[Bug 726756] New: imagewriter: produces an image on USB that is "not readable by the partitioning tool parted"
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c0 Summary: imagewriter: produces an image on USB that is "not readable by the partitioning tool parted" Classification: openSUSE Product: openSUSE 12.1 Version: Beta 1 Platform: Other OS/Version: Other Status: NEW Severity: Normal Priority: P5 - None Component: Installation AssignedTo: bnc-team-screening@forge.provo.novell.com ReportedBy: howard.bryan.webb@gmail.com QAContact: jsrain@suse.com Found By: --- Blocker: --- User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:7.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/7.0.1 While attempting to install suse 12.1 RC1 on a system, I used imagewriter (SUSE Studio Imagewriter 1.9) write the ISO image openSUSE-DVD-Build0379-i586.iso on my USB stick. Writing was successful. That's right I have an RC1 system, and used imagewriter to make a bootable image to install RC1 on another system. The problem can be seen in 2 ways: 1) Using yast2, select the disk partitioner utility (with the USB plugged in and mounted). While initializing, yast2 partitioner says "The partitioning on disk /dev/sdc is not readable by the partitioning tool parted, which is used to change the partition table. ,.. 2) Boot the USB stick. During the initial process where the installation software is sizing up its resources just after the Licensing Agreement screen, there is a popup saying that the installation media has a problem. As it happens, it also occurs with the version of imagewriter used on suse 11.4. Using fdisk shows the problem too, and suggests a fix. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. use imagewriter to write an openSUSE ISO image on a USB memory stick 2. remove and reinsert the memory stick 3. observe that it is not mounted (e.g. with df) 4. run yast2, select the disk partitioner 5. verify that during its initialization, a popup appears complaining about the partitioning on your USB stick or 2. Boot the memory stick to install the ISO image (it's OK, you won't wipe anything out; the problem occurs before anything is written to disk) 3. During the Stage 1 installation process, a popup warns about the USB stick, which is scary to even experienced users unless they know to ignore it. Actual Results: as described above Expected Results: no warnings when examining the USB stick produced by imagewriter with fdisk, the suse install process, or yast2 -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c Andreas Jaeger <aj@suse.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AssignedTo|bnc-team-screening@forge.pr |mbarringer@suse.com |ovo.novell.com | -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c1 Matt Barringer <mbarringer@suse.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEW |NEEDINFO InfoProvider| |howard.bryan.webb@gmail.com --- Comment #1 from Matt Barringer <mbarringer@suse.com> 2011-11-07 11:02:18 UTC --- Could you try writing the image to your USB key using dd, to see if this is an Imagewriter bug, or a general bug with the ISO? This is the first time installation DVDs have been hybrid isos, so it might be a problem there. dd if=openSUSE-DVD-Build0025-i586.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M Should do the trick (but be careful about the device path you're writing to!) -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c2 Bryan Webb <howard.bryan.webb@gmail.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEEDINFO |NEW InfoProvider|howard.bryan.webb@gmail.com | --- Comment #2 from Bryan Webb <howard.bryan.webb@gmail.com> 2011-11-07 11:59:13 UTC --- OK, I did as you asked. It looks like whatever created the ISO image has the bug, not imagewriter. yast2->Disk_Partitioner still complains in the same way with a dd written image as it did with the imagewriter written image. Also, fdisk complained as follows: t4:/home/webbb # fdisk /dev/sdc Command (m for help): m Command action a toggle a bootable flag b edit bsd disklabel c toggle the dos compatibility flag d delete a partition l list known partition types m print this menu n add a new partition o create a new empty DOS partition table p print the partition table q quit without saving changes s create a new empty Sun disklabel t change a partition's system id u change display/entry units v verify the partition table w write table to disk and exit x extra functionality (experts only) Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdc: 8021 MB, 8021606400 bytes 64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 7650 cylinders, total 15667200 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x7f293f6c Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdc1 * 0 8712191 4356096 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS Command (m for help): o Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x432e7cde. Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable. Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c3 Matt Barringer <mbarringer@suse.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEW |NEEDINFO InfoProvider| |snwint@suse.com AssignedTo|mbarringer@suse.com |bnc-team-screening@forge.pr | |ovo.novell.com Summary|imagewriter: produces an |12.1 hybrid isos are "not |image on USB that is "not |readable by the |readable by the |partitioning tool parted" |partitioning tool parted" | --- Comment #3 from Matt Barringer <mbarringer@suse.com> 2011-11-07 13:57:35 UTC --- Steffen, are you the right person to assign this to? -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c4 --- Comment #4 from Andreas Jaeger <aj@suse.com> 2011-11-07 14:02:29 UTC --- I guess it's Marcus Schäfer - kiwi writes the files. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c5 Steffen Winterfeldt <snwint@suse.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEEDINFO |NEW CC| |snwint@suse.com InfoProvider|snwint@suse.com | --- Comment #5 from Steffen Winterfeldt <snwint@suse.com> 2011-11-07 17:28:42 CET --- That's normal. isohybrid creates a partition table that looks strange to some partitioning tools (1st partition starts at sector 0 instead of >= 1). When you 'dd' the iso to the usb disk, just don't attempt to modify it. It's not necessary anyway. To use the usb disk in a normal way later, wipe the partition table and create a new one. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c6 Andreas Jaeger <aj@suse.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEW |RESOLVED Resolution| |INVALID --- Comment #6 from Andreas Jaeger <aj@suse.com> 2011-11-07 18:43:43 UTC --- So, not a bug. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c7 --- Comment #7 from Bryan Webb <howard.bryan.webb@gmail.com> 2011-11-07 19:19:46 UTC --- I assume comment #5 is to me, the reporter... Thanks for the rapid feedback! I'm not sure that "looks strange to some partitioning tools" is or should be normal. Why? (A) USB sticks are becoming more popular than CD/DVD media,and (B) it is NOT that the partition table looks strange to some partitioning tools, it is that the consequent error messages are scary to the user, and (C) the level of expertise required to deal with the consequences of this situation is quite high. Rationale: (1) Originally, to create the disk, I used imagewriter. Later at your request, I tried dd. Same results. (2) I never tried to modify the ISO image. I just tried to show you that the image is bad, according to YaST2->DiskPartitioner/parted, and fdisk. (3) I investigated this area because of the problem reported in Bug#728634, a real killer for me. (4) Regarding "To use the usb disk in a normal way later, wipe the partition table and create a new one"... (a) I found that, as expected, fdisk can fix it (though it complains explicitly about the problem as noted above). (b) Yast2->DiskPartitioner is more problematic. In addition to the initial warning I mentioned, where it says: The partitioning on disk /dev/sdc is not readable by the partitioning tool parted, which is used to change the partition table. You can use the partitions on disk /dev/sdc as they are. You can format them and assign mount points to them, but you cannot add, edit, resize, or remove partitions from that disk with this tool. Indeed, using right click on /dev/sdc1, there is no option to "remove" the partition, but there is one to "delete" it. Try that and you get another scary popup. [inconsistent wording bug] If you try to "delete" /dev/sdc, a popup confirms it. However... /dev/sdc1 is NOT removed from the list, AND attempting to now "Add Partition" to /dev/sdc yields another scary msg, and refuses to add the partition. I did not see a way to format /dev/sdc using Yast->DiskPartitioner. I could create a new partition table, but then it asked "which type?" MSDOS or GPT? Which to choose? No Help available from DiskPartitioner on this point (and I haven't tried it). (5) You might say, "Well, go plug it into your Windows7 box and fix it there". That doesn't work. Windows7 recognizes it is unusable, offers to format it for you, then fails. The USB stick is unusable, unless you know about fdisk. OK, there's a bunch of problems here, and putting the currentISO image on a USB stick is a good way to unit test a bunch of different programs, however I submit that the user has got to be a professional sysadmin or developer to work around this issue. Who else knows about fdisk? Or would click the "Expert" button in DiskPartitioner? The problem appears to be an imagewriter issue to the normal user, and imagewriter has been promoted by the openSuSE project. If this is not causing the problem in Bug#728634, *I* can get by. But I bet a bunch of other people can't. P.S. Do you suppose the bad ISO image format is why imagewriter on Windows7 throws a popup at the end of the write operation saying that it failed? -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c8 --- Comment #8 from Bryan Webb <howard.bryan.webb@gmail.com> 2011-11-16 23:37:33 UTC --- I really think this is a bug that should not be resolved as INVALID. You might choose "WONTFIX", but "INVALID" is inappropriate. ("WORKSFORME" would imply you tried the same things documented above and did not see the same results) Another example of this problem can be seen by: s4:/home/webbb/tools # /usr/sbin/partprobe -d Error: Invalid partition table - recursive partition on /dev/sdc. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=726756#c9 --- Comment #9 from Steffen Winterfeldt <snwint@suse.com> 2011-11-17 15:38:08 CET --- The chosen way (to produce an iso that has also a partition table and can be accessed as disk) is a compromise to make it easy to the user to get a bootable usb media to install from. There are other ways (like with the mkbootdisk script provided on our iso) that are technically more perfect but seem to be too complicated for general use. Just copying the iso has its shortcomings, as you can't really re-partition the device, not all disk space is used, etc.) but accomplishes its task which is to provide an installation medium. The described effects are all known and have been discussed at length at the respective mailing lists at the time isohybrid was released (afaik). In summary: the isohybrid way is not perfect - but works surprisingly well. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
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