Text Installer b131-based project gate images

The b131 Text Installer images are PRELIMINARY bits that have not been through formal testing. The install is cpio-based and works on both SPARC and x86, though SPARC machines with unsupported graphics drivers are best installed via a tip line/serial port. Gnome packages are not installed (but can be added later using pkg(1), see FAQ below)
Minimum memory requirement is 512 MB. 

Images

The contents of the installed image are geared towards a basic headless server environment and do not contain the Gnome Desktop. 

CD images are located at:
SPARC:
   http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/131/textinstall-131-sparc.iso   Size: 674 MB
  x86:
   http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/131/textinstall-131-x86.iso      Size: 680 MB
   http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/131/textinstall-131-x86.usb      Size: 816 MB

MD5 sums are located at:
   http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/131/md5sum.txt

Known limitations

1. The installer should not be used on the following SPARC sun4v platforms: T5120, T5140, T5220 (others may yet be identified). The install will appear successful, but the machine will not reboot due to bug 14322
2. The installer will exit due to a Python exception if an unlabeled disk is used (SPARC) or if installing into a logical partition on a previously unlabeled disk (x86). Workaround is to label the disk using format(1M). This is the result of bug 14083
3. The existence of certain hard drives can cause a segmentation fault. The only current workaround is to physically remove the drive from the system. To determine which drive(s) are causing issues, run the format(1M) command from the booted CD. The disks causing the problems will not have any cylinder/sector data, e.g., "c3t1d0 <ATA-SEAGATE ST32500N-3AZQ-232.88GB>" - "good" disks will look like "c3t0d0 <ATA-HITACHIHDS7225S-A94A cyl 65533 alt 2 hd 16 sec 465>" (note the cylt/alt/hd/sec information). See bug 14144 
4. Installing into an existing Solaris1 partition (as opposed to a Solaris2 partition) is not formally supported. The text installer will force you to change the partition's type to Solaris2 (if you wish to install into that partition) before continuing; however, it's strongly recommended that the user use fdisk(1M) to convert this partition into a Solaris2 partition before starting the installer. See the FAQ entry below for details on how to do this.
5. Due to bug 9698, the install may fail on older SPARC machines. If you see the following message during boot, prior to the language selection option, you've hit this bug and should not run the installer:
       Unknown keyboard type
       The -s option does not apply for this keyboard type.
       Only USB/PS2 type keyboards support this option.
6. Systems installed using these images will not be able to create zones. The workaround is to 'pkg image-update' to build 132 and install zones from the new boot environment. This is due to bug 12738.
7. Runs in English only.
8. If you are installing from a terminal other than sun-color, you may need to manually set your terminal type.
9. Using the Text Installer will destroy existing SVM configuration on system.  Text installer does not stop you from installing a system with SVM configuration.  See bug 6191 
10. If None is selected for networking, the home directory of the user created by the installer will fail to mount.  This is caused by bug 6913780 
11. If you are installing onto a drive > 2TB, only the first 2TB can be used.
12. Console messages are not yet redirected appropriately.  If there are messages printed to the console while the Text Installer UI is running, the UI will be distorted.

FAQ

1. I'm having display issues. How do I manually set the terminal type?
   • After booting the OpenSolaris Text Installer and selecting language and keyboard, choose to drop into the Shell. If at any time, you find that your arrow keys aren't responding, hit "Esc-9, Tab, Enter" to quit the text installer, and try a different setting for TERM, or a higher value for ESCDELAY.
   • Set the TERM environment variable appropriately, by running the command "export TERM=<value>". Recommended terminal settings:
     • SPARC console - "sun"
     • Remote connection (tipline, ssh, etc.) - "xterm"
     • Generic terminal (if all else fails) - "vt100"
   • Set the ESCDELAY environment variable: "export ESCDELAY=1000"
   • Start the Text Installer by executing "/usr/bin/text-install" from the shell.
2. How do I install GDM, etc?
   • Use the pkg(1) command to add additional packages after installing. The following commands will add all packages that are included by default on the liveCD, including GDM:
     • pfexec pkg install babel_install
     • pfexec pkg uninstall babel_install slim_install
3. How do I install alongside SXCE (zfs root) on x86?
   • Ensure that the Solaris2 partition is large enough to fit the existing SXCE install and has space for the new OpenSolaris install
   • If needed use, a partition adjusting tool, such as gparted, to increase the size of the partition. Slice 2, the backup slice, may need to be adjusted as well
   • Start the OpenSolaris Text Installer.
   • Choose the target disk, opting to use a partition on the disk.
   • Continue past the partition editing screen without changing the size of the Solaris2 partition, then choose to use a slice on the partition.
   • Select a slice with sufficient available space, and change it's type to be the OpenSolaris install target.
   • Continue through the installer and finish your installation.
   • Boot into OpenSolaris. Import your SXCE pool ("zpool import -f <sxce-pool>"). Add the contents of the menu.lst file (<sxce-pool>/boot/grub/menu.lst) to the end of /<osol-pool>/boot/grub/menu.lst.
4. How can I manually convert a Solaris1 partition into a Solaris2 partition (x86 only)?
   • Run: "fdisk <disk>" (e.g. "fdisk /dev/rdsk/c7t0d0p0")
   • Select option 4
   • Enter the number of the current Solaris partition
   • Select 6 to save the changes
5. How do I restart the install if it failed in the middle or if I selected to quit the installer in the middle of the install?
   • Due to Bug 13180, the installer is not able to clean up a failed install.  The workaround is to reboot the text installer and start the install again.
6. What should I do if an install fails?
   • File a bug! See the next section for details.

Bugs

Note: Users new to bugzilla will need to first create an account before viewing or opening bugs.

Currently Open Text Installer Bugs 

New bugs should be filed on Bugzilla 
Classification: Development
Product:        installer
Component:      textui

When filing a bug, please include the following files from the failed install (if possible):
/tmp/install_log
/tmp/fdisk*
/tmp/ti_fdisk*

NWAM is enabled while the text installer is running, so you may use the 'scp' command to send these files to a remote system.

If you have time, and can reproduce the issue, execute the text installer with additional debugging information and send the more detailed /tmp/install_log. To generate the additional output to the log, drop to the shell when given the choice of menu items, and run "/usr/bin/text-install -d"

Questions

Please send questions to caiman-discuss@opensolaris.org