I'm attempting to install Debian Squeeze via an instalinux.com image pre-seeded with more or less default settings. (Only notable addition is the openssh server, which is a clickable option in the Instalinux interface)
It is however raising the error:
The current kernel doesn't support the Logical Volume Manager.
You may need to load the lvm-mod module.
part way through the installation. I've done a lot of reading and found out from this widely re-posted debian mailing list thread. That it can be a problem of linux and initrd.gz being out of sync between the netboot and the prepared ISO.
I have to open the ISO anyway in order to patch the isolinux.conf not to prompt, so patching these files wouldn't be a massive hardship, I've included the relavant parts of my Makefile below:
provision: tmp/empty.img isos/debian-squeeze-preseed-unattended.iso
virt-install -n demo -r 256 -vcpus=1 -f tmp/empty.img \
-b br0 --accelerate -v -c isos/debian-squeeze-preseed.iso \
--os-type=linux --os-variant=debiansqueeze --nographics \
--extra-args="auto=true hostname=demo domain= \
file=preseed.txt text console=tty1 console=ttyS0,115200"
isos/debian-squeeze-preseed-unattended.iso:
mkdir -p tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed
mount -t iso9660 -o loop isos/debian-squeeze-preseed.iso tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed
cp -a tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed/ tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed-unattended
echo "timeout 5" >> tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed-unattended/isolinux.cfg
#
# These two curl commands relate to the problem here http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2012/01/msg00340.html
#
curl -0 ftp://ftp.ch.debian.org/debian/dists/squeeze/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/i386/linux > tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed-unattended/linux
curl -0 ftp://ftp.ch.debian.org/debian/dists/squeeze/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/i386/initrd.gz > tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed-unattended/initrd.gz
genisoimage -l -r -J -V "LinuxCOE" -b isolinux.bin -no-emul-boot \
-boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -c boot.cat -o $@ \
tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed-unattended
umount tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed
rm -r tmp/debian-squeeze-preseed
Reading through the noise, you can see that I'm opening the ISO and patching a timeout into the isolinux.conf, and trying to update the linux and initrd.gz files, however to no avail.
Whether I try and boot in VirtualBox with the preseed image (without modification), or whether I boot my unattended image in libvirt, or virtualbox, the results are always the same “The current kernel doesn't support the Logical Volume Manager.”
I'm not certain what version of Squeeze the Instalinux tool is giving me, but I've a feeling that it was 6.0.3, but now that I've gone looking for it, I can't find it. I was able to extract the following from the post-failed-installation console:
$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Debian
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Debian GNU/Linux Installer"
DISTRIB_RELEASE="6.0 (squeeze) - installer build 20110106+b1"
X_INSTALLATION_MEDIUM=netboot
I'm missing a patch release in the information out of the image, but given that the timestamps on the FTP directory are from 26-09-2012, that's a long time for things to get out of sync.
I'm wondering where to look next for a solution, whether I even need a preseeded ISO, or whether there might be some nicer workarounds.
