devices missing?

[Steffen Grunewald]

On Tue, Jan 04, 2005 at 11:42:45AM +0100, Steffen Grunewald wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> did a fresh installation (with unchanged configuration, just to update
> the set of packages on the machine), and ended up with an unbootable
> system. (The last successful attempt dates back to 20041221; I'm using
> sarge.)
> 
> Looking through the log files, and trying to re-do the failed kernel
> installation step, I found that the message
> 
> /usr/sbin/mkinitrd: device /dev/hda1 is not a block device
> 
> has been caused by an almost empty /dev/ directory below /tmp/target:
> 
> xxx:/dev# ls
> MAKEDEV  fd       loop   net   nvram  pts   shm      stderr  stdout
> core     initctl  mouse  null  ppp    scsi  sndstat  stdin   xconsole

Since a pure MAKEDEV also didn't work from the command line, I digged
somewhat deeper and found that the /.dev directory would be used if it
is mounted. (This seems to be a 2.6 feature which I don't know how to
handle yet, so any hints are appreciated.)
Unmounting /.dev would make the devices in the correct place.

So everything boils down how to avoid the /tmp/target/.dev tree being
mounted... who knows how?
(Note that I didn't change anything. The vmlinuz-install is dated Sep
11, and there have been no significant changes to neither the /fai tree
nor the setup of the server while I was on vacation. So it must be a new
feature of one or more upgraded packages...)

CHeers,
 Steffen

-- 
Steffen Grunewald * * * Merlin cluster admin (http://pandora.aei.mpg.de)
Albert-Einstein-Institut (MPI Gravitationsphysik, http://www.aei.mpg.de)
       Science Park Golm, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
e-mail: steffen.grunewald(*)aei.mpg.de * +49-331-567-{fon:7233,fax:7298}