Ensure partition types are correct when manually partitioning (otherwise grub may fail to install)

[Sylvain Pasche]

Binary package hint: ubiquity

I made room for an ext3 partition where I wanted to install Ubuntu 9.10, but for some reason the partition type was incorrect (not sure if gparted failed, or if another OS I installed before updated the partition table, but the future ext3 partition was flagged as "Compaq diagnostics" (12)).

I chose to install "/" on that partition formatted as ext3 and all went well until the grub installation which failed with the message:
Executing 'grub-install (hd0)' failed. This is a fatal error.

In the log, I can see the message:
The file /boot/grub/stage1 not read correctly.

Apparently, grub can't locate the boot partition if it's partition type isn't "83 Linux".

After fixing the partition type, the installation went well.

In order to avoid such issues, it would be useful if the partitioner could check that the partition type corresponds to the file system that is going to be installed. Ideally there should be an option to fix that, or at least warn the user that the installation is going to fail.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Grub ( and linux in general ) don't care what the partition type is.