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Kernel panic with Cucumber Linux 1.1 beta 3 installed on GPT partitions.

I got a kernel panic with Cucumber Linux 1.1 beta 3 installed on GPT partitions. I installed Cucumber Linux on a USB hard drive triple booting with two installs of Lubuntu. I used the updated 4.9.77 kernel. Also, when I tried to install grub to /dev/sdb I got the following message.
/sbin/grub-bios-setup: warning: this GPT partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition: embedding won't be possible.
/sbin/grub-bios-setup: warning: embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged.
/sbin/grub-bios-setup: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

Also, I couldn't get a wired Internet connection to work when I chrooted into the installation even though I followed the directions on the Cucumber wiki.

As a person who has used Slackware, I do like the concept of a old style distro with no dependency resolution. I know that the idea of one that has stronger security updates is quite positive. Cucumber Linux just needs to be able to work on more setups to have a chance to dethrone Slackware as the king of no dependency resolution distros which use text pages in its initialization. I don't know if it can get the man power to take off as a distro, but I commend the BDFL for trying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowlitzron (Post 5810001)

In order to use legacy BIOS boot with GPT partitions, you'll need to create a BIOS boot partition. When you partition the drives at the beginning of the installation process, create an additional small partition (I usually make mine 4 MB). When prompted to enter the Hex code or GUID, enter ef02 (the code for a BIOS boot partition). Then, go on installing Cucumber Linux like you usually would; you don't need to format this partition or give it a mount point.

When you go to install Grub now, it will succeed.

As a sidenote, if you ever move this BIOS boot partition it will be necessary to reinstall Grub to the MBR.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowlitzron (Post 5810001)

Also, I couldn't get a wired Internet connection to work when I chrooted into the installation even though I followed the directions on the Cucumber wiki.

Unfortunately, networking doesn't work properly from the chroot environment. You can still create your network configuration files in the chroot; however, you will have to reboot into the new system before running ifup or /etc/init.d/network start.

I did as suggested. I put the BIOS boot partition on sdb7, and the root partition on sdb8, but I still get the kernel panic after getting the message "error: no symbol table". Do I have to make an initrd? If so, how is that done?

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowlitzron (Post 5810729)

Cucumber Linux works on most systems and most setups without an initrd. Unless you have some really uncommon hardware, you shouldn't need one in this case.

Is there any way you could post more of the stack trace from the kernel panic? Could you please additionally post your grub.cfg (/boot/grub/grub.cfg)? Also, what filesystem are you using for the root partition, and do you have a separate /boot partition (the /boot partition and the BIOS boot partition are two different partitions)?

The following is the stack trace.

Code:

warm_slowpath_null+0x1d/0x20

native_smp_send_reschedule+0x3f/0x50

trigger_load_balance+0x128/0x1e0

scheduler_tick+0x9c/0xd0

? tick_sched_do_timer+0x30/0x30

update_process_times+0x47/0x60

tick_sched_handle.isra.12+0x36/0x50

tick_sched_timer+0x3d/0x70

__hrtimer_run_queues+0xdf/0x230

hrtimer_interrupt+0xa8/0x

local_apic_timer_interrupt+0x38/0x60

smp_apic_timer_interrupt+0x3d/0x50

apic_timer_interrupt+0x93/0xa0

? panic+0x1cf/0x208

? panic+0x1cc/0x208

? printk+0x48/0x50

mount_block_root+0x201/0x2c6

mount_root+0xad/0xb0

prepare_namespace+0x16a/0x1a2

kernel_init_freeable+0x1bb/0x1cb

? rest_init+0x80/0x80

kernel_init+0xe/0x100

ret_from_fork+0x54/0x60

The following is the grub.cfg

Code:

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then

  load_env

fi

set default="0"



if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then

  menuentry_id_option="--id"

else

  menuentry_id_option=""

fi



export menuentry_id_option



if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then

  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"

  save_env saved_entry

  set prev_saved_entry=

  save_env prev_saved_entry

  set boot_once=true

fi



function savedefault {

  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then

    saved_entry="${chosen}"

    save_env saved_entry

  fi

}



function load_video {

  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then

    insmod all_video

  else

    insmod efi_gop

    insmod efi_uga

    insmod ieee1275_fb

    insmod vbe

    insmod vga

    insmod video_bochs

    insmod video_cirrus

  fi

}



if loadfont unicode ; then

  set gfxmode=auto

  load_video

  insmod gfxterm

  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale

  set lang=en_US

  insmod gettext

fi

terminal_output gfxterm

set timeout=5

### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

menuentry 'GNU/Linux' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699' {

        load_video

        set gfxpayload=keep

        insmod gzio

        insmod part_gpt

        insmod ext2

        set root='hd1,gpt8'

        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then

          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd1,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,gpt8  4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

        else

          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

        fi

        echo        'Loading Linux 4.9.78 ...'

        linux        /boot/vmlinuz-4.9.78 root=/dev/sdb8 ro  

}

submenu 'Advanced options for GNU/Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699' {

        menuentry 'GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.78' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.9.78-advanced-4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699' {

                load_video

                set gfxpayload=keep

                insmod gzio

                insmod part_gpt

                insmod ext2

                set root='hd1,gpt8'

                if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then

                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd1,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,gpt8  4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

                else

                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

                fi

                echo        'Loading Linux 4.9.78 ...'

                linux        /boot/vmlinuz-4.9.78 root=/dev/sdb8 ro  

        }

        menuentry 'GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.78 (recovery mode)' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.9.78-recovery-4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699' {

                load_video

                set gfxpayload=keep

                insmod gzio

                insmod part_gpt

                insmod ext2

                set root='hd1,gpt8'

                if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then

                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd1,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,gpt8  4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

                else

                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

                fi

                echo        'Loading Linux 4.9.78 ...'

                linux        /boot/vmlinuz-4.9.78 root=/dev/sdb8 ro single 

        }

        menuentry 'GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.77' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.9.77-advanced-4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699' {

                load_video

                set gfxpayload=keep

                insmod gzio

                insmod part_gpt

                insmod ext2

                set root='hd1,gpt8'

                if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then

                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd1,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,gpt8  4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

                else

                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

                fi

                echo        'Loading Linux 4.9.77 ...'

                linux        /boot/vmlinuz-4.9.77 root=/dev/sdb8 ro  

        }

        menuentry 'GNU/Linux, with Linux 4.9.77 (recovery mode)' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-4.9.77-recovery-4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699' {

                load_video

                set gfxpayload=keep

                insmod gzio

                insmod part_gpt

                insmod ext2

                set root='hd1,gpt8'

                if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then

                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd1,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,gpt8  4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

                else

                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4d922d9b-23e5-4307-99d7-eb106949d699

                fi

                echo        'Loading Linux 4.9.77 ...'

                linux        /boot/vmlinuz-4.9.77 root=/dev/sdb8 ro single 

        }

}



### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the

# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change

# the 'exec tail' line above.

### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then

  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg

elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then

  source $prefix/custom.cfg;

fi

### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

I am using the ext4 filesystem without a separate /boot partition.

Okay. It looks like your grub.cfg was created using grub-mkconfig, which doesn't work properly with Cucumber Linux. During the installation, the installer asks you if you want to install a new grub.cfg. When you select yes here, it installs a custom grub.cfg. Using this custom config is the only method of booting Cucumber Linux that is officially supported.

In your case, you should be able to fix the problem by replacing the contents of your grub.cfg with:

Code:

set default="0"

set timeout="5"



menuentry "Cucumber Linux 1.1" {

        linux /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb8 rw

        boot

}

menuentry "Cucumber Linux 1.1 (fallback kernel)" {

        linux /boot/vmlinuz-fallback root=/dev/sdb8 rw

        boot

}

If you do want to be able to use grub-mkconfig though, then add the contents to your /etc/grub.d/40_custom file instead and run grub-mkconfig.

I changed the entries in grub.cfg as suggested and then chrooted and entered "grub-install /dev/sdb" . But, I still get the kernel panic with the same stack trace as before.

From my experience, a distro has to have a package to make an initrd in order to get people to install it with an encrypted root directory and on a USB hard drive that is not an sda or hda hard drive. I had used Slackware and I couldn't get it to run on my USB hard drive unless I made an initrd with the suggested modules.