Partition warning message?

kushalkoolwal · 10-19-2005, 02:04 PM

Hi,

I am trying to format a HDD with the following command through my script:

Code:

echo '0,
'\
| sfdisk -L /dev/hdc

Although it formats the HDD properly, it does give me a warning/error message at the end of the above command which says:

Code:

Warning: no primary partition is marked bootable (active)
This does not matter for LILO, but the DOS MBR will not boot this disk.
Successfully wrote the new partition table

Re-reading the partition table ...

If you created or changed a DOS partition, /dev/foo7, say, then use dd(1)
to zero the first 512 bytes:  dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/foo7 bs=512 count=1
(See fdisk(8).)

How can I eliminate this message so that my command runs smoothly? I really to eliminate because after giving the sfdisk command I am checking the status of $? to see if the command ran successfully or not. And right now it does not return the status '0' because of the above warning message which I know is not fatal.

Thanks

MensaWater · 10-19-2005, 02:45 PM

sfdisk has a "-q" or "--quiet" flag that tells it to suppress warning messages.

FYI: Any time you have a question about a utility try typing:
man <utility>
--OR--
info <utility>

You'll find quite a lot of info is right there in the man pages.

kushalkoolwal · 10-19-2005, 02:54 PM

Hi jlightner, before posting the message I had already read the man pages and I knew that by giving -q option I can suppress those error messages. but my main concerned is that when I check the command status after giving the sfdisk command I do not get '0' i.e. successful execution code which I am chgecking in my script to constantly check for errors.

Code:

#!/bin/bash
ERROR_LOG_FILE="/tmp/errorLog.txt"
TEST_PS_VALUE=""

rm $ERROR_LOG_FILE
touch $ERROR_LOG_FILE

error_log() 
{
if [[ $TEST_PS_VALUE != 0 ]]
then
echo "An error has occured while executing the script.Please see the file $LOG_FILE."
exit 1
fi
}
echo "Partitioning your IDE Device"
echo '0,
'\
| sfdisk -L -D -V /dev/hdc -N1 1>/dev/null 2>$ERROR_LOG_FILE || TEST_PS_VALUE=$? echo -n Line $LINENO >> $ERROR_LOG_FILE
error_log
echo "Partitioning Completed!"

By giving -q option I can suppress warning message but I can;'t do anythng about the status code? can I?

To make things simpler, all I am looking is for a command which will create a single partiion(of the entire device space) on the given device and make the primary partition as bootable.

Remeber I would like to run this command from a script so the command should not be interactive.

Thanks

To make things simple

MensaWater · 10-19-2005, 03:38 PM

OK - your post asked how to suppress the message though it did make comments about return status later.

Since the exit status is defined in the binary you won't be able to do anything about the status it returns. However you COULD write logic into your script that gets the expected return status and the message detail then accepts that as OK in combination so that it only notifies you if you get that status without that message OR if you got any other non 0 exit status.

Of course if you're feeling really industrious you could get the source for sfdisk and modify the section that sets the return status and tell it to mark it with 0 if this is the only problem then compile your own sfdisk.

kushalkoolwal · 10-19-2005, 04:38 PM

WEll, thanks for the information. Is there any option in sfdisk command that will make the primary partition bootable. I read the man page but could not figure out. Also, if you know any other command like cfdisk or parted which will do the trick i.e. create a single primary partition on the entire drive and mark it as bootable partition.

Thanks