Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 384941
When installing from Live CD, swap should be deactivated
Last modified: 2014-07-10 10:25:21 EDT
Description of problem: If you boot a F8 Gnome Live CD and you already have a HD with a Linux swap partition it will be used for swap space. However, if you try to install F8 to disk using the Gnome Desktop app, and allow the installer to automaticaly partition the disk, partitioning will fail (due to the fact that one of the partitions are in use for swap) Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Every time. Steps to Reproduce: 1. 2. 3. Actual results: Expected results: Additional info:
Reassigning to the proper component (Anaconda), also removing "GNOME" from the subject and CCing the KDE live CD maintainer as I don't think this is any different in the KDE live CD.
The swap should be deactivated when the live installer starts (see the call to swapoff in /usr/sbin/liveinst) Can you attach the traceback you received?
Closing due to inactivity. Please reopen if you have further information to add to this report.
This bug still exists but has not been well described. If I boot a LiveCD and have the intention of then installing from the LiveCD to the local hard disk I am presented with the option to manually change or setup my disk partitions. Including using standard partitions rather then LVM. If however I already have existing standard disk partitions on one of the hard disks in the system and that disk has a swap file configured the Live CD will 'grab' that swap file and actively use it. This can cause a conflict if the installing user does either.... 1. Tells the installer to reformat the swap file, as the reformat conflicts with the active LiveCD usage of same.....resulting in a crash. 2. Tries to modify the existing swap files size or characteristics as the file is 'locked out' from change. (Setup a swap file on an empty 2nd hard drive, boot a LiveCD and manually try to make changes to the existing swap file.....you won't be able to but won't be told why). The fix would be to tell LiveCD to turn swapoff on all devices when the anaconda installer starts. I have tested this in current Rawhide and also Fed20, although I've only tested on x86_64 I suspect it's not architecture dependent.
If you have an existing swap partition, anaconda will not overwrite it unless requested. If you choose to reformat a swap partition, it will be turned off before reformatting. You cannot reuse a swap partition without formatting. Being unable to reuse a swap partition without formatting is a point of some contention, covered in bug 892659. I don't see a bug in any of the rest of the behavior I described. If you are experiencing a crash, then please, as was requested 6 and a half years ago (!!), please attach the traceback from /tmp/anaconda-tb*, and reopen this bug.