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On Tuesday 19 September 2006 12:08 am, Carl Hartung wrote:
In fact, to 'set a mount point' simply means to create a line in the text file /etc/fstab defining which partitions are mounted to what directories... along with setting some other devices and parameters, too.
You normally use the partitioning tool under the repair system to make adjustments/repairs to partitions while they are *not* mounted... meaning the contents are static; *not* part of a running system. What does this mean?
The tool lets you work on drives and partitions... to "repair" them... so your regular installed Linux system can be made to boot and run again. However, if you introduce changes... resizing/deleting partitions... changing a partition's filesystem type... rearranging the order of partitions... rearranging the installed order of or adding/removing entire devices... adding or merging partitions, and so on... it is up to *you* to edit the contents of the installed system's /etc/fstab file to match whatever changes you have made. This is due to the fact that, when your regular system boots, it reads that file to 'discover' and initialize each part of the filesystem.
So what particular repairs should the partition tool enable you to do? In my case, I had moved partitions around using Partition Manager, but leaving the contents the same. I could edit /etc/fstab to accommodate the changes (and have done so in the past), but since I didn't have a fully running system it would have been easier to use the partition tool if it did what I wanted. The greying out of the mount points, by the way, also caused this catch-22: the tool would not let me save its changes because there was no root partition, but I couldn't specify the root partition because I couldn't assign the "/" mount point to it. Paul
In other words, this is *not* a "bug" but a clear case of PEBKAC... Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. ;-)
If I were you, given the fact that your installation DVD is quite handy, I'd backup my data, wipe the Linux partitions clean and do the installation again. During the process, I'd keep a close eye on the proposed partitioning scheme and fix any errors before allowing it to proceed.
3. Is there any easier route to setting the mount points than going into the rescue system and calling Yast from there?
Once you've confirmed which partitions need to be mounted, and where, you mount '/' to /mnt, cd to /mnt/etc/ and use a text editor to update the file 'fstab' so it matches the updated partitioning scheme. That way, the system can find where everything is.
Another alternative would be to start a 'from scratch' installation, let it probe the system and discover the already installed Linux and offer you the opportunity to attempt an automated repair. One problem with this approach is you need to leave the broken system intact so the repair system can study it and find the problem(s). If you've manually 'hacked it up' in the interim trying to fix things yourself, there's a good chance the repair system will become confused and fail or make mistakes. The best approach is to not introduce radical changes to the system after it 'breaks' before running the automated repair tool.
regards,
Carl