Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2011 09:55:57 -0500 From: Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn@freebsd.org> To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: New installation script Message-ID: <4E3D55FD.7090803@freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <CAGH67wTVUotdDfRXJn4f6UhP6hfZ5u4Ax7346X_2dZWMvh2DnQ@mail.gmail.com> References: <CAN6yY1td=69XHSir1kr62yhhzXKk3YrRcVQrZgqnF48uVnCvVw@mail.gmail.com> <CAGH67wTVUotdDfRXJn4f6UhP6hfZ5u4Ax7346X_2dZWMvh2DnQ@mail.gmail.com>
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On 08/05/11 20:04, Garrett Cooper wrote: > On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 3:35 PM, Kevin Oberman<kob6558@gmail.com> wrote: >> I have installed 9-Beta1 using the new installation tool and I am >> generally happy with it. >> The new dialog cause me to need a few more key-strokes because I was >> so used to the >> old behavior, but it really is more intuitive and I would not want to >> see the old behavior >> restored. I'll get used to it soon. >> >> I do have a couple of issues with the new installation tool, though. >> 1. After completing the partition design I am presented with the >> option to "Save" the >> partitions. It is not at all cleared that "Save" actually creates the >> partitions and newfses >> the file systems. I suggest changing "Save" to "Commit" or Execute". >> These are far >> clearer and more frightening. "Save" sounds too safe, not like you are >> about to update >> basic disk structure and may be about to make any data on the disk unusable. >> >> 2. I was installing 9 into an existing set of partitions. (I >> understand that this is NOT >> typical.) First the system asks me about adding a partition. Oops! I >> selected the only >> option that was not clearly wrong, "Cancel". I was not at all sure >> that it was what I >> wanted, but it was. I have no idea how to improve this and it's >> probably not worth >> spending much time think about it. But the next step was confusing. >> >> I selected each of the existing partitions that I was going to use and >> selected modify to >> enter the name of the partition (/, /var, /usr, /tmp). I then quit and >> selected the not >> scarey "Save". I proceeded, but thought the "Save" was rather fast. >> Then the install failed >> because the partitions were already populated. I ended up re-booting >> and then going >> through each partition and deleting it and then selecting the slice >> and creating it again. >> While not a big deal, it seemed like the Modify to name the partitions >> should have >> triggered the newfs that was not done. >> >> I think my first point is pretty important. The second is far less so. >> >> The install went pretty well and I am generally very pleased with the >> new installer. It's >> certainly an improvement over the old one! Thanks to the folks who worked on it. > One of the things that's still a problem as well (since you're talking > about it here) is that the partition editor assumes that all > partitions are properly formatted, etc, when specifying just a > mountpoint. One needs to trash the MBR / GPT metadata and start over > from the beginning. GPT partitions have issues too with incomplete > partition schemes (i.e. user deletes a GPT partition out of an > existing setup, etc) because unfortunately the "boot" partition gets > created improperly the 2nd+ time around and/or gets created multiple > times for some whacky reason (I don't know why this happened, but it > did!). > I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to. Whenever you add a / partition on a partitioning scheme that requires a boot partition (APM, GPT on some platforms), the installer asks you if you want to add a boot partition. The auto-partitioner does this automatically. It does not reuse any existing boot partition for two reasons: - It has no way to know the other boot partition was correctly set up and so would need to reinitialize it. - There is no guarantee that it is even related to FreeBSD. On APM disks, we share a boot partition type with OS X and Linux. The safest thing to do is to make a new one, and let the user delete any extraneous old ones, just as they probably have deleted old extraneous / partitions. -Nathan
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