install/46222: NetBSD 6.0 Beta Installer - errors and request for improvements

[jb.1234abcd%gmail.com@localhost]

>Number:         46222
>Category:       install
>Synopsis:       NetBSD 6.0 Beta Installer - errors and request for improvements
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    install-manager
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Sun Mar 18 17:25:00 +0000 2012
>Originator:     JB
>Release:        NetBSD 6.0_BETA
>Organization:
>Environment:
NetBSD 6.0_BETA  (GENERIC) i386
>Description:
I selected Custom Installation.
In the next screen I was offered Distribution sets to select.
I was puzzled by some:
h:  Miscellaneous
i:  Test programs
Well, what about them ? Could some Help be added here ?

I continued.

My current MBR partition table is show below.

  Start( MB)  Size( MB) Flg Kind                    Bootmenu
  ---------- ---------- --- ----------------------- --------  
a:         0      20443 a   NTFS
b:     20443       7999     Linux native
c:     28442       7253     Linux native
d:     35695       2459     Unknown (5)
e:     35695       1433     Linux swap
f:     37128       1026     Linux native

First, few minor corrections needed:
- Size is not aligned to beginning of header
- the ( MB) should be (MB) and aligned to end of header
- Kind should be replaced by Type to be consistent

I changed partition c: to NetBSD, active, install.
I accepted as OK.

Next it told me that:
The bootcode in the Master Boot Record does not appear to be valid.
Do you want to install NetBSD bootcode ?

It would change it to:
The bootcode (boot loader) in the Master Boot Record is unknown, but it may be
valid on multi-boot OS systems.
Do you want to overwrite it by installing NetBSD bootcode ?
 
In next step I selected
a: Set sizes of NetBSD partitions

I would change "partitions" to "sub-partitions" in the menu above, as it would
be a correct meaning (after you dropped "slices" and "partitions" from your
vocabulary).
And from now on, on the table below, use "sub-partition" for consistency.

I get this table:

      MB        Cylinders   Sectors   Filesystem
    1603 (7252)      3257   3283056 + /
       0                0         0   swap 
       0                0         0   /tmp (tmpfs)
       0                0         0   /usr
       0                0         0   /var
       0                0         0   /home

I would modify the table:
- add "---" to be consistent
- aligne headers to the left to be consistent
- add TOTAL and AVAIL for clarity; remove "... Free space ???? MB," from below
  the table.

           MB   Cylinders  Sectors        Filesystem
           ---- ---------- ------------   ----------------- 
   TOTAL   7252       ????      ??????? 
           1603       3257      3283056 + /
              0          0            0   swap 
           ...
   AVAIL   5649       ????      ??????? 

Here I selected swap sub-partition.
I gave it 1000 MB size.
The table changed to:
      MB        Cylinders   Sectors   Filesystem
    1603 (6252)      3257   3283056 + /
    1000             2032   2048504   swap
     ...
     
Now I see the table of BSD-disklabel partitions.

  Start   MB   End  MB   Size  MB FS type    Newfs ...  
  ---------- --------- ---------- ---------- ----- ---  
a:     28442     34694       6252 FFSv2      Yes
b:     34695     35694       1000 swap 
c:     28442     35694       7252 NetBSD partition
...

i:     35695     37127       1432 swap
...

I would modify the table:
- aligne headers to the left to be consistent
- use (MB) to be consistent
- in row 
  c:     28442     35694       7252 NetBSD partition
  remove unneeded "partition" from FS type (it also overlaps Newfs)

Now, pay attention to swap partitions above:
b: is one created inside NetBSD
i: is one that already existed for Linux
 
I selected OK.
The next screen told me:

"partitions b and i overlap.
 
You can either edit partition table by hand, or give up and return to
the main menu.

Edit partition again ?"

Well, it is a new screem, so the error msg should start with uppercase, like
"Partitions b ...".

With regard to error about overlapping, is that right ?
Do they really overlap ? They should not, according to Start and End.

I went back and changed NetBSD swap partition size to 999MB:
b:     34695     35593        999 swap 

No other numbers were changed in the table as a result.
It was accepted as good partitioning.
So, it was a rounding error, and/or recalculation programmming error ?
Note: You should look into it because when I restarted the installation process
I assigned 1000MB swap size again and got slightly different sector numbers and
Start/End size numbers.

After that I performed the installation. It went OK.

With regard to post-install configuration:
- time zone
  It would be good to tell the user the difference between UTC and local time
  for multi-boot OS users - if the other OS manage and adjust the local time
  users should select local time.

On reboott end of installation, user should be informed that installation CD
would be rejected on Reboot selection (make sure it does so).
 
I think this installer is good overall.
jb


>How-To-Repeat:
Install it.
>Fix: