Bug 611002

Description of problem:
Using a kickstart file (with minor mods) from a successful install doesn't work.

Background – F13 x86_64 install for two identical 500G sata drives. The intent is to put boot (200), swap (4096) and / (remainder) on sda and /snapshot (all 500G) on sdb.

Using the following in a ks.cfg produces some interesting results.

clearpart --all --drives=sda,sdb
ignoredisk --only-use=sda,sdb

part /boot --fstype=ext4 --size=200 --ondisk=sda

part pv.multimedia --grow --size=1 --ondisk=sda
volgroup vg_multimedia --pesize=32768 pv.multimedia
logvol swap --name=lv_swap --vgname=vg_multimedia --size=4096
logvol / --fstype=ext4 --name=lv_root --vgname=vg_multimedia --size=1 --grow

part pv.snapshot --grow --size=1 --ondisk=sdb
volgroup vg_snapshot --pesize=32768 pv.snapshot
logvol /snapshot --fstype=ext4 --name=lv_snapshot --vgname=vg_snapshot --size=1 --grow

bootloader --location=mbr --driveorder=sda,sdb --append="quiet"


Picking custom set up reveals:
LVM Volume Groups
	vg_multimedia	0
		lv_swap	4096				swap
		lv_root		1		/		ext4
	vg_snapshot		0
		lv_snapshot	1		/snapshot	ext4
Hard Drives
	sda
		free		476937
	sdb
		free 		476937

This completely ignores the part settings, and vg sizes are trashed.

For grins I hit Next to see what would happen. 
Sure enough a failure – unhandled exception – blah blah – file a bug report.
Hit Debug to go to the debugger.
Hit Alt-F6 to return to the “Please Select a Device” screen.
Hit Back.
Hit Next to return to the “Please Select a Device” screen.
LVM Volume Groups
	vg_multimedia	476416
		lv_root		470656			ext4
		lv_swap	5760				swap
	vg_snapshot		476928
		lv_snapshot	476928			ext4
Hard Drives
	sda
		sda1		500				ext4
		sda2		476439	vg_multimedia physical volume LVM
	sdb
		sdb1 		476939	vg_snapshot physical volume LVM

Note mount points are missing, but the vg_names are known. Why swap went to 5760 from 4096 is a mystery, as is boot going to 500 from 200. Further note that free space above was 476937, so how can the partition space now be greater at 476939 ?

It also changed the sort order of lv_root and lv_swap. I purposely put swap first in the cfg file so I could use –grow on the root spec. I didn't know if it was smart enough to allow me to put –grow one line ahead of something with just a size spec.

There is no boot partition.

Hit Next to get error messages about no / and /boot partitions.


BTW – I originally tried to do this without LVM as follows:

A normal install of F13 via DVD with no ks file, that is customized during the install by manually destroying the LVM options and partitioning manually without LVM, produces a ks file that when reused includes LVM. It also puts mount points at the wrong place. The original install is fine – only a new install attempting to use the ks file is trashed.

I installed and manually partitioned so that /snapshot would occupy all of sdb. The following is missing that granularity.

Here is a portion of the ks file that was produced by a standard install that nuked the LVM stuff and partitioned manually placing /snapshot on sdb with everything else on sda. This install worked, but the ks file it produced is bogus.

#clearpart --none --drives=sda,sdb
#ignoredisk --only-use=sda,sdb

#part /boot --fstype=ext4 --size=200
#part swap --size=4096
#part / --fstype=ext4 --grow --size=500

#part /snapshot --fstype=ext4 --grow --size=500

That ks when reused (by uncommenting) creates LVM partitions and /snapshot is NOT on a separate drive.

How do you tell ks to not create LVM partitions?



Using the following in a kickstart file to attempt to force /snapshot on to sdb:
clearpart --all --drives=sda,sdb
ignoredisk --only-use=sda,sdb

part /boot --fstype=ext4 --size=200 --ondisk=sda
part swap --size=4096 --ondisk=sda
part / --fstype=ext4 --grow --size=500 --ondisk=sda

part /snapshot --fstype=ext4 --grow --size=500 --ondisk=sdb

allows the install to proceed normally, but the first boot after the install fails on:
mount: /dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root already mounted or /sysroot busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root is already mounted on /sysroot
(above repeated numerous times)

Can't mount root file system
Boot has failed, sleeping forever.

The intent was to NOT use LVM, but I got LVM anyway.

To summarize, nuking LVM options during a typical install and using old fashioned partitions creates a ks file that when uncommented and reused creates LVM partitions, and ignores specific positioning of a mount point on a particular device. Therefore the ks file as written is missing something to tell the reinstall to not use LVM partitions. This is also counter to the documentation supplied at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda/Kickstart which indicates that to use LVM partitions, the partition name has to include an appropriate prefix (pv.) that then gets referenced by the volgroup options.

Adding drive options to those partition lines allows the install to finish, but causes a boot failure. 

Converting to LVM enabled options also doesn't work.

Either the software, docs or I'm missing something. 

I have spare boxes to experiment on if necessary.