Re: Problems with RH 7.0 kickstart disk partitioning.

[Carl Riches <riches@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 30 Mar 2001, Randolph R. Russell wrote:

> --onpart conflicts with --clearpart.  In order to use --onpart, 
> the partition must already exist.  When you specify --clearpart, it clears
> the partition table, so the partition can't exist!  Ditch the --clearpart, 
> use fdisk in the %pre section, and achieve partitioning nirvana.
> 

I am still in partitioning purgatory.  No, make that hell.  fdisk is
unable to mount or use the disk drive in a %pre section and the kickstart
installation fails.  Here is my %pre section:

  # P R E - I N S T A L L A T I O N   C O M M A N D S
  %pre

  # partition the disk
  fdisk /tmp/sda
  n
  p
  2
  5
  +256M
  w

Here is the anaconda dump from this:

  Traceback (innermost last):
    File "/usr/bin/anaconda", line 438, in ?
      intf.run(todo, test = test)
    File "/var/tmp/anaconda-7.0.1//usr/lib/anaconda/text.py", line 1030, in run
      rc = apply (step[1](), step[2])
    File "/var/tmp/anaconda-7.0.1//usr/lib/anaconda/textw/partitioning_text.py", line 134, in __call__
      todo.lilo.allowLiloLocationConfig(todo.fstab)
    File "/var/tmp/anaconda-7.0.1//usr/lib/anaconda/lilo.py", line 124, in allowLiloLocationConfig
      if bootDevice[0:2] == "md":
  TypeError: unsliceable object

  Local variables in innermost frame:
  fstab: <fstab.NewtFstab instance at 8199cd8>
  self: <lilo.LiloConfiguration instance at 82b36e8>
  bootDevice: None

  ToDo object:
  (itodo
  ToDo
  p1
  (dp2
  S'method'
  p3
  (iimage
  CdromInstallMethod
  p4
  (dp5
  S'progressWindow'
  p6

  <failed>

Here are the messages at the end of console #3:

  Unable to open /tmp/sda
  /tmp/ks-script: n: command not found
  /tmp/ks-script: p: command not found
  /tmp/ks-script: 2: command not found
  /tmp/ks-script: 5: command not found
  /tmp/ks-script: +256: command not found
  /tmp/ks-script: w: command not found

The disk partitioning also fails when I change the fdisk command from:

  fdisk /tmp/sda

to

  fdisk /dev/sda

in the same manner as above.  Is this because there is no SCSI device
driver yet?  I have the following in my kickstart command list:

  # D E V I C E   S P E C I F I C A T I O N
  device scsi aic7xxx

All of this begs the question:

  Why does the automatic disk partitioning automagically partition the
  disk in order largest to smallest, and not in the order given in the
  ks.cfg file?

All of this is making my job harder to do.  I've spent days trying to get
this to work properly.  I have to use kickstart because this machine
  _cannot_
install from the CDs.  That's the way Dell made it and I'm stuck with it.
Dell's default disk partitioning scheme is wrong for the way this machine
will be used, so I have to muck with this part of the ks.cfg file.

So, how do I make this work?

Thanks,
Carl G. Riches
Software Engineer
Department of Mathematics
Box 354350			voice:     206-543-5082 or 206-616-3636
University of Washington	fax:       206-543-0397
Seattle, WA  98195-4350		internet:  riches@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx