Bug 124434 - Install does not support swap file configuration
Summary: Install does not support swap file configuration
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: anaconda
Version: rawhide
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Jeremy Katz
QA Contact: Mike McLean
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2004-05-26 15:30 UTC by Steve
Modified: 2007-11-30 22:10 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2006-03-27 22:11:08 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


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Description Steve 2004-05-26 15:30:34 UTC
From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040510

Description of problem:
On performing a new install I wanted to configure a swap file instead
of a swap partition. A swap file is more flexible and convenient to
use than a swap partition, since you can reconfigure it later if
required, unlike a swap partition which has fixed size determined by
the disk partitioning.


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
anaconda-10.0-5

How reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Perform new install.
2.Manually partition disk and do not create a swap partition.
3.
    

Actual Results:  A warning is given:
"You have not specified a swap partition.  "
"Although not strictly required in all cases, "
"it will significantly improve performance for "
"most installations."

I think this statement is incorrect for the 2.6 kernel - a system with
a swap file should perform just as well as a system with a swap
partition. You should also be able to run Linux without a swap file or
partition if you wish (and have a reasonable amount of memory).

Linux did not install, the system rebooted and reported a grub error.


Expected Results:  To be given the option to create a swap file (or
have a swap file created automatically).

Additional info:

Comment 1 Jeremy Katz 2004-05-26 15:38:19 UTC
Running without any swap does have somewhat detrimental effects, hence
the warning.  Adding support for creating swap files is non-ideal from
a UI perspective and thus isn't going to happen in the near to medium
term.

Comment 2 Bastien Nocera 2006-03-27 22:06:52 UTC
Reopening as an RFE, following:
http://blog.printf.net/articles/2006/03/27/swap-files-vs-swap-partitions

Comment 3 Jeremy Katz 2006-03-27 22:11:08 UTC
There are still reasons not to do swap files (including swsusp, which is even
mentioned there :-) and the UI for doing them would still be pretty sub-par


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