grub-install fails for JFS root partition

Bug #14010 reported by Brian Drell
16
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
grub-installer (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

I installed the Hoary preview release, and I set up my root partition as JFS.
Everything went fine except for the installation of Grub to the MBR. It
attempts, then says that it fails. It will not install to the partition
superblock either.

The correct stage files for booting a JFS partition do get installed. I was
able to install grub to the MBR using a generic grub boot floppy, and my system
boots fine, with grub, from a JFS partition. However, the automated installer
chokes.

Tags: iso-testing
Revision history for this message
Rob Morehouse III (rob-morehouse) wrote :

same problem here. Lilo install worked fine though. Using an HP Pavilion
ze4600 laptop w/ athlon xp 256 meg. oh and I was leaving my windows partition on
the computer.

Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote :

Could you send me /var/log/syslog and /var/log/messages from the installer?
(Note that those won't have been copied to the installed system if the
installation was incomplete, as you describe; you'll need to run through the
installation again.)

I just did a successful installation here with a JFS /, with no apparent problems.

Revision history for this message
Didier Cassirame (didierc) wrote :

(In reply to comment #2)
> Could you send me /var/log/syslog and /var/log/messages from the installer?
> (Note that those won't have been copied to the installed system if the
> installation was incomplete, as you describe; you'll need to run through the
> installation again.)
>
> I just did a successful installation here with a JFS /, with no apparent problems.

I did an upgrade of Hoary to Breezy current yesterday with apt-get, and my JFS
root filesystem wasn't supported:

System : Toshiba laptop satellite 3000-400

partitions :
- /dev/hda1 swap (2Gb)
- /dev/hda2 jfs (18Gb)

using Lilo as bootloader.

The last message before dropping to busybox was something like : Unknown module
not found.
Sorry for the lack of details, I didn't take notes, nor kept logs.

After that, I did a reinstall of the system with daily breezy install CD (from
09/02), keeping the same filesystem layout (I wanted to keep /home), but erasing
everything on the partition except /home
This time grub was used, and it tried to load the kernel from (hd0,0), instead
of (hd0,1), though it found the stage1.5 file on the jfs partition.
Finally, I did another install again, this time using the default partitioning
scheme, and it works (using it right now).
Also, I believe that the jfs module wasn't present in the initrd file from my 2
initial attempts (upgrade and install with my own fs layout), but this needs to
be investigated.
Thanks for the hard work and Good Luck!

Revision history for this message
PtOLU8zjbZxlgNOiyGyd (lkgdx5kefrptmd7ccufa-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

To add a confirmation. This problem occurs when you try to install grub to a
partiton superblock and the filesystem type is not ext2/3.

That is, it has happened to me under the following conditions:

1. Not installing to the MBR, but rather installing to a primary partition
properly tagged with a boot flag. (I prefer *not* to touch the MBR if Windows NT
is installed in the disk, repairing *that* MBR later is too much of a bother).

2. Installing to a partition formatted with ReiserFS, XFS or JFS. The installer
refuses to install the grub stage files to the partition superblock.

3. If I save the partition block to a diskette (formatted with ext2/msdos/vfat)
and use it to boot up to the Ubuntu root partition, I can install grub to the
patition superblock from a terminal emulator or the console, with a success rate
of 100%. Afterwards, the system will boot up from that partition superblock
without problems.

I've had that problem happen in all systems I've tried, using PATA and SATA
drives from different verndors and mainboards of different vendors and chipsets,
so I would think the problem lies in the debian installer or the grub binaries
included therewith.

Revision history for this message
Martin Bergner (martin-bergner) wrote :

Did this problem occur in the dapper install cds?

btw: If you experience the problems in a bug please confirm it.

Changed in grub-installer:
status: Needs Info → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
steve.horsley (steve-horsley) wrote :

I confirm this bug is still present in Feisty Beta 1 Alternate installer CD.

During the install, I chose manual partitioning and selected an existing partition for reformatting as my root partition. Then at the question "Install bootloader to MBR?" I chose No, and instead said to install to /dev/sda9 (SATA drive). As error message told me that grub-install failed and this was fatal. I continued the installation and then used the installer CD as a rescue disk and ran "grub-install /dev/sda7" manually. I then had to create my own menu.lst.

This was with a JFS partition, and specifying both /dev/sda7 and (hd0,6) fail the same way. Same bug existed in Edgy, except I was installing to EXT3 and not JFS then. I seem to remember i has the same bug in Dapper too, but can't swear to it.

Colin Watson (cjwatson)
Changed in grub-installer:
assignee: kamion → nobody
Revision history for this message
OS/2-User (fzf7a2c02) wrote :

This problem, that the Desktop installer *always* fails to install GRUB on a separate /boot partition ((hd0,5) 24MB), formatted as JFS, as are most of my other ones besides a few HPFS, still exists in Feisty 7.04 and throughout all the Gutsy betas (#3 currently).
I eventually succeeded, after selecting ext3 for /boot.

Revision history for this message
steve.horsley (steve-horsley) wrote :

Confirmed (again) for Gutsy Tribe-5 (installing to jfs root partition).

Revision history for this message
OS/2-User (fzf7a2c02) wrote :

Well, now I'm kind of speechless. :-0
How can it be, that a bug this severe, can hang around for more than 2years now and is still unfixed?
I simply don't get it. On one hand, IBM's JFS gets ported to Linux, is still under active development, yet on the other hand, the FS is useless anyway, since for 2+ years now, Linux cannot be installed on JFS partitions at all.
Where is the logic in that? That simply is beyond my comprehension.
Would someone please care to explain?

Revision history for this message
Rotbart van Dainig (rotbart-van-dainig) wrote :

Installing Hardy Alpha 6 on my old laptop, I used JFS for the root partition (including boot and home).
The install went just fine, including GRUB - even update-grub (to get acpi=force enabled) just worked like expected.

My desktop now boots from a JFS root as well... no problems so far.

Revision history for this message
PtOLU8zjbZxlgNOiyGyd (lkgdx5kefrptmd7ccufa-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

An observation to Rotbart. Yes, it works fine when you install grub stage1 to the MBR. If you install stage1 to the root partition superblock, it fails. That's where the bug is. Why the partition superblock? That's the safest procedure if you have more than two OSs installed in the same system. You boot from one and use that one to access the bootloader of others as per the multiboot spec and or play with active partition tags.

Revision history for this message
Richard Seguin (sectech) wrote :

Do we know if this was fixed for the final release?

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