Bug 752216 - anaconda error: "You have not defined a root partition"
Summary: anaconda error: "You have not defined a root partition"
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: anaconda
Version: 16
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: David Lehman
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common...
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2011-11-08 20:54 UTC by Andrew McNabb
Modified: 2013-02-13 14:01 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2013-02-13 14:01:25 UTC
Type: ---


Attachments (Terms of Use)
kickstart script (3.33 KB, text/plain)
2011-11-08 20:54 UTC, Andrew McNabb
no flags Details
storage.log (134.30 KB, text/plain)
2011-11-08 20:54 UTC, Andrew McNabb
no flags Details
program.log (73.24 KB, text/plain)
2011-11-08 20:55 UTC, Andrew McNabb
no flags Details
part.include (265 bytes, text/plain)
2011-11-08 21:47 UTC, Andrew McNabb
no flags Details
anaconda.log (7.73 KB, text/plain)
2011-11-08 21:47 UTC, Andrew McNabb
no flags Details
log from preinstall script (435 bytes, text/plain)
2011-11-08 21:48 UTC, Andrew McNabb
no flags Details

Description Andrew McNabb 2011-11-08 20:54:08 UTC
Created attachment 532376 [details]
kickstart script

In Fedora 16 final, I am seeing the following error during a kickstart install (unfortunately, the resolution of the screen is wrong and I can't find the error message in any of the logs in /var/log or /tmp, so my transcription isn't 100% correct):

"""
The following errors occurred with your partitioning:

You have not defined a root partition ??? which is required for
installation of Fedora to continue.
You have not created a bootable partition.

This can happen if there is not enough space on your hard drive
??? for the installation.

Press OK to exit the installer.
"""

My partitioning commands in kickstart are telling it to reformat existing partitions (this is what's in the included file "part.include"):

"""
part /boot --onpart=LABEL=boot --label=boot --fstype ext3
part / --onpart=LABEL=root --label=root --fstype ext4
part swap --onpart=LABEL=swap --label=swap --fstype=swap
part /local --onpart=LABEL=local --noformat
"""

Doing an `ls /dev/disk/by-label` gives "Anaconda  boot	local  root  swap", showing that all of these partitions exist.  If I do "mount LABEL=boot /mnt/tmp", then `df -h` shows that this partition has size 485M.

I will attach my kickstart script and various logs. Please let me know if I am omitting anything important or helpful.

Comment 1 Andrew McNabb 2011-11-08 20:54:32 UTC
Created attachment 532377 [details]
storage.log

Comment 2 Andrew McNabb 2011-11-08 20:55:19 UTC
Created attachment 532378 [details]
program.log

Comment 3 Andrew McNabb 2011-11-08 20:57:02 UTC
By the way, it's possible that the error reads "You have not defined a boot partition" or "You have not defined a root partition".  The text on the screen isn't entirely legible.

Comment 4 David Lehman 2011-11-08 21:40:36 UTC
Please look in /tmp for something that looks like logs from your ks %pre and attach them. Also, please attach /tmp/part.include and /tmp/anaconda.log. Thanks.

Comment 5 Andrew McNabb 2011-11-08 21:47:33 UTC
Created attachment 532395 [details]
part.include

The part.include file was in the description, but I'm now attaching it as well.

Comment 6 Andrew McNabb 2011-11-08 21:47:53 UTC
Created attachment 532396 [details]
anaconda.log

Comment 7 Andrew McNabb 2011-11-08 21:48:40 UTC
Created attachment 532397 [details]
log from preinstall script

Comment 8 David Lehman 2011-11-09 15:58:04 UTC
It is saying both: there is no root partition and there is no bootable partition. It's

I'm not sure what the issue is, but I have found that by adding 'clearpart --none' you will get the expected behavior.

Comment 9 David Lehman 2011-11-09 16:44:05 UTC
Anaconda's processing of the clearpart command includes removing the "Clear Disks Selector" screen/step from the install flow. That screen/step initiates a reset of the storage instance. So, when there is no clearpart command, we reset the storage instance, which nukes the actions that reflect the user's partitioning commands. The only case this doesn't hit is autopart, since those requests have special representation that does not get destroyed by a reset.

So, for the time being, you need to either use clearpart or autopart.

Comment 10 Andrew McNabb 2011-11-09 16:45:20 UTC
Adding "clearpart --none" seems to work around the problem.

Comment 11 Adam Williamson 2011-11-09 18:48:46 UTC
so that means that you effectively can't re-use existing partitions? just to get this clear for commonbugs.



-- 
Fedora Bugzappers volunteer triage team
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers

Comment 12 Andrew McNabb 2011-11-09 19:04:45 UTC
(In reply to comment #11)
> so that means that you effectively can't re-use existing partitions?

Yes, but the extent is limited to those using kickstart.

Comment 13 David Lehman 2011-11-09 21:21:25 UTC
(In reply to comment #11)
> so that means that you effectively can't re-use existing partitions? just to
> get this clear for commonbugs.

No - you _can_ reuse partitions. You just have to explicitly use 'clearpart --none' instead of not putting anything at all. Make sense?

Comment 14 Andrew McNabb 2011-11-09 21:39:36 UTC
(In reply to comment #13)
> 
> No - you _can_ reuse partitions. You just have to explicitly use 'clearpart
> --none' instead of not putting anything at all. Make sense?

Or, you can't reuse partitions unless you workaround the problem by adding "clearpart --none" (which the documentation states to be the default but due to this bug actually isn't). It just depends on how you look at it.

Comment 15 Adam Williamson 2011-11-11 02:11:30 UTC
dlehman: thanks, that helps. Wasn't aware what clearpart --none did exactly.



-- 
Fedora Bugzappers volunteer triage team
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers

Comment 16 Adam Williamson 2011-11-18 01:01:26 UTC

-- 
Fedora Bugzappers volunteer triage team
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers

Comment 17 Fedora End Of Life 2013-01-16 13:17:51 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 16 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 4 (four) weeks from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 16. It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time
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Comment 18 Fedora End Of Life 2013-02-13 14:01:32 UTC
Fedora 16 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2013-02-12. Fedora 16 is 
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further 
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of 
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