Problems installing gutsy with crypted partitions

[Josef Wolf]

On Wed, Oct 17, 2007 at 08:31:38PM -0400, Paul S wrote:
> Josef Wolf said the following on 10/17/2007 10:57 AM:

> >    What would one do with a 400gb disk?  Wait 40 hours?  There should
> >    _really_ be an option to skip the randomizing step.
> One of the options you can select is "Erase it" and you can specify 
> "no".  This is what I did.

OK. Found it now...

> It goes much faster, but also leaves the crud on the hard drive.

Yes, but there can be several reasons to skip the randomization step:

- It might be just a test installation.  I do _many_ of test installations
  to make sure I won't be catched by some bug/incompatibility before I
  try to install on real iron.

- The previous installation already _had_ encrypted filesystems.  When
  the key is lost (i.e. the LUKS header is overwritten) remaining data
  is as good as random data.  In a perfect world, you would randomize
  the drive exactly once when it is shipped to you: unpack, randomize,
  install, done.

- There will never real secrets be stored on the box.  You simply want
  to protect your privacy against the casual theft.

> > 5. I am asked to enter passphrase+confirmation for hda2.  I enter them
> > 
> > 6. Then d-i says it is starting up the partitioner.
> >    Huh?  I would have expected to be asked for passphrase+confirmation
> >    for hda4!
> > 
> > 7. d-i hangs at 47%
> 
> I had this happen twice. I hit Cntl-Alt-Del to restart.  I was going to 
> collect the debug info on the third attempt, but it worked.    Must be a 
> bug.  I used 7.10RC.

I could reproduce it three times.  I also used 7.10rc (forgot to mention
this, sorry).  Where do I find the debug info when I get the problem the
next time?  Maybe I should try 7.10 (the real, not rc) first...

> Maybe it will work on your third try too.

I already tried three times.  I always try several times before I post
to mailing lists since I want to
 - filter out stupid errors before posting.
 - try to collect as much information as I can before posting.
 - find the problem/bug by myself.