bin/164094: bsdinstall(8): installer progress over 100%

[Ariane van der Steldt]

On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 11:57:10PM -0600, Nathan Whitehorn wrote:
> On 01/17/12 23:23, Ariane van der Steldt wrote:
> > Hi Nathan,
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 07:42:24AM +0100, Ariane van der Steldt wrote:
> >> On Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 07:49:12PM -0600, Nathan Whitehorn wrote:
> >>> On 01/13/12 19:16, eadler at FreeBSD.org wrote:
> >>>> FreeBSD installer changed my MBR-only partition table to MBR+GPT
> >>>> partition table.
> >
> >>>> The other OS does not have GPT logic; I want to be at least warned
> >>>> this is happening and prefer to have the option at least.
> >>>> Alternatively, the installer may opt not to install a GPT if the disk
> >>>> does not require it (as in the case in this machine)
> >>> Can you give some more details here? This is something that the
> >>> installer is not programmed to do and that I cannot reproduce.
> >> Sure. I used a VM to reproduce the problem, so I could provide pretty
> >> screenshots in an attempt to better explain the problem.
> >>
> >>
> >> Pre-install:
> >> only 1 OS installed, windows XP, using MBR partition table.
> >>
> >> Using a live CD, I can instruct fdisk to (pointlessly) alter the active
> >> partition, as can be seen in attached screenshot 1
> >>
> >>
> >> Post-install:
> >> Both windows XP and FreeBSD are installed.
> >> Unfortunately, fdisk can no longer be used to alter the active
> >> partition, gpart is to be used instead.
> >> As can be seen in attached screenshot 2, fdisk fails.
> >>
> >> After install, only gpart can be used to change the active partition.
> > Upon rereading the manpage for gpart, I'm wondering if what I concluded
> > really happened. On closer examination, it's possible the geom logic
> > blocked fdisk from modifying the partition table. Can you tell me how I
> > can confirm out what partitioning schemes are present on my harddisk?
> > I put the output of gpart show at the bottom of the e-mail, which
> > suggests the mbr scheme is used regardless.
> >
> > If geom indeed blocks fdisk from altering the partition table, I'm
> > wondering what the use of the binary is though, as it seems gpart does
> > everything fdisk does, but without failing.
> >
> > # gpart show
> > =>         63  1250263665  ada0  MBR  (596G)
> >            63   209712447     1  ntfs  [active]  (100G)
> >     209712510   102398310     2  ntfs  (48G)
> >     312110820   937426896     3  freebsd  (447G)
> >    1249537716      726012        - free -  (354M)
> >
> > =>         0  937426896  ada0s3  BSD  (447G)
> >            0  929038336       1  freebsd-ufs  (443G)
> >    929038336    8388559       2  freebsd-swap  (4G)
> >    937426895          1          - free -  (512B)
> 
> That implies it's just MBR + BSD label. Why did you think it was GPT? 
> Geom does prevent many utilities from altering the partition table. I 
> was under the impression that fdisk had been modified to actually use 
> geom these days, so it should have worked, but it's possible that didn't 
> work somehow.

I came under that impression because fdisk didn't work, while before
installing freebsd, it did work. gpart, due to its name and coupled with
a refusing fdisk, made me jump to the conclusion that I had been given a
GPT table.

Is there a technical reason that geom is not automatically activated on
every partition table? It seems to me that unifying these would reduce
complexity and confusion to the end user. And I see no reason why the
boot volume has this recognized and activated automatically, but other
devices don't.
-- 
Ariane