Re: [ag@corcomroe.in-ulm.de: Re: Bug#428329: Bug in debian-Installer/initramfs when I use "GUID Partition Table (GPT)" with a crypted root filesystem]

Andreas Gerlich <ag@corcomroe.in-ulm.de> wrote:
>In the following screens I setup the same like in the first situation:
>
> /boot SWAP /
>,--------, ,--------, ,--------,
>| BOOT | | SWAP | | ROOT |
>`---*----´ `---*----´ `----*---´
> | | |
> | | |
> | | |
> | ,---*------, ,----*-------,
> | |sda2_crypt| |sda3_crypt |
> | | key | | Key |
> | | random | | Passphrase |
> | `---*------´ `-------*----´
> | | |
> | | |
> ,-*--, ,-*--, ,----*-,
> |sda1| |sda2| | sda3 | /dev/sda
> `----´ `----´ `------´
> (/dev/sda is the 2.3TB Host-drive of the ICP Vortex RAID controller)

Ah, I understand now why it fails (see explanation below)

> ¦ -->Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk ¦
> ¦ -->Install the LILO boot loader on a hard disk ¦
> ¦ Continue without boot loader ¦
> ¦ -->Finish the installation ¦
> ¦ Change debconf priority ¦
> ¦ Check the CD-ROM(s) integrity ¦
> ¦ Save debug logs ¦
> ¦ Execute a shell ¦
> ¦ Abort the installation ¦
> ¦ ¦
> ¦ ¦
> ¦ ¦
> +-------------------------------------------------------+
>
>It it necessary to go through GRUB before select LILO !!!

What happens if you don't? This sounds like a separate bug report should be filed against the appropriate part of debian-installer (discuss on debian-boot@lists.debian.org if you're unsure which component to report it against).

>(initramfs) _
>(initramfs) cat /proc/cmdline
>
>auto BOOT_IMAGE=Linux ro root=fe01 (The information which you request)

Aha! root=fe01 means that root is on the block device with major 254 (0xfe) and minor 1 (0x01). Major 254 is device-mapper and devices are dynamically allocated minor numbers starting from 0. This means that when you setup the devices in debian-installer, you got the following layout:

/dev/mapper/sda2_crypt (swap), major 254, minor 0 /dev/mapper/sda3_crypt (root), major 254, minor 1

Root is on /dev/mapper/sda3_crypt so lilo encoded root=fe01, but the next time you boot, /dev/mapper/sda3_crypt is brought up first, which gives it major 254, minor 0, which is why it can't be found.

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I'm pretty certain that everything would have worked if the root device would have been created first during installation (making it /dev/mapper/sda2_crypt with major 254, minor 0) and swap second.

So this is not really a bug in cryptsetup, but a problem in the interaction between device-mapper devices and lilo in debian-installer.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what would be the best fix for this, so I've sent a copy of this mail to debian-boot, let's see if we can get some feedback.

(For those of you just joining, see #428329 for background info)

-- 
David Härdeman


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