OpenSolaris 2008.11 Installation FAQ
I wrote an FAQ which answers many of the common questions people have when installing OpenSolaris. It also tells you how to avoid some common pitfalls (e.g. avoiding usage of extended partitions, how to recover from overwritten boot manager, etc.). If you have any additional questions or you spot any incorrections please let me know at roman dot strobl at sun dot com.
http://wikis.sun.com/display/OpenSolaris/OpenSolaris0811InstallationFAQ
Hi Roman;
while I generally like most of the FAQs, there are two (minor) things I would like to add to this:
* Referring to "Question: Help! OpenSolaris overwrote my boot loader and I cannot boot into Linux anymore!":
Asides the fact that, yes, I consider mindlessly overwriting any existing bootloader without asking before a _rather_ impolite thing to do in course of installing an operating system, the most "straightforward" way of booting into an existing Linux installation using the (OpenSolaris) grub is something like this:
- Use "c" to enter the "grub" console at the OpenSolaris boot prompt.
- While there, choose the kernel to boot:
> kernel (hdx,y)/boot/vmlinuz-<whatever> root=/dev/<root-device>
... replacing "x" with the hard drive number and "y" with the partition number of the partition where your Linux kernel is to be found, along with setting <root-device> to be the Linux device node your / partition rests on (like "sda5"),
- do the same for eventually used initial ram disks:
> initrd (hdx,y)/initrd-<whatever>
- after doing so, enter
> boot
to get your Linux system started. This way, then, you either can append the OpenSolaris boot entry to your Linux grub and get it re-installed or backup your Linux grub boot configuration for use with the OpenSolaris grub.
* Regarding software installation: I'd like to have a short pointer added to this how to, in example, use .spec files to install software not found in the IPS repositories on OpenSolaris. :)
Cheers & keep up the good work,
Kristian
Posted by Kristian on November 17, 2008 at 07:45 AM GMT #
Thanks Kristian. I agree, overwriting boot loader without asking is bad - however this is how things are. I have already provided the feedback, that we need to add an option not to overwrite the boot loader.
Btw what kind of software installation do you mean?
Posted by Roman Strobl on November 17, 2008 at 11:49 AM GMT #
I see. :) Ubuntu does rather well in guessing whether/how to include other operating systems pre-installed on the machine in question... ;)
About software installation: So far I just made my way through [1] - [3] in order to get built software which is not (yet?) available through any IPS repository (specifically I was searching for the exaile[4] media player...). The procedure of using "pkgtool" and friends seems pretty straightforward - once you got to know how it actually works. ;)
Cheers,
Kristian
[1] http://pkgbuild.sourceforge.net/spec-files-extra/
[2] http://pkgbuild.sourceforge.net/
[3] http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/jds/contributing/building/
[4] http://www.exaile.org
Posted by Kristian on November 17, 2008 at 11:58 AM GMT #
Off-topic; "Where's Gregg these days?"
Posted by Varun on November 25, 2008 at 07:05 PM GMT #
Hi Varun, Gregg doesn't work for Sun anymore.
Posted by Roman Strobl on November 26, 2008 at 08:48 AM GMT #
Hi Roman,
Thats shocking! Was there any announcement made on blogosphere?
Whats he doing these days?
Posted by Varun on November 26, 2008 at 03:52 PM GMT #
No, there was no announcement - he's working for a company that works on code review tools. I think he enjoys his new job very much :) He left Sun voluntarily.
Posted by Roman Strobl on November 26, 2008 at 07:12 PM GMT #
Roman, thanks for the information! By the way, Gregg commented[1] back on this.
[1] http://nbguru.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/qa-says-thank-you-very-much/#comment-838
Posted by Varun on November 29, 2008 at 06:11 PM GMT #
Hello.
I have participated in Sun Tech Days 2008 Seoul.
and I'm struck with your presentation in Seoul.
I want to ask you a question.
Can you let me know your e-mail address?
Or, please, e-mail me with my e-mail address.
corone@naver.com
Posted by IL on December 14, 2008 at 04:41 PM GMT #
Hi, my e-mail address is roman dot strobl at sun dot com.
Posted by Roman Strobl on January 26, 2009 at 02:12 AM GMT #