[gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Jacques Montier]

Hi all,

I am installing Gentoo on a new pc and following the Gentoo manual.
I create primary partition sda3 for boot with ext3 file system, then
Extended partition for
swap sda5
/ sda6 with reiserfs file system
/usr sda7 with reiserfs file system
/home sda8 with reiserfs fiel system.

after chroot, i can install every package except grub in /boot.
I get the message : "your boot partition, detected as being mounted as
/boot, is read-only.
Remounting it in read-write mode ..."
Then the error message : "failed to create symbolic link `//boot/boot` :
Read-only file system.

What's going on ???

Thank you for your help.

Best regards,

Jacques
 
 

[gentoo-user] Re: grub installation problem

[Nuno J. Silva]

Jacques Montier <jacques.montier@numericable.fr> writes:

> Hi all,
>
> I am installing Gentoo on a new pc and following the Gentoo manual.
> I create primary partition sda3 for boot with ext3 file system, then
> Extended partition for
> swap sda5
> / sda6 with reiserfs file system
> /usr sda7 with reiserfs file system
> /home sda8 with reiserfs fiel system.
>
> after chroot, i can install every package except grub in /boot.
> I get the message : "your boot partition, detected as being mounted as
> /boot, is read-only.
> Remounting it in read-write mode ..."
> Then the error message : "failed to create symbolic link `//boot/boot` :
> Read-only file system.
>
> What's going on ???

I would check if there is any error or warning in the kernel log when
that happens.

just do
   dmesg | tail

after the error, to check the last lines in the log.

-- 
Nuno J. Silva
gopher://sdf-eu.org/1/users/njsg

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Stroller]

On 12/1/2011, at 6:14pm, Jacques Montier wrote:
> ...
> after chroot, i can install every package except grub in /boot.
> I get the message : "your boot partition, detected as being mounted as
> /boot, is read-only.
> Remounting it in read-write mode ..."
> Then the error message : "failed to create symbolic link `//boot/boot` :
> Read-only file system.

Have you tried rebooting and chrooting in again?

It sound like maybe (wild-ass guess) you forgot to do the `mount -t proc proc /mnt/gentoo/proc && mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev` part or something like this.

Stroller.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: grub installation problem

[Jacques Montier]

Le 12/01/2011 20:07, Nuno J. Silva a écrit :
> Jacques Montier <jacques.montier@numericable.fr> writes:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I am installing Gentoo on a new pc and following the Gentoo manual.
>> I create primary partition sda3 for boot with ext3 file system, then
>> Extended partition for
>> swap sda5
>> / sda6 with reiserfs file system
>> /usr sda7 with reiserfs file system
>> /home sda8 with reiserfs fiel system.
>>
>> after chroot, i can install every package except grub in /boot.
>> I get the message : "your boot partition, detected as being mounted as
>> /boot, is read-only.
>> Remounting it in read-write mode ..."
>> Then the error message : "failed to create symbolic link `//boot/boot` :
>> Read-only file system.
>>
>> What's going on ???
> I would check if there is any error or warning in the kernel log when
> that happens.
>
> just do
>    dmesg | tail
>
> after the error, to check the last lines in the log.
>
Ther is no error message : just the lines
EXT3-fs (sda3): using internal journal


I see some warning about "to avoid automounting and auto-installing with
/boot,
just export the DONT_MOUNT_BOOT variable"

How can i do that ?

Thanks

Jacques

[gentoo-user] Re: grub installation problem

[Nuno J. Silva]

Jacques Montier <jacques.montier@numericable.fr> writes:

> Le 12/01/2011 20:07, Nuno J. Silva a écrit :
>> Jacques Montier <jacques.montier@numericable.fr> writes:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I am installing Gentoo on a new pc and following the Gentoo manual.
>>> I create primary partition sda3 for boot with ext3 file system, then
>>> Extended partition for
>>> swap sda5
>>> / sda6 with reiserfs file system
>>> /usr sda7 with reiserfs file system
>>> /home sda8 with reiserfs fiel system.
>>>
>>> after chroot, i can install every package except grub in /boot.
>>> I get the message : "your boot partition, detected as being mounted as
>>> /boot, is read-only.
>>> Remounting it in read-write mode ..."
>>> Then the error message : "failed to create symbolic link `//boot/boot` :
>>> Read-only file system.
>>>
>>> What's going on ???
>> I would check if there is any error or warning in the kernel log when
>> that happens.
>>
>> just do
>>    dmesg | tail
>>
>> after the error, to check the last lines in the log.
>>
> Ther is no error message : just the lines
> EXT3-fs (sda3): using internal journal

So there is no filesystem issue. Errors sometimes result in the
partition being remounted readonly.

Stroller has a point, read his post. As the mounted partitions list is
inside /proc, if you forgot to mount that, then maybe the ebuild can't
just find out /boot is actually mounted. There are probably other things
that might not work if you don't mount these partitions, so just to be
sure, check if you did that :-)

> I see some warning about "to avoid automounting and auto-installing with
> /boot,
> just export the DONT_MOUNT_BOOT variable"
>
> How can i do that ?

writing (and executing)

  export DONT_MOUNT_BOOT

in the shell should be enough.

-- 
Nuno J. Silva
gopher://sdf-eu.org/1/users/njsg

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Jacques Montier]

Le 12/01/2011 22:48, Stroller a écrit :
> On 12/1/2011, at 6:14pm, Jacques Montier wrote:
>> ...
>> after chroot, i can install every package except grub in /boot.
>> I get the message : "your boot partition, detected as being mounted as
>> /boot, is read-only.
>> Remounting it in read-write mode ..."
>> Then the error message : "failed to create symbolic link `//boot/boot` :
>> Read-only file system.
> Have you tried rebooting and chrooting in again?
>
> It sound like maybe (wild-ass guess) you forgot to do the `mount -t proc proc /mnt/gentoo/proc && mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev` part or something like this.
>
> Stroller.
>
>
What i did this morning :
- boot from a sysrescuecd cdrom.

I have 4 partitions for boot, /, usr and home, so :
- mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/gentoo
- mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo/boot
- mount /dev/sda7 /mnt/gentoo/usr
- mount /dev/sda8 /mnt/gentoo/home
- mount -t proc proc /mnt/gentoo/proc
- mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
- cd /mnt/gentoo
- chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
- emerge grub

So grub-0.97-r10 is installed, but grub can't create grub directory
beause of read-only boot partition...


I tried

- export DONT_MOUNT_BOOT
- emerge grub

But no success...

--
Jacques

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Dale]

Jacques Montier wrote:
>
> What i did this morning :
> - boot from a sysrescuecd cdrom.
>
> I have 4 partitions for boot, /, usr and home, so :
> - mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/gentoo
> - mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo/boot
> - mount /dev/sda7 /mnt/gentoo/usr
> - mount /dev/sda8 /mnt/gentoo/home
> - mount -t proc proc /mnt/gentoo/proc
> - mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
> - cd /mnt/gentoo
> - chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
> - emerge grub
>
> So grub-0.97-r10 is installed, but grub can't create grub directory
> beause of read-only boot partition...
>
>
> I tried
>
> - export DONT_MOUNT_BOOT
> - emerge grub
>
> But no success...
>
> --
> Jacques
>
>    

Try typing in mount with no options and see what it says.  Does it say 
it is mounted (rw) or (ro)?  Does the file system match what you 
formatted it with?

Dale

:-)  :-)

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Jacques Montier]

Le 13/01/2011 10:59, Dale a écrit :
> Jacques Montier wrote:
>>
>> What i did this morning :
>> - boot from a sysrescuecd cdrom.
>>
>> I have 4 partitions for boot, /, usr and home, so :
>> - mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/gentoo
>> - mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo/boot
>> - mount /dev/sda7 /mnt/gentoo/usr
>> - mount /dev/sda8 /mnt/gentoo/home
>> - mount -t proc proc /mnt/gentoo/proc
>> - mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
>> - cd /mnt/gentoo
>> - chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
>> - emerge grub
>>
>> So grub-0.97-r10 is installed, but grub can't create grub directory
>> beause of read-only boot partition...
>>
>>
>> I tried
>>
>> - export DONT_MOUNT_BOOT
>> - emerge grub
>>
>> But no success...
>>
>> -- 
>> Jacques
>>
>>    
>
> Try typing in mount with no options and see what it says.  Does it say
> it is mounted (rw) or (ro)?  Does the file system match what you
> formatted it with?
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-)
>
It's strange.
When i mount the boot partition /dev/sda3, this one is (rw) ; i make
test directory with success.
As soon as i run emerge grub, the boot partition become (ro) and can't
create directory ; i can't make test directory anymore.
So i tried something very dirty ...
I unmounted the boot partition, so the boot directory in / is empty.
I emerge grub with success and get the grub directory i could backup.
I mount the boot partition et copy the grub directory into /boot.
I edit the grub.conf and it works ; Gentoo's booting...
It works but i don't like the process at all...
It's the first time i encount such a problem about grub.

--
Jacques

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Dale]

Jacques Montier wrote:
> Le 13/01/2011 10:59, Dale a écrit :
>    
>> Jacques Montier wrote:
>>      
>>> What i did this morning :
>>> - boot from a sysrescuecd cdrom.
>>>
>>> I have 4 partitions for boot, /, usr and home, so :
>>> - mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/gentoo
>>> - mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo/boot
>>> - mount /dev/sda7 /mnt/gentoo/usr
>>> - mount /dev/sda8 /mnt/gentoo/home
>>> - mount -t proc proc /mnt/gentoo/proc
>>> - mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
>>> - cd /mnt/gentoo
>>> - chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
>>> - emerge grub
>>>
>>> So grub-0.97-r10 is installed, but grub can't create grub directory
>>> beause of read-only boot partition...
>>>
>>>
>>> I tried
>>>
>>> - export DONT_MOUNT_BOOT
>>> - emerge grub
>>>
>>> But no success...
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Jacques
>>>
>>>
>>>        
>> Try typing in mount with no options and see what it says.  Does it say
>> it is mounted (rw) or (ro)?  Does the file system match what you
>> formatted it with?
>>
>> Dale
>>
>> :-)  :-)
>>
>>      
> It's strange.
> When i mount the boot partition /dev/sda3, this one is (rw) ; i make
> test directory with success.
> As soon as i run emerge grub, the boot partition become (ro) and can't
> create directory ; i can't make test directory anymore.
> So i tried something very dirty ...
> I unmounted the boot partition, so the boot directory in / is empty.
> I emerge grub with success and get the grub directory i could backup.
> I mount the boot partition et copy the grub directory into /boot.
> I edit the grub.conf and it works ; Gentoo's booting...
> It works but i don't like the process at all...
> It's the first time i encount such a problem about grub.
>
> --
> Jacques
>
>    

I'm glad you got it working but something is not right somewhere.  I 
would try to emerge grub, install and all that again to make sure 
everything is stable.  Also, when you are booted into Gentoo, not the 
CD, type in the mount command and see if it shows it is mounted 
properly.  Sort of give things a good testing.  I would hate for this to 
come back and bite you later on.

I'm not sure if it is grub or not but something is fishy somewhere.  
Grub has been stable for a long time.

Dale

:-)  :-)

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Jacques Montier]

Le 13/01/2011 11:36, Dale a écrit :
> Jacques Montier wrote:
>> Le 13/01/2011 10:59, Dale a écrit :
>>   
>>> Jacques Montier wrote:
>>>     
>>>> What i did this morning :
>>>> - boot from a sysrescuecd cdrom.
>>>>
>>>> I have 4 partitions for boot, /, usr and home, so :
>>>> - mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/gentoo
>>>> - mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo/boot
>>>> - mount /dev/sda7 /mnt/gentoo/usr
>>>> - mount /dev/sda8 /mnt/gentoo/home
>>>> - mount -t proc proc /mnt/gentoo/proc
>>>> - mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
>>>> - cd /mnt/gentoo
>>>> - chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
>>>> - emerge grub
>>>>
>>>> So grub-0.97-r10 is installed, but grub can't create grub directory
>>>> beause of read-only boot partition...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I tried
>>>>
>>>> - export DONT_MOUNT_BOOT
>>>> - emerge grub
>>>>
>>>> But no success...
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Jacques
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>        
>>> Try typing in mount with no options and see what it says.  Does it say
>>> it is mounted (rw) or (ro)?  Does the file system match what you
>>> formatted it with?
>>>
>>> Dale
>>>
>>> :-)  :-)
>>>
>>>      
>> It's strange.
>> When i mount the boot partition /dev/sda3, this one is (rw) ; i make
>> test directory with success.
>> As soon as i run emerge grub, the boot partition become (ro) and can't
>> create directory ; i can't make test directory anymore.
>> So i tried something very dirty ...
>> I unmounted the boot partition, so the boot directory in / is empty.
>> I emerge grub with success and get the grub directory i could backup.
>> I mount the boot partition et copy the grub directory into /boot.
>> I edit the grub.conf and it works ; Gentoo's booting...
>> It works but i don't like the process at all...
>> It's the first time i encount such a problem about grub.
>>
>> -- 
>> Jacques
>>
>>    
>
> I'm glad you got it working but something is not right somewhere.  I
> would try to emerge grub, install and all that again to make sure
> everything is stable.  Also, when you are booted into Gentoo, not the
> CD, type in the mount command and see if it shows it is mounted
> properly.  Sort of give things a good testing.  I would hate for this
> to come back and bite you later on.
>
> I'm not sure if it is grub or not but something is fishy somewhere. 
> Grub has been stable for a long time.
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-)
>
I re-emerged grub in Gentoo with my separated (sda3) boot partition
mounted and now it works !
I don't understand...


Jacques

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Dale]

Jacques Montier wrote:
>
> I re-emerged grub in Gentoo with my separated (sda3) boot partition
> mounted and now it works !
> I don't understand...
>
>
> Jacques
>
>    

I wonder if it is a bug or something in the CD you booted?  I recently 
booted systemrescue CD and it worked fine but I didn't try to install 
grub.  I think I used Knoppix for my install.  About any of those should 
work tho.

The only thing I can think of is some difference in the file system 
utilities, kernel the CD uses or something like that.  Maybe someone 
will come along with more ideas.  Whatever it is, we do need to figure 
it out.  If it is some sort of bug, it needs to be fixed.

Dale

:-)  :-)

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[J. Roeleveld]

On Thursday 13 January 2011 12:17:24 Dale wrote:
> Jacques Montier wrote:
> > I re-emerged grub in Gentoo with my separated (sda3) boot partition
> > mounted and now it works !
> > I don't understand...
> > 
> > 
> > Jacques
> 
> I wonder if it is a bug or something in the CD you booted?  I recently
> booted systemrescue CD and it worked fine but I didn't try to install
> grub.  I think I used Knoppix for my install.  About any of those should
> work tho.
> 
> The only thing I can think of is some difference in the file system
> utilities, kernel the CD uses or something like that.  Maybe someone
> will come along with more ideas.  Whatever it is, we do need to figure
> it out.  If it is some sort of bug, it needs to be fixed.
> 
> Dale
> 
> :-)  :-)

Dale, 

You might be on to something here. :)

Jacques, which CD did you boot from? And where did you get the ISO from?

I tend to use the ISO-images from gentoo.org and haven't noticed this issue 
myself before.

--
Joost

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Jacques Montier]

Le 13/01/2011 12:28, J. Roeleveld a écrit :
> On Thursday 13 January 2011 12:17:24 Dale wrote:
>> Jacques Montier wrote:
>>> I re-emerged grub in Gentoo with my separated (sda3) boot partition
>>> mounted and now it works !
>>> I don't understand...
>>>
>>>
>>> Jacques
>> I wonder if it is a bug or something in the CD you booted?  I recently
>> booted systemrescue CD and it worked fine but I didn't try to install
>> grub.  I think I used Knoppix for my install.  About any of those should
>> work tho.
>>
>> The only thing I can think of is some difference in the file system
>> utilities, kernel the CD uses or something like that.  Maybe someone
>> will come along with more ideas.  Whatever it is, we do need to figure
>> it out.  If it is some sort of bug, it needs to be fixed.
>>
>> Dale
>>
>> :-)  :-)
> Dale, 
>
> You might be on to something here. :)
>
> Jacques, which CD did you boot from? And where did you get the ISO from?
>
> I tend to use the ISO-images from gentoo.org and haven't noticed this issue 
> myself before.
>
> --
> Joost
>
I booted from sysrescueCD and i didn't use any iso but stage3*.tar.bz2
and latest portage*.tar.bz2 from French Gentoo mirror.
Then i follwed the Gentoo manual as usual.


--
Jacques

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Mick]

On 13 January 2011 16:17, Jacques Montier
<jacques.montier@numericable.fr> wrote:
> Le 13/01/2011 12:28, J. Roeleveld a écrit :
>> On Thursday 13 January 2011 12:17:24 Dale wrote:
>>> Jacques Montier wrote:
>>>> I re-emerged grub in Gentoo with my separated (sda3) boot partition
>>>> mounted and now it works !
>>>> I don't understand...

For next time you want to chroot:

First mount /dev/sdaX /mnt gentoo and then mount /proc and /dev just
like the manual says.

After that mount all the other partitions.

You would not have a problem with /boot.

This is because /proc contains info on environment variables and
devices mounted, hardware configuration, etc Without it the kernel
functionality is not complete and errors will show up sooner or later.
 Ditto with /dev.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

Re: [gentoo-user] grub installation problem

[Jacques Montier]

Le 13/01/2011 17:41, Mick a écrit :
> On 13 January 2011 16:17, Jacques Montier
> <jacques.montier@numericable.fr> wrote:
>> Le 13/01/2011 12:28, J. Roeleveld a écrit :
>>> On Thursday 13 January 2011 12:17:24 Dale wrote:
>>>> Jacques Montier wrote:
>>>>> I re-emerged grub in Gentoo with my separated (sda3) boot partition
>>>>> mounted and now it works !
>>>>> I don't understand...
> For next time you want to chroot:
>
> First mount /dev/sdaX /mnt gentoo and then mount /proc and /dev just
> like the manual says.
>
> After that mount all the other partitions.
>
> You would not have a problem with /boot.
>
> This is because /proc contains info on environment variables and
> devices mounted, hardware configuration, etc Without it the kernel
> functionality is not complete and errors will show up sooner or later.
>  Ditto with /dev.
Ok, now i understand YES !
Thank you very much to all of you !
After complete installation (i just got X working), i backup and then i
try as you said.

Cheers,

--
Jacques