Subject: Installation fails, when /var/cache/apt/archives is full

From: Alexander Schmehl <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 09:17:10 +0200

Package: installation-reports

Boot method: Boot from netinst CD, used private mirror as source
Image version: 2006-05-24, http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/etch_di_beta2/i386/iso-cd/debian-testing-i386-netinst.iso
Date: Wed May 24 08:48:25 CEST 2006

Machine: selfmade Shuttle SN41-G2
Processor: AMD athlign XP 2000+
Memory: 1GB
Partitions: <df -Tl will do; the raw partition table is preferred>
Sorry, busyboxs df neither know -T nor -l; I guess that will do:
~ # fdisk -l
[..]
   Device Boot    Start     End      Blocks    Id    System
/dev/hda1   *         1      34      273973+   83    Linux
/dev/hda2            35   36481   292769527+    5    Extended
/dev/hda5            35    1007     7815591    83    Linux
/dev/hda6          1008    1337     2650693+   82    Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda7          1338    1386      393561    83    Linux
/dev/hda8          1387   36481   281900556    83    Linux
[..]
/dev/hdc1   *         1     851     6835626    83    Linux
/dev/hdc2           852   19457   149452695     5    Extended
/dev/hdc5           852    1181     2650693+   82    Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdc6          1182   19457   146801938+   83    Linux

~ # mount
[..]
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/lun0/part1 on /target type ext3 (rw,data=ordered)
/dev/ide/host0/bus1/lun0/part6 on /target/home type ext3 (rw,data=ordered)
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/lun0/part8 on /target/pub type ext3 (rw,data=ordered)
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/lun0/part7 on /target/tmp type ext3 (rw,data=ordered)
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/lun0/part5 on /target/usr type ext3 (rw,data=ordered)
[..]

Output of lspci and lspci -n:
[ Too lazy to type that from the monitor; not important anyway since the
  hardware is recognized ]

Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Initial boot worked:    [O]
Configure network HW:   [O]
Config network:         [O]
Detect CD:              [O]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives:     [O]
Partition hard drives:  [O]
Create file systems:    [O]
Mount partitions:       [O]
Install base system:    [E]
Install boot loader:    [ ]
Reboot:                 [ ]

Comments/Problems:

What basically happend is the following:
I got a new harddisc.  I moved my old disc, with my old / and /home to
/dev/hdc and to test the new installer and attached my new disc as
/dev/hda.  The installer booted up fine, and when asked I told him to
use /dev/hda entirely for seperate partitions.  Seeing the details of
the proposed partioning, I made some changes, most notable I removed the
partition intended for /var (I wanted to use my old root partition on
/dev/hdc1 later for that).  So /var resided on the rest of the /, which
got only 300 MB, or so.

The Rest of the story is easy:

During tasksel, I told him to install a desktop system.  After
downloading 206 of 627 files to install, /var/cache/apt/archives became
to big for that partition, and the progressbar stopped.

I didn't got a warning, that my / was to small for /var, nor an error
message, when the installation process coudln't continue.

Okay, it's a clear user error, but it can't be called an error, without
an proper error message, can it? ;)

---

From: Sven Luther <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 09:47:16 +0200

> to big for that partition, and the progressbar stopped.

I would advocate a separate /var/cache in those cases.

> message, when the installation process coudln't continue.

It should be possible to do step-wise installs with in-process removal of the
already installed packages, no ?

> an proper error message, can it? ;)

I don't think it is a user error.

Friendly,

Svne Luther

---

From: Christian Perrier <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 08:01:06 +0200

reassign 368690 pkgsel
retitle 368690 Should better handle a full partition in the target system
thanks

> I don't think it is a user error.

This is a user error, as Tolimar indeed modified the initial
partitioning....However, it is not very well handled by the installer,
it seems.

There is actually no good way to guess whether the proposed
partitioning scheme is appropriate *before* running pkgsel....however,
we should at least handle a filled partition in a better way.

---

From: Joey Hess <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 16:57:08 -0400

> partitioning....However, it is not very well handled by the installer,

I've seen this too, it just hangs when it's out of space. I assume this
is something broken in the depths of aptitude/debconf-apt-progress but I
haven't had time to try to debug it. Probability of it really being in
pkgsel is rather low.

-- 
see shy jo

---

From: Goswin von Brederlow <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 10:48:23 +0200

> haven't had time to try to debug it. Probability of it really being in

Should this be tested before downloading?

MfG
        Goswin

---

From: [email-masked] (Geert Stappers)
Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 17:22:39 +0200

> Should this be tested before downloading?

That results in (an attempt to) avoiding the error,
but the problem is not reporting the error.

Cheers
Geert Stappers