Ubuntu 14.04.04 installer does not list Prep Boot in Partition Settings

[bugproxy]

== Comment: #0 - Pooja B. Suryanarayana <email address hidden> - 2016-01-13 02:16:08 ==
Hi,

During manual Installation of Ubuntu14.04.4 on tuleta Baremetal, PRePboot is not listed in partition settings,whereas it will take prep during guided installation.

Steps to replicate:

 Select Partition disks from main menu:

        ???????????????? [!] Ubuntu installer main menu ????????????????
        ? ?
        ? Choose the next step in the install process: ?
        ? ?
        ? Choose language ?
        ? Configure the keyboard ? ?
        ? Detect virtual driver disks from hardware manufacturer ? ?
        ? Detect network hardware ? ?
        ? Configure the network ? ?
        ? Choose a mirror of the Ubuntu archive ? ?
        ? Download installer components ? ?
        ? Set up users and passwords ?
        ? Configure the clock ? ?
        ? Detect disks ? ?
        ? Partition disks ? ?
        ? Install the base system ? ?
        ? Configure the package manager ? ?
        ? Select and install software ? ?
        ? Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk ?
        ? ?
        ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Select manual:
  ?????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ???????????????????????????
  ? ?
  ? If you choose guided partitioning for an entire disk, you will next ?
  ? be asked which disk should be used. ?
  ? ?
  ? Partitioning method: ?
  ? ?
  ? Guided - use entire disk ?
  ? Guided - use entire partition, SCSI1 (2,0,0), partition #2 (sda) ? ?
  ? Guided - use entire partition, SCSI1 (2,2,0), partition #2 (sdc) ? ?
  ? Guided - use entire partition, SCSI1 (2,3,0), partition #5 (sdd) ? ?
  ? Guided - use entire partition, SCSI1 (2,4,0), partition #2 (sde) ? ?
  ? Guided - use entire partition, SCSI1 (2,5,0), partition #2 (sdf) ? ?
  ? Guided - use the largest continuous free space ? ?
  ? Guided - use entire disk and set up LVM ? ?
  ? Guided - use entire disk and set up encrypted LVM ?
  ? Manual ?
  ? ?
  ? <Go Back> ?
  ? ?
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Select the disk to partition,go to free space
  ?????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ???????????????????????????
  ? ?
  ? This is an overview of your currently configured partitions and mount ?
  ? points. Select a partition to modify its settings (file system, mount ?
  ? point, etc.), a free space to create partitions, or a device to ?
  ? initialize its partition table. ?
  ? ?
  ? > #5 544.2 GB ext4 ?
  ? > 46.2 GB FREE SPACE ? ?
  ? SCSI1 (2,4,0) (sde) - 1.1 TB IBM IPR-0 5D80CA00 ? ?
  ? > 1.0 MB FREE SPACE ? ?
  ? > #1 7.3 MB B ext4 ? ?
  ? > #2 1.1 TB ext4 ? ?
  ? > #3 46.2 GB F swap swap ?
  ? > 1.0 MB FREE SPACE ? ?
  ? SCSI1 (2,5,0) (sdf) - 1.1 TB IBM IPR-0 5D80CA00 --> ? ?
  ? > 1.1 TB FREE SPACE ?
  ? ?
  ? <Go Back> ?
  ? ?
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

<F1> for help; <Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Create a new partition:
                ????????????? [!!] Partition disks ?????????????
                ? ?
                ? How to use this free space: ?
                ? ?
                ? Create a new partition ?
                ? Automatically partition the free space ?
                ? Show Cylinder/Head/Sector information ?
                ? ?
                ? <Go Back> ?
                ? ?
                ????????????????????????????????????????????????

   ????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ??????????????????????????
   ? ?
   ? The maximum size for this partition is 1.1 TB. ?
   ? ?
   ? Hint: "max" can be used as a shortcut to specify the maximum size, or ?
   ? enter a percentage (e.g. "20%") to use that percentage of the maximum ?
   ? size. ?
   ? ?
   ? New partition size: ?
   ? ?
   ? 8 mb_________________________________________________________________ ?
   ? ?
   ? <Go Back> <Continue> ?
   ? ?
   ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

  ?????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ???????????????????????????
  ? ?
  ? Please choose whether you want the new partition to be created at the ?
  ? beginning or at the end of the available space. ?
  ? ?
  ? Location for the new partition: ?
  ? ?
  ? Beginning ?
  ? End ?
  ? ?
  ? <Go Back> ?
  ? ?
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Go to use as:
  ?????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ???????????????????????????
  ? ?
  ? You are editing partition #1 of SCSI1 (2,5,0) (sdf). No existing file ?
  ? system was detected in this partition. ?
  ? ?
  ? Partition settings: ?
  ? ?
  ? Name: ?
  ? Use as: Ext4 journaling file system ? ?
  ? ?
  ? Mount point: / ? ?
  ? Mount options: defaults ? ?
  ? Label: none ? ?
  ? Reserved blocks: 5% ? ?
  ? Typical usage: standard ? ?
  ? Bootable flag: off ? ?
  ? ?
  ? ?
  ? <Go Back> ?
  ? ?
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

<F1> for help; <Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Here its not listing the "prepBoot":

                    ????????? [!!] Partition disks ?????????
                    ? ?
                    ? How to use this partition: ?
                    ? ?
                    ? Ext4 journaling file system ?
                    ? Ext3 journaling file system ?
                    ? Ext2 file system ? ?
                    ? btrfs journaling file system ? ?
                    ? JFS journaling file system ? ?
                    ? XFS journaling file system ? ?
                    ? FAT16 file system ? ?
                    ? FAT32 file system ? ?
                    ? swap area ? ?
                    ? Reserved BIOS boot area ? ?
                    ? physical volume for encryption ? ?
                    ? physical volume for RAID ? ?
                    ? physical volume for LVM
                    | do not use the partition ?
                    ? ?
                    ? <Go Back> ?
                    ? ?
                    ????????????????????????????????????????

<F1> for help; <Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

=========================
=========================
Whereas In guided "PREP" is available. :
=========================

Select guided-use entire disk

  ?????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ???????????????????????????
  ? ?
  ? If you choose guided partitioning for an entire disk, you will next ?
  ? be asked which disk should be used. ?
  ? ?
  ? Partitioning method: ?
  ? ?
  ? Guided - resize SCSI1 (2,2,0), partition #6 (sdc) and use freed s ?
  ? Guided - resize SCSI1 (2,3,0), partition #2 (sdd) and use freed s ? ?
  ? Guided - resize SCSI1 (2,4,0), partition #2 (sde) and use freed s ? ?
  ? Guided - resize SCSI1 (2,5,0), partition #2 (sdf) and use freed s ? ?
  ? Guided - reuse partition, SCSI1 (2,0,0), partition #2 (sda) ? ?
  ? Guided - reuse partition, SCSI1 (2,2,0), partition #2 (sdc) ?
  ? Guided - reuse partition, SCSI1 (2,3,0), partition #5 (sdd) ? ?
  ? Guided - reuse partition, SCSI1 (2,4,0), partition #2 (sde) ? ?
  ? Guided - reuse partition, SCSI1 (2,5,0), partition #2 (sdf) ? ?
  ? Guided - use entire disk ?
  ? ?
  ? <Go Back> ?
  ? ?
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

Select the disk for which to partition:

  ?????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ???????????????????????????
  ? ?
  ? Note that all data on the disk you select will be erased, but not ?
  ? before you have confirmed that you really want to make the changes. ?
  ? ?
  ? Select disk to partition: ?
  ? ?
  ? SCSI1 (2,0,0) (sda) - 1.1 TB IBM IPR-0 5D80CA00 ?
  ? SCSI1 (2,1,0) (sdb) - 1.1 TB IBM IPR-0 5D80CA00 ?
  ? SCSI1 (2,2,0) (sdc) - 1.1 TB IBM IPR-0 5D80CA00 ?
  ? SCSI1 (2,3,0) (sdd) - 1.1 TB IBM IPR-0 5D80CA00 ?
  ? SCSI1 (2,4,0) (sde) - 1.1 TB IBM IPR-0 5D80CA00 ?
  ? SCSI1 (2,5,0) (sdf) - 1.1 TB IBM IPR-0 5D80CA00 ?
  ? SCSI1 (0,8,0) (sdg) - 300.0 GB IBM MK3001GRRB ?
  ? ?
  ? <Go Back> ?
  ? ?
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

<Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

sdf-->7.3 mb go to that partition and check it takes prep as default
  ?????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ???????????????????????????
  ? ?
  ? This is an overview of your currently configured partitions and mount ?
  ? points. Select a partition to modify its settings (file system, mount ?
  ? point, etc.), a free space to create partitions, or a device to ?
  ? initialize its partition table. ?
  ? ?
  ? > #3 46.2 GB swap ?
  ? > 1.0 MB FREE SPACE ? ?
  ? SCSI1 (2,5,0) (sdf) - 1.1 TB IBM IPR-0 5D80CA00 ? ?
  ? > 1.0 MB FREE SPACE ? ?
  ? > #1 7.3 MB B f ? ?
  ? > #2 1.1 TB F ext4 / ? ?
  ? > #3 46.2 GB F swap swap ? ?
  ? > 1.0 MB FREE SPACE ?
  ? SCSI1 (0,8,0) (sdg) - 300.0 GB IBM MK3001GRRB ? ?
  ? > 1.0 MB FREE SPACE ?
  ? ?
  ? <Go Back> ?
  ? ?
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

<F1> for help; <Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

  ?????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ???????????????????????????
  ? ?
  ? You are editing partition #1 of SCSI1 (2,5,0) (sdf). No existing file ?
  ? system was detected in this partition. ?
  ? ?
  ? Partition settings: ?
  ? ?
  ? Name: ?
  ? Use as: prep ?
  ? ? ?
  ? Mount point: none ? ?
  ? Mount options: defaults ? ?
  ? Label: none ? ?
  ? Reserved blocks: 5% ? ?
  ? Typical usage: standard ? ?
  ? Bootable flag: on ? ?
  ? ?
  ? ?
  ? <Go Back> ?
  ? ?
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

<F1> for help; <Tab> moves; <Space> selects; <Enter> activates buttons

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1533587/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

To be precise, you have not shown that prep is presented as an option in either case. If the guided partitioning is used, there will be a partition set up for prep; and when displaying details about this partition its usage will be shown as "prep". But if you try to change the usage, is "prep" given as an option there? I suspect that it won't be.

This points to a problem with choose_method/prep/choices from partman-prep, either not being invoked correctly, or not correctly outputting the description string.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Marking 'high', because grub installation will fail later on if it doesn't find a prep partition (even though this is not required for P8 systems), so if you can't configure a prep partition this would break installs using manual partitioning.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

In the list of possible partitions, above " Ext4 journaling file system" there should have been "Use as PowerPC PReP...", but it doesn't appear to be in the documentation for the bug here, or it was scrolled out of view.

I've run a quick test looking at the code for partman-prep in 14.04, and the option already was there, although I didn't go the fully manual route yet. I will go back and manually partition a new VM to check this.

The code in partman-prep does indeed contain the right code to add the PReP option in filesystems, and does not appear to conditionalize it at all.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

I can't reproduce this at all. I suspect the issue is "simply" that the PReP partition option is at the very top and scrolled out of view. It certainly seemed to be what happened here in my testing.

Setting to Incomplete.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2016-01-20 00:51 EDT-------
Externalizing tester's comment :

(In reply to comment #8)
> In the list of possible partitions, above " Ext4 journaling file system"
> there should have been "Use as PowerPC PReP...", but it doesn't appear to be
> in the documentation for the bug here, or it was scrolled out of view.
>
> I've run a quick test looking at the code for partman-prep in 14.04, and the
> option already was there, although I didn't go the fully manual route yet. I
> will go back and manually partition a new VM to check this.
>
> The code in partman-prep does indeed contain the right code to add the PReP
> option in filesystems, and does not appear to conditionalize it at all.

Prep is not listed when installing on Bare metal (net boot installation--> http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/trusty-proposed/main/installer-ppc64el/current/images/wily-netboot/ubuntu-installer/ppc64el/ ) manually.
It lists prep while installing in on PowerVM and PowerKVM.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

I'm still unable to reproduce this issue. In your experience, is partman-prep installed in your test case?

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2016-01-27 00:31 EDT-------
(In reply to comment #12)
> I'm still unable to reproduce this issue. In your experience, is
> partman-prep installed in your test case?

Hi,

I am installing Ubuntu 14.04.4,this is even before the selecting packages to be installed,so it is not possible to install part-man-prep when installing .

Thanks,
Pooja

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

You wouldn't have to install it yourself, it should be picked automatically.

Also, when you get to the partitioning dialogs, you can hit Go Back to get to the main menu, select "Execute a shell", and execute the following command to check that partman-prep is installed:

grep 'Package: partman-prep' /var/lib/dpkg/status

Still, it should be shipped together with the base image in your case.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2016-02-01 05:42 EDT-------
(In reply to comment #15)
> You wouldn't have to install it yourself, it should be picked automatically.
>
> Also, when you get to the partitioning dialogs, you can hit Go Back to get
> to the main menu, select "Execute a shell", and execute the following
> command to check that partman-prep is installed:
>
> grep 'Package: partman-prep' /var/lib/dpkg/status
>
> Still, it should be shipped together with the base image in your case.

Hi,

I found that partman-prep is not present in /var/lib/dpkg/status.

GNU nano 2.2.6 File: /var/lib/dpkg/status Modified

Depends: cdebconf-udeb (>= 0.75), main-menu (>= 1.03)
Description: enter OEM mode if requested

Package: main-menu
Status: install ok unpacked
Version: 1.44ubuntu1
Depends: libc6-udeb (>= 2.18), libdebconfclient0-udeb, libdebian-installer4-ude$
Description: Debian installer main menu

Package: di-utils-shell
Status: install ok installed
Version: 1.105ubuntu1.14.04.1
Depends: cdebconf-udeb, di-utils (>= 1.62)
Description: Execute a shell
Installer-Menu-Item: 95000

Package: di-utils
Status: install ok installed
Version: 1.105ubuntu1.14.04.1
[ "partman-prep" not found ]
^G Get Help ^O WriteOut ^W Where Is ^V Next Page ^U UnCut TextM-? Last Line
^X Exit ^R Read File ^Y Prev Page ^K Cut Text M-| First Lin^_ Go To Line

Thanks,
Pooja

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

So we're dealing with some system which appears to be detected as something different than we're used to then. From what I can tell the partman-prep package would get installed if the subarchitecture is correctly detected as chrp_ibm or prep, etc.

AIUI this would come from archdetect.

Could you please run the archdetect command in a terminal on the system, and tell us here what it reports? The result should be in the form 'ppc64el/subarchitecture', I somewhat expect that the subarchitecture on this system is reported as 'unknown'.

[Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)]

This may be similar to LP 1523637.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Turns out this is most likely "just" a duplicate of bug 1523637; where libdebian-installer (which gets us the data for archdetect) didn't know about PowerNV until the utopic release.

Marking the bug as duplicate, I've already updated the other bug and will upload the fix to trusty-proposed immediately.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2016-02-05 04:03 EDT-------
(In reply to comment #17)
> So we're dealing with some system which appears to be detected as something
> different than we're used to then. From what I can tell the partman-prep
> package would get installed if the subarchitecture is correctly detected as
> chrp_ibm or prep, etc.
>
> AIUI this would come from archdetect.
>
> Could you please run the archdetect command in a terminal on the system, and
> tell us here what it reports? The result should be in the form
> 'ppc64el/subarchitecture', I somewhat expect that the subarchitecture on
> this system is reported as 'unknown'.

Hi Mathieu,

The output of the archdetect command:
ubuntu@FR21p01:~$ archdetect
ppc64el/unkown

When i installed Ubuntu16.04 on the same machine and checked .
ubuntu@FR21p01:~$ archdetect
ppc64el/chrp_ibm

Thanks,
Pooja

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Yeah, this is exactly what we got as a conclusion earlier. Launchpad bug 1523637 which this bug is now marked as a duplicate of, has the fix. The update is now in trusty-proposed, so it can be verified (the instructions will be on the bug).

Essentially, it looks like 15.04 and later got the update to recognize PowerNV as 'chrp_ibm', but 14.04 had not. The change has been backported, and should be available to the public as soon as it is verified by someone, enabling the trusty-proposed repository in the installer.