#linuxcnc-devel Logs
Jul 05 2020
#linuxcnc-devel Calendar
12:16 PM jepler: despite me first getting a 64-bit computer in 2007 with the justification of porting LinuxCNC to it. With RTAI at that time.
01:40 PM andypugh: jepler: I seem to recall that you made the stretch LiveCD? That makes you (once again) the most expert person I know on a subject.
01:41 PM jepler: Yes I did. Let me find the github where the scripts live.
01:41 PM jepler: https://github.com/jepler/stretch-live-build
01:42 PM andypugh: I am OK making a LiveCD, I am pretty much sorted out (to the extent that I am wondering how to change the splash screem image to be nore LinuxCNC-like)
01:42 PM andypugh: Live boot is all good, but install is not working
01:43 PM andypugh: Let me try to get the output
01:44 PM jepler: is it using live-wrapper, or some different tech? I had the impression that they switched tools for buster.
01:45 PM jepler: I guess this is the canonical copy: https://github.com/linuxcnc/stretch-live-build
01:45 PM andypugh: https://photos.app.goo.gl/nSbFA9j8hZ2RAy5a6
01:46 PM andypugh: (Sorry it’s a bitmap, I died a little inside, but copying text from a VM that hasn’t actually installed yet…..)
01:49 PM jepler: Assuming the real error is "tar: can't open ....: file exists" .. it doesn't ring any bells right away
01:50 PM andypugh: That seens to be the issue. The output below that is a result of navigating to the shell to see it.
01:50 PM jepler: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/linux.debian.maint.boot/OOqEu4DKM4Y
01:50 PM jepler: seems like maybe it has something to do with merged-usr
01:51 PM jepler: or at least the message is similar
01:51 PM jepler: considering it should have been fixed in 2016, ...
01:53 PM andypugh: I can try —no-merged-usr
01:54 PM andypugh: Worth a try, at least
01:57 PM jepler: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=874385 is failing to install over an existing debian installation
01:57 PM jepler: no resolution
01:59 PM jepler: want to try your installation process with an official image and see whether it succeeds? This seems well "before" any linuxcnc dependent stuff could be happening.
02:00 PM andypugh: It is also an install onto a comletely blank and new VM
02:00 PM jepler: I suspected as much
02:02 PM andypugh: I can definitely install a new buster image. It is an official buster image that is making the images..
02:02 PM andypugh: I haven’t tried live0building a vanilla buster image
02:19 PM andypugh: no-merged-usr wasn’t the answer, and looking at it, the problem here in in /lib not /usr
02:46 PM jepler: it's way before anything linuxcnc-ish is happening, that is far after debootstrap which just installs base files. Unless it's a problem with the kernel image itself.
02:46 PM jepler: i.e., the kernel that the installer boots. Is it "ours" or vanilla?
02:49 PM andypugh: It’s the official debian -rt-amd64 kernel
02:52 PM jepler: That is also the kennel booted to run the installer though?
02:52 PM andypugh: I am not sure
02:52 PM andypugh: I imagine so. It’s the live kernel
02:55 PM jepler: uname -a in the shell inside the install would tell. It is a long shot that it would matter, but in some older (old enough to be Ubuntu) live cd we had to ensure the vanilla kennel was used by the installer. No real idea why though
02:55 PM jepler: I assume the installer starts from a boot menu option, not within the live desktop
02:56 PM andypugh: I am just working on taking the installer to the point of crashing to find out
02:56 PM jepler: Does it take long to fall?
02:56 PM andypugh: And, no. It is _not_ running the RT kernel during the install
02:57 PM andypugh: Well, I have to type in my password 4 times and my name twice
02:57 PM andypugh: It crashes a bit after asking about the disk formatting options
02:58 PM andypugh: Do you have a VM to try the ISO on?
03:01 PM Tom_L: i might have a spare disk if you need a tester
03:10 PM jepler: I could try it, not sure why my result would differ though.
03:14 PM jepler: (yes it would be a VM in my case)
03:15 PM andypugh: I am wondering if VMware is being too clever and is providing an existing file structure.
03:23 PM jepler: that would certainly be the bad kind of clever
03:26 PM andypugh: https://www.linuxcnc.org/temp/28test.iso
03:33 PM Tom_L: buster?
03:33 PM Tom_L: 2.8
03:38 PM -!- #linuxcnc-devel mode set to +vv by card.freenode.net
03:42 PM -!- #linuxcnc-devel mode set to +v by card.freenode.net
03:46 PM -!- #linuxcnc-devel mode set to +v by card.freenode.net
03:46 PM Tom_L: cute hat
03:48 PM andypugh: ?
03:48 PM Tom_L: on the splash screen
03:48 PM andypugh: I am trying to change that to a penguin. That’s the default.
03:49 PM Tom_L: missing firmware file rtl_nic/rtl8l68g=2.fw
03:49 PM Tom_L: network card
03:49 PM andypugh: Hmm
03:50 PM Tom_L: we're past that now
03:51 PM Tom_L: base system install error
03:51 PM Tom_L: the debootstrap program exited with an error (return value 1)
03:52 PM Tom_L: check /var/log/syslog or see virtual console 4 for details
03:52 PM andypugh: Thanks. Not a VMWare thing then
03:52 PM Tom_L: so you got that error too i take it
03:52 PM andypugh: (Option-F4 will take you to console 4)
03:53 PM Tom_L: what's option?
03:53 PM andypugh: Alt
03:53 PM Tom_L: but it didn't
03:54 PM andypugh: Ah, it doesn’t in the Graphical installer
03:54 PM andypugh: You need to continue until you get to the screen where you can open a shell (near the bottom of the options) and cat /var/log/syslog
03:55 PM andypugh: But I am pretty sure I know what it will say.
03:55 PM Tom_L: won't let me past 'install the base system'
03:55 PM Tom_L: execute a shell?
03:55 PM andypugh: That’s the one
03:56 PM Tom_L: what editor would be there by now?
03:57 PM andypugh: None, at a guess
03:57 PM Tom_L: so how would i view syslog?
03:57 PM andypugh: (Which is why I suggested “cat”)
03:57 PM skunkworks: cat?
03:57 PM skunkworks: heh
03:57 PM Tom_L: i missed that one
03:59 PM Tom_L: is there a cat switch that will pause it?
04:00 PM Tom_L: there's alot of 'package doesn't exhist' errors
04:01 PM jepler: same error here
04:02 PM andypugh: Tom_L: I think all that matters is the debootstrap
04:02 PM * jepler uploaded an image: Screenshot_2020-07-05_15-53-10.png (46KB) < https://matrix.org/_matrix/media/r0/download/matrix.org/lSaZrGDjswNgPgBfocAsGQQF >
04:02 PM Tom_L: ok
04:03 PM andypugh: Yes, exactly the same
04:03 PM jepler: lib -> usr/lib, it is a symlink / merged usr
04:03 PM andypugh: Time to make a completely stock ISO and check that works.
04:03 PM Tom_L: mmm looks familiar :)
04:03 PM jepler: what did you do to test non-merged usr?
04:04 PM andypugh: added —debootstrap-options “—no-merged-usr”
04:06 PM jepler: removing everything in /target and running debootstrap --components=main --resolve-deps --no-check-gpg --no-merged-usr buster /target file:///cdrom/ finished
04:06 PM jepler: this is from the Alt-F3 terminal
04:06 PM jepler: otoh, removing everything again and NOT specifying --no-merged-user ALSO worked
04:08 PM andypugh: Ok, so perhaps feeding all that in as —debootstrap-options might work?
04:08 PM andypugh: I will try that next
04:08 PM jepler: no, I'm saying .. doing it manually, merged and non-merged both worked
04:08 PM andypugh: Yes, si one of the other things is the magic incantation?
04:10 PM jepler: no, eveything was supposed to be the same as the line I saw, except that --debian-installer had to be removed when running at the terminal
04:10 PM Tom_L: holler when you're ready for another go.. i'll leave it in a broken state for a while
04:10 PM andypugh: I am guessing that putting “when the installer fails, go to console 3 and run debootstrap by hand” in the install instructions wouldn’t be the answer.
04:10 PM jepler: obviously no
04:11 PM jepler: well this is very strange
04:11 PM andypugh: Ah, right, you copied that from the console. Sneaky :-)
04:12 PM jepler: `3>/dev/stderr` is the incantation that makes --debian-installer not be rejected
04:12 PM jepler: so ... fails: rm -rf /target/*; /usr/sbin/debootstrap --compoents=main --debian-installer --resolve-deps --no-check-gpg --no-merged-usr buster /target file:///cdrom/ 3>/dev/stderr
04:12 PM jepler: succeeds: same, except with --debian-installer removed
04:12 PM jepler: this makes no sense
04:15 PM -!- #linuxcnc-devel mode set to +v by ChanServ
04:16 PM -!- #linuxcnc-devel mode set to +v by ChanServ
04:24 PM * jepler uploaded an image: Screenshot_2020-07-05_16-14-38.png (41KB) < https://matrix.org/_matrix/media/r0/download/matrix.org/JewYdBlvuSRaRYzoSpZlffcp >
04:24 PM jepler: the cdrom really does seem to have two packages with similar names that have the same files but with different content
04:25 PM jepler: libcomerr2_1.43.4 is a "deb9u1" package.
04:25 PM jepler: That is the reason that it is failing
04:25 PM jepler: i.e., it's not a package from buster, it's from stretch (if I've got my names to numbers right)
04:26 PM jepler: I can't quite work out why this doesn't affect the non- --debian-installer version, it looks like they both SHOULD have had tar -k which is the thing which causes such errors to be reported
04:30 PM jepler: okay, the error still occurs (debootstrap without --debian-installer exits with a nonzero code) but no "error text" is printed
04:31 PM jepler: So all is explained, and whatever causes libcomerr2 to be included from non-current debian needs to be resolved. There is a buster version of this package, it does _NOT_ contain that particular file, and it is marked as a "transitional" package. It probably exists specifically to deal with this problem migrating from stretch to buster.
04:31 PM jepler: andypugh: ^^^ make any sense yet?
04:32 PM jepler: I know you've had to do some frankenpackaging, which, bleeeech, but maybe this particular part can be avoided / undone?
04:48 PM andypugh: The packaging shouldn’t be anything unusual.
04:49 PM andypugh: It _was_picking up some Stretch stuff, but I thought that I had fixed that.
04:50 PM andypugh: (Well, it was picking up everything from stretch at first)
04:50 PM Tom_L: buster is still missing those graphic libs for gmoccapy and gscreen afik
04:53 PM andypugh: gtksourceview? We are backporting that on our repo now
04:53 PM Tom_L: ahh ok
05:09 PM andypugh: jepler: This _could_ be a cache problem. I hadn’t realised that lb clean does not clear the cache
05:11 PM jepler: It's possible
05:11 PM andypugh: I found the word “stretch” a lot in the cache
05:12 PM andypugh: Having cleared the cache it now can’t find any files, so it looks like it might have been “doing its best” in a confusing way.
05:38 PM andypugh: It looks like that _was_ the problem
05:56 PM andypugh: I just installed Debian. Due to incompetence it seems to be a plan vanilla debian, but….
05:56 PM andypugh: (So the Live Image is realtime and has LinuxCNC, but the install doesn’t)
07:29 PM jepler: One step forward I guess
07:33 PM skunkworks: andypugh: Thank you.
08:17 PM MrHindsight is now known as CaptHindsight
08:28 PM jepler: so far I discovered that maybe pressed d-i preseed/late_command can be used to install additional packages
08:30 PM jepler: otherwise, tasksel is apparently a canonical way to select groups of packages, but it requires e.g., a "task-linuxcnc" metapackage which does not exist yet
08:31 PM jepler: I think that live-wrapper, which I used, just copies the built system rather than creating a fresh system with debootstrap
08:31 PM jepler: I'm having trouble finding live-build documentation, the websites that are supposed to have it are domain-squatted or not resolving
08:31 PM jepler: https://manpages.debian.org/testing/live-build/live-build.7.en.html
09:53 PM jepler: live wrapper has 3 install modes actually. I believe the images I created have the "live debian installer" only but now I'm not sure https://live-team.pages.debian.net/live-manual/html/live-manual/customizing-installer.en.html#625
09:55 PM jepler: er wait that's lb documentation, maybe this is what to try enabling next?
09:55 PM jepler: > Installation will proceed in an identical fashion to the "normal" installation described above, but at the actual package installation stage, instead of using debootstrap to fetch and install packages, the live filesystem image is copied to the target. This is achieved with a special udeb called live-installer.