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Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file

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  Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2019-06-14 13:20 +0200
    Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> - 2019-06-14 13:30 +0200
      Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2019-06-14 13:50 +0200
    Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file Erwan David <erwan@rail.eu.org> - 2019-06-14 13:30 +0200
    Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file Erik Christiansen <dvalin@internode.on.net> - 2019-06-14 13:30 +0200
      Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2019-06-14 14:00 +0200
        Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-14 19:50 +0200
    Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> - 2019-06-14 13:30 +0200
    Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2019-06-14 14:40 +0200
    Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file Elimar Riesebieter <riesebie@lxtec.de> - 2019-06-14 18:10 +0200
    Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2019-06-14 20:20 +0200
    Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration"  {wrong word?} file} Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2019-06-15 15:20 +0200
      Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-15 16:30 +0200
        Re: Intended question Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2019-06-15 21:20 +0200
          Re: Intended question Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-15 21:30 +0200
        Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2019-06-15 21:30 +0200
      Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2019-06-16 18:10 +0200
        Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2019-06-16 21:20 +0200
          Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> - 2019-06-16 21:40 +0200
          Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} Nicholas Geovanis <nickgeovanis@gmail.com> - 2019-06-17 00:30 +0200
          Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2019-06-17 04:10 +0200
            The use of VMs in experimentation schenarios (Was: Re: Intended          question - was...) Linux-Fan <Ma_Sys.ma@web.de> - 2019-06-17 23:00 +0200
              Re: The use of VMs in experimentation schenarios (Was: Re: Intended  question - was...) Nicholas Geovanis <nickgeovanis@gmail.com> - 2019-06-17 23:10 +0200
            Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} Nicholas Geovanis <nickgeovanis@gmail.com> - 2019-06-17 23:50 +0200
          Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2019-06-17 05:00 +0200
            Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-17 20:40 +0200
            Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian  "configuration" {wrong word?} file} David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2019-06-18 18:20 +0200
              Re: Intended question Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-20 20:10 +0200
                Re: Intended question David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2019-06-21 04:40 +0200
    Bonus answers - was [Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong  word?} file] Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2019-06-15 15:40 +0200
      Re: Bonus answers - was [Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration"  {wrong word?} file] songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2019-06-15 22:50 +0200
        Re: Bonus answers - was [Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration"  {wrong word?} file] Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2019-06-16 11:50 +0200
      Re: Bonus answers - was [Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file] Jonas Smedegaard <jonas@jones.dk> - 2019-06-16 13:30 +0200
      Re: Bonus answers - was [Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration"  {wrong word?} file] Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2019-06-17 15:20 +0200

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#209886 — Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file

I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association 
between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on. 
The file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.

TIA

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#209888

On 6/14/2019 1:10 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association
> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on.
> The file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.
>
> TIA
>
>

Maybe:

'/etc/fstab'

--
John Doe

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#209892

On 06/14/2019 06:20 AM, john doe wrote:
> On 6/14/2019 1:10 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association
>> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on.
>> The file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.
>>
>> TIA
>>
>>
> 
> Maybe:
> 
> '/etc/fstab'
> 

Thanks.

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#209889

/etc/fstab


Le 14/06/2019 à 13:10, Richard Owlett a écrit :
> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association
> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is
> on. The file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used
> for swap.
>
> TIA
>
>
>

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#209890

On 14.06.19 06:10, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association
> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on. The
> file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.

Easier than looking in /etc/fstab is just running the "mount" command.
The "df" command also includes what you seek in its output.

Erik

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#209893

On 06/14/2019 06:20 AM, Erik Christiansen wrote:
> On 14.06.19 06:10, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association
>> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on. The
>> file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.
> 
> Easier than looking in /etc/fstab is just running the "mount" command.
> The "df" command also includes what you seek in its output.
> 
> Erik
> 

Thanks. I've never used the df command and I always think of mount as an 
action command not as a query.

I just ran the mount command with no options. It gave a fascinating list 
that I should probably read about.

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#209910

Le 14/06/2019 à 13:50, Richard Owlett a écrit :
> On 06/14/2019 06:20 AM, Erik Christiansen wrote:
>> On 14.06.19 06:10, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association
>>> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on. The
>>> file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.

Do you want to see the desired or current association ?
/etc/fstab contains the desired filesystem mounts and swaps.
There is no single file containing both mounted filesystems and active 
swaps. /proc/mounts or /proc/self/mounts contains mounted filesystems. 
/etc/mtab used to be a regular file containing similar information but 
is now a symlink to either /proc/mounts or /proc/self/mounts. 
/proc/swaps contains active swaps.

>> Easier than looking in /etc/fstab is just running the "mount" command.
>> The "df" command also includes what you seek in its output.

fstab and mount/df do not provide the same kind of information. mount 
and df provide information about currently mounted filesystems.
Note that df without argument hides some filesystems (proc, sysfs...) 
and bind mounts.

> I just ran the mount command with no options. It gave a fascinating list 
> that I should probably read about.

Note that mount without argument merely prints the contents of /proc/mounts.

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#209891

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

Quoting Richard Owlett (2019-06-14 13:10:25)
> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association 
> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is 
> on. The file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used 
> for swap.

/etc/fstab

 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private

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#209894

Richard Owlett wrote:
> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association 
> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on. 
> The file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.

  /etc/fstab


  songbird

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#209906

* Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> [2019-06-14 06:10 -0500]:

> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association
> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on. The
> file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.

There is a fantastic tool to get an overview of your partitions:

# apt get install dfc

Just read the manpage and get famous info's like from:

$ dfc -WT -q name -sf -d -txfs,nfs,ext4

Elimar
-- 
  You cannot propel yourself forward by
  patting yourself on the back.

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#209911

Richard Owlett composed on 2019-06-14 06:10 (UTC-0500):

> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association 
> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on. 
> The file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.

You might wish to try

	inxi -PpxxaD

You might like better a recent version from unstable or upstream rather than an
antique if you are a Stretch or older user.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is religion, not science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

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#209931 — Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file}

On 06/14/2019 06:10 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the association 
> between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical partition it is on. 
> The file I'm looking for also identifies which partition is used for swap.
> 
> TIA
>

The filename I had forgotten was /etc/fstab .

Background:
I have one laptop explicitly set aside for experimenting with Debian in 
order to determine *MY* ideal system. To this end I may have a half 
dozen copies of Debian to chose from at boot.

For my purposes, the Debian installer has two annoyances:
   1. swap area designation.
      Everything is fine on the 1st installation.
      On following installations, when the existing swap partition is
      is to be used its UUID is changed. This causes grief for the
      other installations by making swap area appear missing. My
      personally preferred solution is to activate swap only of the
      initial installation. For subsequent installs actually requiring
      a swap partition, I edit its /etc/fstab .
   2. Grub configuration.
      The installer is egotistical enough to think that what is being
      installed will always be the preferred version. NOT!
      My solution is install Grub only on the initial install and NO
      boot loader on subsequent install. After completing one (or more)
      additional installs, I boot the first install and run update-grub.

VM's had been suggested ;}

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#209938 — Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file}

Le 15/06/2019 à 15:15, Richard Owlett a écrit :
> 
> I have one laptop explicitly set aside for experimenting with Debian in 
> order to determine *MY* ideal system. To this end I may have a half 
> dozen copies of Debian to chose from at boot.
> 
> For my purposes, the Debian installer has two annoyances:
>    1. swap area designation.
>       Everything is fine on the 1st installation.
>       On following installations, when the existing swap partition is
>       is to be used its UUID is changed. This causes grief for the
>       other installations by making swap area appear missing. My

I agree this is annoying. The Debian installer is not the only one doing 
this.

>       personally preferred solution is to activate swap only of the
>       initial installation. For subsequent installs actually requiring
>       a swap partition, I edit its /etc/fstab .

Other workarounds exist :

- If you have plenty of disk space, create a separate swap for each 
installation. Or no swap if you don't need it (enough RAM and no 
hibernation).

- Use LVM logical volumes instead of plain partitions. When the swap is 
in a logical volume, the installer uses its persistent device name 
(actually a symlink) /dev/mapper/vgname-lvname instead of its UUID. So 
changing the UUID does not disrupt anything. Also, IMO having multiple 
test installations is a good use case for LVM as it allows to create, 
resize and delete volumes of arbitrary sizes unlike partitions which 
require sufficient contiguous disk space or moving partitions around.

>    2. Grub configuration.
>       The installer is egotistical enough to think that what is being
>       installed will always be the preferred version. NOT!

AFAICS, most installers (Linux and others) do the same.

>       My solution is install Grub only on the initial install and NO
>       boot loader on subsequent install. After completing one (or more)
>       additional installs, I boot the first install and run update-grub.

IMO installing GRUB with each system is desirable so that grub.cfg is 
generated, as update-grub uses foreign grub.cfg files to properly 
retrieve boot parameters.

In legacy mode, you can install GRUB in different locations : main GRUB 
in the disk MBR and others in partition boot records. But in legacy mode 
the installer does not allow to select a location and name, so at worst 
if will overwrite the previous GRUB installed by Debian (if using the 
same EFI partition) and at best if will overwrite the EFI boot entry (if 
using a different EFI partition). It would be nice if the installer 
could offer to define a custom identifier for the boot loader.

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#209952 — Re: Intended question

Pascal Hambourg composed on 2019-06-15 16:22 (UTC+0200):

> in legacy mode 
> the installer does not allow to select a location and name...
> ...It would be nice if the installer 
> could offer to define a custom identifier for the boot loader. 

Unless something has changed lately, a bootloader "location" can be typed in. I
type in /dev/null, the installer errors, then proceeds to successful completion
anyway. I'm booting from a master bootloader, so if the Debian installer fails to
successfully install Grub it's of no consequence here. It would be nice to avoid
the error through an obvious option to select to install no bootloader.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is religion, not science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

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#209953 — Re: Intended question

Le 15/06/2019 à 21:10, Felix Miata a écrit :
> Pascal Hambourg composed on 2019-06-15 16:22 (UTC+0200):
> 
>> in legacy mode

Oops, I meant in EFI mode.

>> the installer does not allow to select a location and name...
>> ...It would be nice if the installer
>> could offer to define a custom identifier for the boot loader.
> 
> Unless something has changed lately, a bootloader "location" can be typed in.

Not in EFI mode. That was my point.

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#209954 — Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file}

On 06/15/2019 09:22 AM, Pascal Hambourg wrote:
> Le 15/06/2019 à 15:15, Richard Owlett a écrit :
>>
>> I have one laptop explicitly set aside for experimenting with Debian 
>> in order to determine *MY* ideal system. To this end I may have a half 
>> dozen copies of Debian to chose from at boot.
>>
>> For my purposes, the Debian installer has two annoyances:
>>    1. swap area designation.
>>       Everything is fine on the 1st installation.
>>       On following installations, when the existing swap partition is
>>       is to be used its UUID is changed. This causes grief for the
>>       other installations by making swap area appear missing. My
> 
> I agree this is annoying. The Debian installer is not the only one doing 
> this.
> 
>>       personally preferred solution is to activate swap only of the
>>       initial installation. For subsequent installs actually requiring
>>       a swap partition, I edit its /etc/fstab .
> 
> Other workarounds exist :
> 
> - If you have plenty of disk space, create a separate swap for each 
> installation. Or no swap if you don't need it (enough RAM and no 
> hibernation).

I had wondered about something like that. I think I'm more comfortable 
with one "largish" partition than several small ones.

> 
> - Use LVM logical volumes instead of plain partitions. When the swap is 
> in a logical volume, the installer uses its persistent device name 
> (actually a symlink) /dev/mapper/vgname-lvname instead of its UUID. So 
> changing the UUID does not disrupt anything. Also, IMO having multiple 
> test installations is a good use case for LVM as it allows to create, 
> resize and delete volumes of arbitrary sizes unlike partitions which 
> require sufficient contiguous disk space or moving partitions around.
> 

I never noticed anything that attracted my attention to LVM. I will have 
to do more reading.

>>    2. Grub configuration.
>>       The installer is egotistical enough to think that what is being
>>       installed will always be the preferred version. NOT!
> 
> AFAICS, most installers (Linux and others) do the same.
> 
>>       My solution is install Grub only on the initial install and NO
>>       boot loader on subsequent install. After completing one (or more)
>>       additional installs, I boot the first install and run update-grub.
> 
> IMO installing GRUB with each system is desirable so that grub.cfg is 
> generated, as update-grub uses foreign grub.cfg files to properly 
> retrieve boot parameters.

The only thing I've read about multiple GRUBs has been comments on this 
list - nothing intentionally organized. As most of the programming I've 
done was back when 8085 was new tech, I strongly favor minimal resources.

> 
> In legacy mode, you can install GRUB in different locations : main GRUB 
> in the disk MBR and others in partition boot records. But in legacy mode 
> the installer does not allow to select a location and name, so at worst 
> if will overwrite the previous GRUB installed by Debian (if using the 
> same EFI partition) and at best if will overwrite the EFI boot entry (if 
> using a different EFI partition). It would be nice if the installer 
> could offer to define a custom identifier for the boot loader.
> 

All my stuff is legacy.

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#209962 — Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file}

On Sat 15 Jun 2019 at 08:15:24 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 06/14/2019 06:10 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the
> > association between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical
> > partition it is on. The file I'm looking for also identifies which
> > partition is used for swap.
> 
> The filename I had forgotten was /etc/fstab .
> 
> Background:
> I have one laptop explicitly set aside for experimenting with Debian
> in order to determine *MY* ideal system. To this end I may have a half
> dozen copies of Debian to chose from at boot.
> 
> For my purposes, the Debian installer has two annoyances:
>   1. swap area designation.
>      Everything is fine on the 1st installation.
>      On following installations, when the existing swap partition is
>      is to be used its UUID is changed. This causes grief for the
>      other installations by making swap area appear missing. My
>      personally preferred solution is to activate swap only of the
>      initial installation. For subsequent installs actually requiring
>      a swap partition, I edit its /etc/fstab .

It's rather easy to work around this problem in one of two ways (at least):

  With a reasonable amount of memory (not a problam nowadays), just tell
  the d-i to leave the existing swap file alone and do without one. Then
  manually add the old UUID into the new installation's /etc/fstab and
  /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume when it's up and running.
  (If you're only installing as an experiment in installation, I suspect
  you won't even need to bother, because you'll be overwriting it shortly.
  Does  top  show much use of swap anyway?)

or, even easier,

  Use a LABEL to indicate the swap partition in all your own
  /etc/fstab files, eg:
  LABEL=swan10          none           swap        sw
  and in /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume.
  The d-i will of course overwrite the swap partition UUID/LABEL
  as usual, but it's trivial to reset your LABEL at the end.
  When the d-i reaches the UTC question at the end, switch to VC2
  and type (with the appropriate values):
    # /target/sbin/swaplabel -L LLLLLL /dev/sdXN
  before answering the UTC question. The newly installed system
  will boot via its fresh UUID, but all your old systems will
  carry on using your LABEL as usual. (I assume that if you're
  going to keep the new system for any length of time, you will
  be editing its /etc/fstab anyway, and can set your usual LABEL
  there, as in the example above.)

>   2. Grub configuration.
>      The installer is egotistical enough to think that what is being
>      installed will always be the preferred version. NOT!

You've been flogging this dead horse for at least seven years now.
Common sense dictates that anyone installing a new system wants it
to boot up by default. Anything else would be like sending the final
copy of your magnum opus to the publisher only for them to distribute
an old draft. OSes aren't like marmalade, where you have to use up
the old jar before opening a new one.

>      My solution is install Grub only on the initial install and NO
>      boot loader on subsequent install. After completing one (or more)
>      additional installs, I boot the first install and run update-grub.
> 
> VM's had been suggested ;}

What for; to avoid having to type <down><down><down><return> when booting?

Cheers,
David.

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#209965 — Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file}

On 06/16/2019 11:03 AM, David Wright wrote:
> On Sat 15 Jun 2019 at 08:15:24 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
>> On 06/14/2019 06:10 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the
>>> association between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical
>>> partition it is on. The file I'm looking for also identifies which
>>> partition is used for swap.
>>
>> The filename I had forgotten was /etc/fstab .
>>
>> Background:
>> I have one laptop explicitly set aside for experimenting with Debian
>> in order to determine *MY* ideal system. To this end I may have a half
>> dozen copies of Debian to chose from at boot.
>>
>> For my purposes, the Debian installer has two annoyances:
>>    1. swap area designation.
>>       Everything is fine on the 1st installation.
>>       On following installations, when the existing swap partition is
>>       is to be used its UUID is changed. This causes grief for the
>>       other installations by making swap area appear missing. My
>>       personally preferred solution is to activate swap only of the
>>       initial installation. For subsequent installs actually requiring
>>       a swap partition, I edit its /etc/fstab .
> 
> It's rather easy to work around this problem in one of two ways (at least):

Ways on order of {# users}**N { N < world_population} ;/

> 
>    With a reasonable amount of memory (not a problam nowadays), just tell
>    the d-i to leave the existing swap file alone and do without one. Then
>    manually add the old UUID into the new installation's /etc/fstab

*ROFL* !!!!
Been doing that forever. However, had not done it recently.
I had forgotten the filename was "/etc/fstab"  ;<

> and /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume when it's up and running.

Never hear of that file. Will research after sending this message.

>    (If you're only installing as an experiment in installation,

I'm not experimenting with the installation process, but with what I 
want the result to be.

> I suspect
>    you won't even need to bother, because you'll be overwriting it shortly.
>    Does  top  show much use of swap anyway?)

Not a parameter of my experiment's protocol.
As I do not "know" how much swap space I require, I provide swap space 
based on conservative estimates of _typical_ requirements. That 
logically leads to my preference for a SINGLE large swap vs multiple 
small swap areas. *YMMV* !!!

> 
> or, even easier,
> 
>    Use a LABEL to indicate the swap partition in all your own
>    /etc/fstab files, eg:
>    LABEL=swan10          none           swap        sw
>    and in /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume.
>    The d-i will of course overwrite the swap partition UUID/LABEL
>    as usual, but it's trivial to reset your LABEL at the end.
>    When the d-i reaches the UTC question at the end, switch to VC2
>    and type (with the appropriate values):
>      # /target/sbin/swaplabel -L LLLLLL /dev/sdXN
>    before answering the UTC question. The newly installed system
>    will boot via its fresh UUID, but all your old systems will
>    carry on using your LABEL as usual. (I assume that if you're
>    going to keep the new system for any length of time, you will
>    be editing its /etc/fstab anyway, and can set your usual LABEL
>    there, as in the example above.)

I can't parse that.

> 
>>    2. Grub configuration.
>>       The installer is egotistical enough to think that what is being
>>       installed will always be the preferred version. NOT!
> 
> You've been flogging this dead horse for at least seven years now.

Horse ain't dead.

> Common sense dictates that anyone installing a new system wants it
> to boot up by default.

You have neglected to *GROK* my goals ;/
Some of my experiments are un-bootable.

> Anything else would be like sending the final
> copy of your magnum opus to the publisher only for them to distribute
> an old draft. OSes aren't like marmalade, where you have to use up
> the old jar before opening a new one.
> 
>>       My solution is install Grub only on the initial install and NO
>>       boot loader on subsequent install. After completing one (or more)
>>       additional installs, I boot the first install and run update-grub.
>>
>> VM's had been suggested ;}
> 
> What for; to avoid having to type <down><down><down><return> when booting?

No
require my failures to be deterministic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VM's are intrinsically unknown quantities.

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#209966 — Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file}

On 6/16/2019 9:17 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 06/16/2019 11:03 AM, David Wright wrote:
>> On Sat 15 Jun 2019 at 08:15:24 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> On 06/14/2019 06:10 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>> I can't remember the name of the file which identifies the
>>>> association between a directory (i.e. \home) and which physical
>>>> partition it is on. The file I'm looking for also identifies which
>>>> partition is used for swap.
>>>
>>> The filename I had forgotten was /etc/fstab .
>>>
>>> Background:
>>> I have one laptop explicitly set aside for experimenting with Debian
>>> in order to determine *MY* ideal system. To this end I may have a half
>>> dozen copies of Debian to chose from at boot.
>>>
>>> For my purposes, the Debian installer has two annoyances:
>>>    1. swap area designation.
>>>       Everything is fine on the 1st installation.
>>>       On following installations, when the existing swap partition is
>>>       is to be used its UUID is changed. This causes grief for the
>>>       other installations by making swap area appear missing. My
>>>       personally preferred solution is to activate swap only of the
>>>       initial installation. For subsequent installs actually requiring
>>>       a swap partition, I edit its /etc/fstab .
>>
>> It's rather easy to work around this problem in one of two ways (at
>> least):
>
> Ways on order of {# users}**N { N < world_population} ;/
>
>>
>>    With a reasonable amount of memory (not a problam nowadays), just tell
>>    the d-i to leave the existing swap file alone and do without one. Then
>>    manually add the old UUID into the new installation's /etc/fstab
>
> *ROFL* !!!!
> Been doing that forever. However, had not done it recently.
> I had forgotten the filename was "/etc/fstab"  ;<
>
>> and /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume when it's up and running.
>
> Never hear of that file. Will research after sending this message.
>
>>    (If you're only installing as an experiment in installation,
>
> I'm not experimenting with the installation process, but with what I
> want the result to be.
>
>> I suspect
>>    you won't even need to bother, because you'll be overwriting it
>> shortly.
>>    Does  top  show much use of swap anyway?)
>
> Not a parameter of my experiment's protocol.
> As I do not "know" how much swap space I require, I provide swap space
> based on conservative estimates of _typical_ requirements. That
> logically leads to my preference for a SINGLE large swap vs multiple
> small swap areas. *YMMV* !!!
>
>>
>> or, even easier,
>>
>>    Use a LABEL to indicate the swap partition in all your own
>>    /etc/fstab files, eg:
>>    LABEL=swan10          none           swap        sw
>>    and in /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume.
>>    The d-i will of course overwrite the swap partition UUID/LABEL
>>    as usual, but it's trivial to reset your LABEL at the end.
>>    When the d-i reaches the UTC question at the end, switch to VC2
>>    and type (with the appropriate values):
>>      # /target/sbin/swaplabel -L LLLLLL /dev/sdXN

Or use a preseed file with something  like:

d-i preseed/late_command string ...

Or as kernel boot parameter.

>>    before answering the UTC question. The newly installed system
>>    will boot via its fresh UUID, but all your old systems will
>>    carry on using your LABEL as usual. (I assume that if you're
>>    going to keep the new system for any length of time, you will
>>    be editing its /etc/fstab anyway, and can set your usual LABEL
>>    there, as in the example above.)
>
> I can't parse that.
>

D-i allows customisation of the system to be installed to your liking by
use of 'kernel boot parameter' or a 'preseed' file.

--
John Doe

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#209968 — Re: Intended question - was {Re: Forgot name of Debian "configuration" {wrong word?} file}

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On Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 2:17 PM Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> wrote:

>
> I'm not experimenting with the installation process, but with what I
> want the result to be.
>

Those are 2 sides of the same coin.


> >    Does  top  show much use of swap anyway?)
>
> Not a parameter of my experiment's protocol.
> As I do not "know" how much swap space I require, I provide


Once again you contradict yourself. Sentence 1 states that you are
experimenting  but Sentence 2 complains that you don't know.

swap space
> based on conservative estimates of _typical_ requirements. That
> logically leads to my preference for a SINGLE large swap vs multiple
> small swap areas. *YMMV* !!!
>
> I can't parse that.
>

You said you were going to look into fstab. That's how you parse that :-)


> > You've been flogging this dead horse for at least seven years now.
>
> Horse ain't dead.
>

"It's dead Jim" - Dr. Leonard McCoy, Star Trek


> No
> require my failures to be deterministic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>

That was proven impossible in the 1930s by Alonzo Church and Alan Turing.
:-)

VM's are intrinsically unknown quantities.
>

Never, ever say that to Linus Torvalds.
Or Lennart Poettering.
:-)

>

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