Return to installcavs.html CVS log

Up to [Development] / xfs-website.orig

fixed some typos where we used "<" as plain text, s/b &lt; etc.

<& xfsTemplate,top=>1,side=>1 &>

<!-- Start Project Content -->
<h2>
<b><font face="ARIAL NARROW,HELVETICA">
SGI XFS Filesystem 0.9 PreRelease Red Hat 7.0 Installer Caveats
</font></b></h2>


<p>
This page provides a list of caveats you must consider when
installing SGI XFS Pre-release 0.9 with the Red Hat 7.0
Installer.  For general installation instructions,
see
<a href="pr_installer.html">Installing from the SGI XFS for Red Hat 7.0 Installer</a>.
</p>

<p>
These caveats apply only to the Installer itself.  Please
see
<a href="pr_caveats.html">XFS for Linux Pre-Release 0.9 Caveats</a>
for XFS Filesystem caveats.
</p>

<p>
The SGI XFS Pre-release 0.9 / Red Hat 7.0 installer will work with your
existing Red Hat 7.0 installation media to install a Red Hat 7.0 system
with XFS on root, or any other partition, right out of the box.
</p>

<p>
This installer is based on a development snapshot of Red Hat's Anaconda
installer.  We have listed known problems
but there are probably
others waiting to be discovered.

<p>
<ul>
<li>
This installer requires the Red Hat "respin" discs.
<p>
<tt><pre>MD5SUMS:
fc9c2c23b02d2a35b75845530db81743  7.0-i386-respin-disc1.iso
0e77615754f281363c231b2d4b1806bb  7.0-i386-respin-disc2.iso</pre></tt>
</p>
<p>
Or, check the version of "up2date" in RedHat/RPMS.
If you do not have up2date version 2.0.5-3, then
you do not have a "respin" disc.
</p>
<p>
To use early RH 7.0 discs, see
<A HREF="#_earlyCD"> Early RH 7.0 CD instructions</A>.
</p>
</ul>
</li>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
When using this installer on a system with data, make
sure that full backups are performed before attempting
the install.
</li>
</ul>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
Upgrade installations are not supported, and are disabled.
This feature will be supported in a future release.
</li>
</ul>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
Kickstart installations work, but are not  
thoroughly tested.  Add "--fs xfs" to the "part" command to 
create XFS partitions 
</li>
</ul>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
<tt>devfs</tt> is enabled in the installed kernels.  Please see
<a href="http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/devfs.html">the
devfs FAQ</a>.
In particular, see the changes needed to allow users 
to run "startx."  You may also need to reconfigure GPM and XFree86 to
use the correct mouse device.
</li>
</ul>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
The devfs RPM is missing a file which will help with autoloading
modules.  Simply place
<a href="ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/PreRelease-0.9/updates/modules.devfs">modules.devfs</a>
in your <tt>/etc</tt> directory to fix this.
</li>
</ul>


<p>
<ul>
<li>
Due to a bug found with device permissions on read-only filesystems, placing
<tt>/dev</tt> in an xfs filesystem can lead to a failure to boot.
The kernel rpms on the cd are built with <tt>devfs</tt> turned
on which masks this problem.
Before turning <tt>devfs</tt> off you will need to obtain a fixed version
of the kernel from the oss web site. Note that turning 
<tt>devfs</tt> off will not
require any changes to the rest of the system; Redhat 7 is configured to
work with or without <tt>devfs</tt> in the kernel.
</li>
</ul>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
Note that XFS filesystem support in the installed kernels
is compiled as modules, as is IDE disk support, so you will
need an initial ramdisk to boot the kernels. 
The installation process should create this for you,
but if you recompile or update your kernels, be aware
that unless you compile support into the kernel for
both your root filesystem type and for the root device
type, you will need to rebuild your initial
ramdisk (initrd).
</li>
</ul>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
Your system will be a stock RedHat 7.0 install.
Several updated RPMs have been released from Red Hat for 
security and bug fixes.  Please check 
<a href="http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/">the
Red Hat Linux Errata</a>
for more information.  However, see
the warning about updating kernel RPMs (below).
</li>
</ul>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
<A NAME="_RPMwarn">
Do not upgrade your kernel to subsequent Red Hat RPMs, or
you will be unable to access your XFS partitions.
SGI will release XFS-capable kernel RPMs from time to time.
</li>
</ul>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
The Anaconda version on the CD is an early 7.1 release
which is required to
support a linux 2.4.0 kernel install .
This version is known to be unstable and may crash on occasion,
particularly when using the "select individual packages mode".
Please report any bugs found in the installer to 
<a href="mailto:linux-xfs@oss.sgi.com">linux-xfs@oss.sgi.com</a>.
Any bugs determined to be a RedHat bug will be forwarded
on.
</li>
</ul>

<p>
<ul>
<li>
Some systems with particular ide chip sets are known to
have problems at install time that prevent the initial ram disk
from being generated.
The fix for this problem is to reboot the system into rescue mode
from the install CD by typing "linux rescue"
at the boot prompt, and then executing the following
commands.  (If your / and /boot are on the
same partition, simply ignore the lines pertaining to /boot.)


<p>
<pre>
<tt>
cd /tmp
mknod hda&lt;<i>partition # of root fs&gt;</i> b 3 &lt;partition number&gt;
mknod hda&lt;<i>partition # of /boot fs&gt;</i> b 3 &lt;partition number&gt;
mount hda&lt;<i>part#&gt;</i> /mnt/A
mount hda&lt;<i>part#&gt;</i>  /mnt/A/boot
chroot /mnt/A
/sbin/mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.4.0-SGI_XFS_PR.img  2.4.0-SGI_XFS_PR
vi /etc/lilo.conf
<i>add to the correct kernel entry:</i>
        initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.0-SGI_XFS_PR.img
/sbin/lilo -v
exit <i>(out of chrooted shell)</i>
umount /mnt/A/boot
umount /mnt/A
</tt>
</pre>
</p>
<p>
Reboot the system. 
</p>


<li>
Matrox Millennium video cards may not work with this installer.
Use text mode install if the graphical install appears to hang.
If you use text mode install, it is recommended that you
not configure X from the installer;
instead, bring the system up after the install and configure by hand.
</li>
<p>
<li>
Making a boot
floppy may not work due to the size of the kernel and necessary
modules.  Instead of a boot floppy, the install CD can be used for
rescue by typing "linux rescue" at the boot prompt.
</li>
<p>
<li>
if you get an "invalid video mode" at boot time,
simply press &lt;RETURN&gt; and choose a video mode from the list ("0" should
work fine).
</li>
</ul>

<h2>
<A NAME="_earlyCD">
<font face="ARIAL NARROW,HELVETICA">
Early RH 7.0 CD Instructions
</font></h2> </A>


If you have the original (non-"respin") Red Hat 7.0 CDs,
you should be able to use your older discs by choosing
"Select individual packages" during RPM selection, and then
manually de-select these packages:

<ul>
<li>
System Environment/Base/up2date
</li>
<li>
System Environment/Base/up2date-gnome
<li>
</li>
System Environment/Daemons/LPRng
<li>
Applications/System/usermode
</li>
</ul>

<p>
When the installer issues a warning about missing dependencies, choose
the third option, "Ignore package dependencies".
The install should continue, and when your system is up and running, you
must go back and install the above packages from the Red Hat updates.
</p>


<br>


<& xfsTemplate,bottom=>1 &>