have worked, but it's possible that didn't > work somehow. I came under that impression because fdisk didn't work, while before installing freebsd, it did work. gpart, due to its name and coupled with a refusing fdisk, made me jump to the conclusion that I had been given a GPT table. Is there a technical reason that geom is not automatically activated on every partition table? It seems to me that unifying these would reduce complexity and confusion to the end user. And I see no reason why the boot volume has this recognized and activated automatically, but other devices don't. -- Ariane
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