[breezy install] LVM option?

[David Abrahams]

Colin Watson <cjwatson at ubuntu.com> writes:

> On Mon, Dec 05, 2005 at 01:44:31PM -0500, David Abrahams wrote:
>> Well, here we go.  It's a detailed experience report; eventually
>> things "work," but they work badly at best.  Who is in charge of
>> installer software and should see this info?
>
> That would be me, 

Hi!

> but unfortunately I don't have time to keep up with all of
> ubuntu-users@ and I only saw this mail by dumb luck. Could you
> please file this as a bug report in Bugzilla, on the component
> 'partman-lvm'?

Sure; where's ubuntu's Bugzilla?  Or is it GNU's Bugzilla?  Or...?
Would it be sufficient to post a link to this thread
(http://news.gmane.org/find-root.php?message_id=%3cuvey46pd7.fsf%40boost%2dconsulting.com%3e)
in order to expose the details?  I don't think it makes sense to try
to rewrite this experience report.

> Please also attach /var/log/syslog, /var/log/messages,
> and /var/log/partman from the installer (once you've finished the
> install, these files live in /var/log/installer/ instead).

Well, I could do that, but since I've restarted that process so many
times with a clean wipe of the filesystem each time, I don't know if
you'll find much of a trail there.

>
> I'll answer a few of the comments inline here:
>
>>     IDE1 master (hda) - 30.0 GB
>>       #1 primary      16.4 MB ext3 Z :-X   /boot
>>          pri/log     238.5 MB              FREE SPACE
>>       #5 logical      28.8 GB        :^)   lvm
>>     LVM VG Ubuntu, LV root - 28.5 GB Unknown
>>       #1 28.5 GB      :-X  ext3              /
>>     LVM VG Ubuntu, LV swap_1 - 1.2 GB Unknown
>>       #1  1.2 GB      :-X  swap              swap
>> 
>>    Why do I have a 16.4 MB /boot now?  I don't know.
>> 
>>    Now attempt to resize #5 to soak up the remaining free space
>>    
>>      "New partition size:" (max)
>> 
>>    Hmm, no change.  What is up here?  Is there some rule that a given
>>    partition can't have more than a certain number of blocks, so the
>>    smallest blocks allowed on partition #5 are 256MB?
>
> No, it's just that partitions are only ever resized by moving the end of
> the partition, not by moving the start. Using extra space before the
> partition you're trying to resize would involve moving all the data on
> the partition, which could break bootloaders expecting to find things at
> particular offsets in the disk, cannot really be made resilient against
> failures part-way through the process (at least not without lots of
> extra free space to work with), and is generally a really bad idea.

Heh, okay.  Looks like I'm going to wipe everything yet again so I can
avoid squandering 200 MB on the /boot partition.  This time I'll try
to scrap both partitions and see if I can create the /boot partition
from scratch.

>> Let's start over: I select the disk and wipe its partition table.
>> Then I manage to set up something like this, which looks like a start:
>> 
>>     IDE1 master (hda) - 30.0 GB
>>       #1 primary      16.4 MB :-X ext3  /boot
>>          pri/log       6.0 GB :-X fat32 /windows
>>       #5 logical      24.0 GB :-X ext3  /  
>>     LVM VG Ubuntu, LV root - 28.5 GB Unknown
>>       #1 28.5 GB      :-X  ext3     /
>>     LVM VG Ubuntu, LV swap_1 - 1.2 GB Unknown
>>       #1  1.2 GB      :-X  swap     swap
>
> Two root filesystems there. Exciting ...
>
>> Hmm, after several failures for reasons I don't remember I am now
>> able to create a logical volume.  I call it lv-var (I'm going to put
>> /var there).  Works!  OK, now I want to create one for /var/log.  I
>> call it lv-var/log.  Fails for cryptic reasons.  I switch to the 3rd
>> console (which it's only just now telling me about!) to find some
>> diagnostic info.  Nothing useful there at all; it just looks like the
>> result of some command-line to which wrong options were supplied.  I
>> figure it's the slash so I try again using lv-var-log.  Success! 
>
> Mm, yes, definitely some extra validation needed there. This is:
>
>   http://bugs.debian.org/254630
>
>> So now I have a bunch of LVs in my own volume group, and then the two
>> LVs set up by the installer are still hanging out there, apparently
>> attached to the nonexistent (?) "Ubuntu" VG.  It's hard to imagine
>> that it /really/ doesn't exist, because my previous install used just
>> those two LVs and it seemed to work.  What does that mean?
>> I guess I'm going to have to delete the ones that Ubuntu made for me (?)
>
> Yes, the integration with partman here is really nasty and confusing.
> :-(

partman is a detail that's hidden from me, as the user.  I only see
the results of the poor integration :(

>> Seems to be working.  I'm wondering if this would have gone better had
>> I called the VG I created "Ubuntu"?
>
> I think it would work better if you deleted all the vestiges of the VGs
> and LVs created by the autopartitioning tools before starting to create
> your own. (I'm not going to try to defend this UI as being sensible,
> though.)

Should I risk a fresh install?  This is getting to be a 2-day
operation...

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com