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usbimg2disk.sh issue in -current / 14.1

Hello folks,

I was trying to make a bootable USB stick containing the 64bit kernel from -current, using a 64bit Slackware 14.1 install.

It works fine & boots OK if I dd the usbboot.img straight to the stick, but the usbimg2disk.sh script (from slackware64-current/usb-and-pxe-installers) fails.

From looking at the script, "fdisk" is used to partition the stick, then "sfdisk" is used to set a partition active (bootable).

It seems as if "sfdisk" does not like the partition table previously made by Slackware's "fdisk".

Code:

root@anvil:/home/marc/LinuxStuff/slackware/slackware64-current/usb-and-pxe-installers# sh usbimg2disk.sh -i ./usbboot.img -o /dev/sdd -f



# We are going to format and use this device - '/dev/sdd':

# Vendor : USB2.0  

# Model  : Flash Disk      

# Size  : 1000 MB

# 

# FDISK OUTPUT:

# 

# Disk /dev/sdd: 1048 MB, 1048576000 bytes

# 13 heads, 47 sectors/track, 3351 cylinders, total 2048000 sectors

# Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

# Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

# I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

# Disk identifier: 0x29a3e829

# 

# Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

# /dev/sdd1            2048    2047999    1022976    b  W95 FAT32



***                                                      ***

*** If this is the wrong drive, then press CONTROL-C now! ***

***                                                      ***

Or press ENTER to continue: 

--- Formatting /dev/sdd with VFAT partition label 'USBSLACKINS'...

--- Last chance! Press CTRL-C to abort!

Or press ENTER to continue: 

--- Available free space on the the USB drive is 1020960 KB

--- Required free space for installer: 44256 KB

--- Copying boot files to the USB drive...

--- Cleaning up the staging area...

--- Making the USB drive '/dev/sdd' bootable...

*** usbimg2disk.sh FAILED at line 470 ***

--- Cleaning up the staging area...

umount2: No such file or directory

umount: /mnt/img.RQFVVX: not found

Line 470 tries to make the partition bootable. If I run the line by hand:

Code:

root@anvil:~# echo ',,,*' | /sbin/sfdisk /dev/sdd -N1

Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ...

OK



Disk /dev/sdd: 1017 cylinders, 33 heads, 61 sectors/track

Old situation:

sfdisk: Warning: The partition table looks like it was made

  for C/H/S=*/13/47 (instead of 1017/33/61).

For this listing I'll assume that geometry.



Units = cylinders of 312832 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0



  Device Boot Start    End  #cyls    #blocks  Id  System

/dev/sdd1          3+  3351-  3349-  1022976    b  W95 FAT32

sfdisk:                start: (c,h,s) expected (3,4,28) found (1,0,36)



sfdisk:                end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,12,47) found (1017,12,47)



/dev/sdd2          0      -      0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdd3          0      -      0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdd4          0      -      0          0    0  Empty

Warning: given size (1017) exceeds max allowable size (1016)

sfdisk: bad input

Anyhow, I found "parted" can set the active partition correctly, so here's a simple diff:

Code:

--- usbimg2disk.sh      2015-11-10 17:53:14.000000000 +0000

+++ /tmp/usbimg2disk.sh 2015-11-23 21:52:32.200632930 +0000

@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@

  fi

 

  # Set the bootable flag for the first partition:

-  echo ',,,*' | /sbin/sfdisk $USBDRV -N1

+  /usr/sbin/parted -s $USBDRV set 1 boot on

 }

 

 # Parse the commandline parameters:

After this I can successfully make a bootable USB stick. It booted OK on the one machine I tried. Will try a few more.

Marc

Does it run partprobe after creating the new partition table? Maybe that would make a difference if it's not doing it.

I ran the following to make my usb stick ready before running the usbimg2disk.sh script:

# cfdisk -z /dev/XXX # that is the cfdisk command, not the cgdisk command. replace XXX with your device name(sdb, sdd, etc.).

This opens the partition editor with a blank slate. Pick 'dos' for the label type if using the newest versions that support GPT, etc.

Then just write-out a new blank table. The usbimg2disk script will partition it and format for you.

Hope that helps.

I don't think partprobe is needed. fdisk automatically re-reads the partition table.
I believe the issue is fdisk creates a partition table with a CHS geometry that sfdisk doesn't like.

Retested with 14.2 beta (and a different USB stick) and the issue with usbimg2disk.sh remains.

Code:

root@anvil:/home/marc/LinuxStuff/slackware/slackware64-current/usb-and-pxe-installers# sh usbimg2disk.sh -f -i /home/marc/LinuxStuff/slackware/slackware64-current/usb-and-pxe-installers/usbboot.img -L Slack14.2B -o /dev/sdd



# We are going to format and use this device - '/dev/sdd':

# Vendor : SanDisk 

# Model  : Cruzer          

# Size  : 7633 MB

# 

# FDISK OUTPUT:

# 

# Disk /dev/sdd: 8004 MB, 8004304896 bytes

# 212 heads, 46 sectors/track, 1603 cylinders, total 15633408 sectors

# Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

# Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

# I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

# Disk identifier: 0x8af20759

# 

# Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

# /dev/sdd1            2048    15633407    7815680    b  W95 FAT32



***                                                      ***

*** If this is the wrong drive, then press CONTROL-C now! ***

***                                                      ***

Or press ENTER to continue: 

--- Formatting /dev/sdd with VFAT partition label 'Slack14.2B'...

--- Last chance! Press CTRL-C to abort!

Or press ENTER to continue: 

--- Available free space on the the USB drive is 7800424 KB

--- Required free space for installer: 46240 KB

--- Copying boot files to the USB drive...

--- Cleaning up the staging area...

--- Making the USB drive '/dev/sdd' bootable...

*** usbimg2disk.sh FAILED at line 470 ***

--- Cleaning up the staging area...

umount2: No such file or directory

umount: /mnt/img.uhQtua: not found

The problem is caused by "sfdisk" (which is used in line 470 to make a partition active), which does not like the partition table created by "fdisk" on line 101.

Code:

root@anvil:/home/marc/LinuxStuff/slackware/slackware64-current/usb-and-pxe-installers# echo ',,,*' | /sbin/sfdisk /dev/sdd -N1

Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ...

OK



Disk /dev/sdd: 1020 cylinders, 247 heads, 62 sectors/track

Old situation:

sfdisk: Warning: The partition table looks like it was made

  for C/H/S=*/212/46 (instead of 1020/247/62).

For this listing I'll assume that geometry.



Units = cylinders of 4993024 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0



  Device Boot Start    End  #cyls    #blocks  Id  System

/dev/sdd1          0+  1603-  1603-  7815680    b  W95 FAT32

sfdisk:                start: (c,h,s) expected (0,44,25) found (0,33,3)



sfdisk:                end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,211,46) found (1020,211,46)



/dev/sdd2          0      -      0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdd3          0      -      0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdd4          0      -      0          0    0  Empty

Warning: given size (1021) exceeds max allowable size (1020)

sfdisk: bad input

The patch in the first post fixes this issue by using "parted" to set the active partition instead of sfdisk (but creates a dependency on parted being installed).
Alternatively this patch fixes the issue using by using fdisk to set the active partition:

Code:

--- usbimg2disk.sh      2015-11-10 17:53:14.000000000 +0000

+++ /tmp/usbimg2disk.sh 2016-01-13 15:37:27.128093683 +0000

@@ -148,7 +148,15 @@

  fi

 

  # Set the bootable flag for the first partition:

-  echo ',,,*' | /sbin/sfdisk $USBDRV -N1

+  # Temporarily accept errors (so that we can examine them):

+  set +e

+  /sbin/fdisk $USBDRV <<EOF

+a

+1

+w

+EOF

+  # Fail on errors again:

+  set -e

 }

 

 # Parse the commandline parameters:

Can this be applied before -current becomes 14.2 GA?