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Bug 524060

Summary: installcd fails to boot
Product: Gentoo Linux Reporter: Don Wilburn <bodhisattva>
Component: [OLD] Core systemAssignee: Alpha Porters <alpha>
Status: RESOLVED FIXED    
Severity: normal    
Priority: Normal    
Version: unspecified   
Hardware: Alpha   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Package list:
Runtime testing required: ---
Attachments: emerge info for aboot on my system

Description Don Wilburn 2014-09-29 20:30:43 UTC
Created attachment 385782 [details]
emerge info for aboot on my system

The alpha install CD images won't boot for me.  This was most recently the 9/6/2014 ISO.  It complains that block 0 is not a valid boot block.  Ultimately, I created a test image to boot from CD, but use my existing kernels and mount the existing root filesystems from hard drives.
I used a Debian lenny installation to mark a copy of my test image with their isomarkboot program.  It works.
Then I used the Gentoo isomarkboot program on an identical copy.  Again, block 0 is not a valid boot block.  It seems suspicious that the Gentoo version reports:
...bootlx is at offset 71680 and is 0 bytes long.  The Debian version had a non-zero length, I believe.
I don't know what version of aboot Debian used.  It looks like Gentoo's is personally modified a bit anyway.
FWIW, my alpha is a PWS500a.  My SCSI cd started making noise, so I'm using an IDE optical drive.  I don't think that's the problem.
Comment 1 Raúl Porcel (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2014-10-25 14:09:20 UTC
I can reproduce too, I'm looking into it.

aboot hasn't changed in years in Gentoo. So maybe it has something to do with something that changed with cdrtools.
Comment 2 Raúl Porcel (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2014-10-25 16:24:02 UTC
Well, maybe it could be something that modified isomarkboot's behaviour.

This is the info I have:

The machine that builds the cds had aboot rebuilt in August 2013, and you said in the mailing list that you have a cd dated 5/5/2013 that boots. So I guess that after that August 2013 rebuild there hasn't been any working cd.

Last rebuild of aboot before 2013 was in 2010.

I have a machine that it was last updated in March 2013. But, aboot wasn't rebuilt since december 2011. Using isomarkboot in there doesn't fix the ISO.

So I understand its something external to aboot, something in the system is breaking isomarkboot?

Here's the output of isomarkboot in Gentoo:
isomarkboot blah2.iso /boot/bootlx 
iso: Max size:80556   Log zone size:2048
iso: First datazone:28   Root inode number 57344
/sbin/isomarkboot: /boot/bootlx is at offset 144809984 and is 0 bytes long


Here's the output of isomarkboot from Debian *IN  A GENTOO SYSTEM* ( http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian-ports//pool-alpha/main/a/aboot/aboot_1.0~pre20040408-4_alpha.deb )

./usr/bin/isomarkboot blah2.iso /boot/bootlx 
iso: Max size:80556   Log zone size:2048
iso: First datazone:28   Root inode number 57344
./usr/bin/isomarkboot: /boot/bootlx is at offset 144809984 and is 80896 bytes long

You mentioned that using genisofs -alpha-boot /boot/bootlx instead of mkisofs and then isomarkboot like we're doing right now fixes it. Could be an option...
Comment 3 Matt Turner gentoo-dev 2019-02-16 01:59:50 UTC
We've gotten confirmation in bug 671820 that the CD boots.