Crash installing onto memory stick

[Steve White]

Kubuntu 6.06, from graphical installer, onto 1Gb USB memory stick
(ID 0457:0151 Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. Super Flash 1GB Flash Drive)

Got a dialog

Installer Crashed

We're sorry; the installer crasehed. Please file a bug report at

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+filebug
attach the files /var/log/installer/syslog, /var/log/syslog, and /var/log/partman

(there was some other text, but unfortunately, the text wasn't selectable, and I got tired of typing)

Uh...how do I attach those files with this interface?....maybe later

[Steve White (stevan-white)]

the requested partman file

[Steve White (stevan-white)]

oops. you asked for two different files named syslog. one overwrote the other. hope this is enough. I ain't going through all that again.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Unfortunately /var/log/installer/syslog is by far the more useful log message, particularly given that you didn't provide the full traceback. If you can't provide that then I'm afraid there is nothing I can do with this bug ... Thanks in advance.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

(I said "log message" when I meant "log file".)

[Steve White (stevan-white)]

don't recall anything about full traceback.
call it another bug: "crash dialog doesn't ask for full traceback"

[Carthik Sharma (carthik)]

Colin, This could be a duplicate of the "not enough space" bug (Bug #48355) since only 1GB is available on the USB disk. /var/log/partman says so too.

[RobertBrunhuber (ubuntu-rbrunhuber)]

Thanks for your bugreport. However this bugreport is marked as "needs info" at least for 3 months now but no further information was requested or provided.

If the problem persists please add a comment with updated information.
If the bug is fixed please close it.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

It'll be just the out-of-space bug, as Carthik said. No more information is necessary, although it wouldn't hurt for verification purposes.

[Steve White (stevan-white)]

FWIW, I tried it again.

Same memory stick, but different computer, and this time with Feisty Kubuntu 7.04 beta.

Crashed again. My opinion is, a functioning installation of any modern distro should fit comfortably on a 1 gig medium.

I see that the stick has over 800MB of files on it, after the crash.

Tragically, I once again didn't retrieve the /var/log/installer/syslog file. This time however, the installer gave me text that I could copy:

raise RuntimeError, ("Install failed with exit code %s\n%s" %
RuntimeError: Install failed with exit code 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 1421, in ?
    install.run()
  File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 306, in run
    self.copy_all()
  File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 484, in copy_all
    shutil.copyfile(sourcepath, targetpath)
  File "shutil.py", line 49, in copyfile
    copyfileobj(fsrc, fdst)
  File "shutil.py", line 25, in copyfileobj
    fdst.write(buf)
IOError: [Errno 28] No space left on device

[Henrik Nilsen Omma (henrik)]

Ubuntu requires about 3.3Gb of space for a desktop installation. This is a basic design choice, so failure to fit on a 1Gb disk is not really a bug. You should be warned of the lack of space though, which is bug #48355. I'm duping this bug to that.

Note: You can copy the Live CD filesystem onto a USB drive and boot from that, which only requires about 700MB.

[Steve White (stevan-white)]

A warning (when the partition is selected) will be an adequate fix.
After all, it is the loss of the user's (my) time that is important.

Besides, now I have a 4Gb stick. (Unless...you guys aren't about to make Unubtu require 16Gb, are you?)

Also...I think somebody should hunt down the crash itself. Even without the size warning, the installer should have detected a problem and exited gracefully with an explanation, rather than crashing.