cannot stat /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/part_msdos.mod

[Toomas Tamm]

On Fri, 2010-09-17 at 18:47 +0200, Michael Tautschnig wrote:
> > On Fri, 2010-09-17 at 18:23 +0200, Michael Tautschnig wrote:
> > 
> > > I guess this should be fixed with 4.0~beta2+experimental2: It seems that the
> > > GRUB module is called msdospart, not part_msdos (in line 20 of 10-setup);
> > > Toomas, could you please check whether having msdospart in this list of modules
> > > is necessary at all!? We might be on the safer side if we could just omit it
> > > entirely.
> > 
> > Leaving workplace in a moment and thus cannot test, but my impression is
> > that it is called msdospart in lenny and part_msdos in squeeze (at least
> > the latter exists in squeeze, I am not sure about the former).
> > 
> 
> Hmm, looking at the package contents once again it rather seems that either (a)
> both of them exist (lenny-backports, squeeze and laters) or (b) none of them
> exist. This would make the we-don't-need-it-at-all solution even more desirable.
> Toomas, is there a chance you look into this next week or so?
> 
> Thanks a lot,
> Michael
> 

Hello!

I am now experimenting with fai_4.0~beta2+experimental11 . As expected,
the original (4.0~beta2+experimental2) message
grub-mkimage: error: cannot stat /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/part_msdos.mod
is now replaced with:
grub-mkimage: error: cannot stat /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/msdospart.mod

I looked into the script /usr/local/sbin/grub-install. It contains an
attempt at autodetection, but the authors have provided a check which
ends with the message:
    echo "Auto-detection of a filesystem module failed." 1>&2
    echo "Please specify the module with the option \`--modules' explicitly." 1>&2
thus suggesting that the autodetection mechanism is not too reliable.

I also tested the install with the --modules parameter entirely removed
from GRUB_PC/10-setup. For my case (ext3 filesystem on the boot
partition) the install proceeded flawlessly and the resulting system
could be booted. I am not sure however, if the same would be true for
more exotic scenarios (lvm, raid, encrypted partitions, etc).

At the moment it seems that the problem should go away by itself when
squeeze is released (grub_pc in squeeze has the necessary modules) and I
seem to be the only person using fai experimental on lenny anyway...

You may consider wrapping the grub-install into an if-then-else in
10-setup, setting the --modules only if squeeze is being installed.

Thanks for all the efforts!

Toomas