Bug#1034814: debian-installer: bootable flag not toggling

[Matt Taggart]

Package: debian-installer
Version: bookworm-DI-rc1

When in the partitioning and editing a partition, if I am on the
"bootable" option and select, it does not toggle but remains "no". The
screen flashes, bot no change. I have not yet checked what ends up in
the partition table after the install.

Sorry for the crappy report, I will try to provide more details when I
get a chance to repeat it.

[Pascal Hambourg]

Post by Matt Taggart
When in the partitioning and editing a partition, if I am on the
"bootable" option and select, it does not toggle but remains "no". The
screen flashes, bot no change. I have not yet checked what ends up in
the partition table after the install.

Is it a GPT partition table ?

GPT is the default partition table type with EFI boot or disk size above
2 TiB. In GPT, "boot" and "esp" parted flags are equivalent and both
represent the "EFI system partition" type (IMO this is a big mess).

If this should be fixed, not sure how.
- Set/unset the "esp" flag at the same time as the "boot" flag if GPT ?
- Hide the "bootable" option if GPT ?
- Map the "bootable" option to the "legacy_boot" parted flag instead of
"boot" if GPT ? (AFAIK only syslinux/extlinux uses this flag)

Also, there is another issue with this: changing the use of an ESP
partition to something else will not remove the boot/esp flag. This is
annoying when you want to change it to "BIOS boot" which should have the
"bios_grub" flag instead.

[Matt Taggart]

Post by Pascal Hambourg

Post by Matt Taggart
When in the partitioning and editing a partition, if I am on the
"bootable" option and select, it does not toggle but remains "no". The
screen flashes, bot no change. I have not yet checked what ends up in
the partition table after the install.

Is it a GPT partition table ?

Yes, GPT and EFI, 512gb nvme drive.

Post by Pascal Hambourg
GPT is the default partition table type with EFI boot or disk size above
2 TiB. In GPT, "boot" and "esp" parted flags are equivalent and both
represent the "EFI system partition" type (IMO this is a big mess).

Being used to doing non-GPT/EFI installs for so long, I did what I have
always done and toggled the bootable flag on the /boot partition. When
it didn't change, I tried again and it still didn't change. So it was
less a bug of it not functioning that it was confusing for the user.

Post by Pascal Hambourg
If this should be fixed, not sure how.
- Set/unset the "esp" flag at the same time as the "boot" flag if GPT ?
- Hide the "bootable" option if GPT > - Map the "bootable" option to the "legacy_boot" parted flag instead of
"boot" if GPT ? (AFAIK only syslinux/extlinux uses this flag)

IMO "hide the bootable option if GPT" (but maybe that is non-trivial).
Alternatively the value could be displayed as "GPT" and not change when
toggled.

Thanks,

[Pascal Hambourg]

Post by Matt Taggart

Post by Pascal Hambourg
If this should be fixed, not sure how.
- Set/unset the "esp" flag at the same time as the "boot" flag if GPT ?
- Hide the "bootable" option if GPT
- Map the "bootable" option to the "legacy_boot" parted flag instead of
"boot" if GPT ? (AFAIK only syslinux/extlinux uses this flag)

IMO "hide the bootable option if GPT" (but maybe that is non-trivial).

It should not be too hard. I can work on a patch against
partman-partitioning if the d-i developers agree with this solution.

[Cyril Brulebois]

Post by Pascal Hambourg

Post by Matt Taggart
IMO "hide the bootable option if GPT" (but maybe that is non-trivial).

It should not be too hard. I can work on a patch against
partman-partitioning if the d-i developers agree with this solution.

I'm happy to defer to Steve's expertise and yours on those topics.


Cheers,

[Pascal Hambourg]

Control: reassign -1 partman-partitioning
Control: tags -1 patch

Post by Cyril Brulebois

Post by Pascal Hambourg

Post by Matt Taggart
IMO "hide the bootable option if GPT" (but maybe that is non-trivial).

It should not be too hard. I can work on a patch against
partman-partitioning if the d-i developers agree with this solution.

Trivial patch attached. Sorry for the delay, I was busy on other topics
and forgot a bit about this one. Should I open a MR too ?

Post by Cyril Brulebois
I'm happy to defer to Steve's expertise and yours on those topics.

I'm no expert on partman, so that means Steve's.

[Debian Bug Tracking System]

reassign -1 partman-partitioning

Bug #1034814 [debian-installer] debian-installer: bootable flag not toggling
Bug reassigned from package 'debian-installer' to 'partman-partitioning'.
No longer marked as found in versions bookworm-DI-rc1.
Ignoring request to alter fixed versions of bug #1034814 to the same values previously set

tags -1 patch

Bug #1034814 [partman-partitioning] debian-installer: bootable flag not toggling
Added tag(s) patch.

[Debian Bug Tracking System]

tag -1 pending

Bug #1034814 [partman-partitioning] debian-installer: bootable flag not toggling
Added tag(s) pending.

[Debian Bug Tracking System]

Your message dated Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:26:43 +0000
with message-id <E1tWMWh-001FuT-***@fasolo.debian.org>
and subject line Bug#1034814: fixed in partman-base 232
has caused the Debian Bug report #1034814,
regarding debian-installer: bootable flag not toggling
to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
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