Ubuntu
ubiquity package

multiple ubuntu boots 7.10 installation

Bug #133439 reported by Andrew Frank
10
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
ubiquity (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

i installed 7.10 in a new partition on a laptop with 7.04 already installed. now i cannot boot 7.04 anymore....

ubuntu should include automatically the previous boots (as it does with windows!).

i use the following manual procedure, which could be automated as follows:

do not format/overwrite /boot if there is already the files necessary for booting an ubuntu,
but insert there the necessary new images and edit the grub menu.

do not reformat the partition in which the root goes (to avoid creating a new uuid, which would then have to go into the fstab of the previous installation - or provide a tool to fix an fstab automatically when booting)

--
it is a good feeling to know that one has a second working ubuntu installation ...
now i start experimenting with 7.10

Revision history for this message
Evan (ev) wrote :

Ubuntu will include other Linux installations (including other Ubuntu ones) unless you format the partitions in which they reside. Did you format the root partition when you installed?

Changed in ubiquity:
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Andrew Frank (frank-geoinfo) wrote :

i did not format the partitions the 7.04 resides in when i installed 7.10
but:
/boot must always be formated (required by the installer!)
which creates at least a problem in the fstab of the previously installed ubuntu (because the UUID changes).

i seen some cases in which the installer put in the menu some meaningful comments after ubuntu (eg. 7.04, 7.10 (gutsy)) or similar, but the current tribe 5 does not do so! and does not preserve the previous entries (unless they are not in the 'automatic' part of the menu.lst file.

Revision history for this message
Andrew Frank (frank-geoinfo) wrote :

the last kernel update rewrote the menu.lst file. what are the rules which uuid is used for the new entry?
i had entries with two different uuid in it (pointing to two different partitions one with 704 and with 710) - it did take the wrong one (704 partition) for the new 710 kernel!

a wiki page somewhere would be sufficient to clear this up!

Revision history for this message
Xeno Campanoli (xeno) wrote :

I found that when I installed Ubuntu Gutsy i386 on my Toshiba A215 when Ubuntu Gutsy AMD64 was already installed, the AMD 64 version was no longer on the GRUB list. I installed the i386 as it appeared some things from i386 were not available for the AMD64, and I wanted to compare the two. Unless you have exact duplicate service, it makes sense to allow both installs at once.

Revision history for this message
Xeno Campanoli (xeno) wrote :

Actually, I hope to install all of the following on my laptop, and it would be nice if they all just went on and the grub configurations just worked:

Ubuntu AMD64
Ubuntu i386
Kubuntu AMD64
Xubuntu AMD64
Edubuntu AMD64
Ubuntu Studio AMD64
Ubuntu ME
Mint
DamnSmall

Revision history for this message
TerryG (tgalati4) wrote :

This bug needs to expire, but Xeno would make a good test case for GRUB robustness. I've always had trouble with OS #3 and beyond. Usually something gets screwed up, requiring menu.lst edits or reinstallation of GRUB to get OS #3 and beyond working.

Perhaps a web-based tool that tracks successful multi-OS installs and populates a map based on menu.lst contents from user's that consent to sending GRUB data to a collecting server.

Revision history for this message
TerryG (tgalati4) wrote :

Marked as Confirmed to preserve edge use case.

Changed in ubiquity:
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
YannUbuntu (yannubuntu) wrote :

Is this bug still valid with currently supported Ubuntu versions?

Revision history for this message
Phillip Susi (psusi) wrote :

Closing due to lack of response.

Changed in ubiquity (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Invalid
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