Debian Ports Installation

From Linux PARISC Wiki
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
m (Old installation medias (Debian Lenny))
m (Installation of PA-RISC Linux)
 
(91 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
= Installation of PA-RISC Linux  =
 
= Installation of PA-RISC Linux  =
  
HPPA became an officially supported Debian architecture in release 3.0 (woody) and was dropped as of stable release 6.0 (squeeze). That's the reason that the latest available official installation CDs are available for Debian 5.0 (lenny) only.
+
[[File:Sibaris.jpg|thumb|400px|In the middle you see our HP C8000 machine (sibaris) which acts as Debian buildd server and currently builds most of the hppa packages. An overview of all our build servers is at http://unstable.buildd.net/index-hppa.html]]
  
The Debian ports project hosts a parisc version of debian unstable. Recommended installation of a new parisc machine is via the debian-ports respitory at http://debian-ports.org
+
HPPA became an officially supported Debian architecture in release 3.0 (woody), 3.1 (sarge), 4.0 (etch) and 5.0 (lenny) releases.
 +
In July 2011, PA-RISC Linux was dropped as an officially supported platform from Debian 6.0 (squeeze).
 +
That's the reason that the latest available official installation CDs are available for Debian 5.0 (lenny) only.
  
== Linux kernel for PARISC ==
+
Subsequently, it became a non-release architecture in the [http://www.debian-ports.org Debian Ports] project.
We recommend at least a vanilla or stable series Linux kernel 3.12. Kernel 3.9 (stable series) should be OK too, as it has most fixes backported. Kernel 3.8 (or below) is not recommended any longer.  
+
Helge Deller and John David Anglin set up several package build servers for Debian Ports. Overtime, this infrastructure has been improved and it now uses the same wanna-build system as the release architectures.
 +
Kernel and tool chain support was also improved with the transition to Debian Ports.
  
== New installation of a PARISC machine via repository on http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian ==
+
Today the recommended installation of a new parisc machine is via the debian-ports unstable respository at http://debian-ports.org as described in the following section.
* *NOTE:* On PA8800/PA8900 and some PA8700 CPUs you may see kernel messages like: INEQUIVALENT ALIASES 0x40288000 and 0x40289000 in file xxx.so. Just ignore this.
+
An install image can be downloaded from this list:
 +
:* [https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/ '''Debian all releases cdimage repository''']
 +
:* [http://backup.parisc-linux.org/debian-cd/debian-7.0/ Debian 7 (wheezy)]
 +
:* [http://backup.parisc-linux.org/debian-cd/debian-8.0/hppa/ Debian 8 (jessie)]
 +
:* [http://ftp-nz.parisc-linux.org/debian-hppa-cd/  Debian 9 (stretch) and Debian 10 (buster) stable]
  
*Download the temporary boot image from http://ftp.parisc-linux.org/debian-ports/unstable-boot-image/lifimage or http://debian-ports.org/~deller/DEBIAN_PORTS_HPPA_BOOTIMAGE/lifimage
+
If you want to install debian the hard way with many manual steps, you can read the instructions at [[Debian_Ports_Installation_Manual]].
*Burn the image to a cdrom or make it available as tftp bootimage
+
*Turn on your parisc machine and boot this media (via cdrom or tftp)
+
*This bootimage contains all tools (32- and 64bit bootkernel, fdisk, debootstrap, palo, scp, ...) to bootstrap a new debian unstable machine.
+
  
*use fdisk to partition your disk. Create a palo partition first (fdisk type f0, size >= 50 MB), then a /boot partition (needs to be in the first 2GB of a disk, ext2, fdisk type 83). A good size for the boot partition is 200-400 MB. Then create a root partition (any size) and a swap partition. Here is an example what "fdisk -l" could report (The Start and End sectors here are just examples. They can be different on your system) If you have multiple drives and would like to put your '/home', '/var', or other partition (including extra swap space) on a second internal drive, you may set them up accordingly with 'fdisk /dev/sdb' (or whatever drive is suitable):
+
== Installation of Debian unstable via debian-ports repository ==
<pre>
+
  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System
+
/dev/sda1            2048      165887      81920  f0  Linux/PA-RISC boot
+
/dev/sda2          165888      247807      40960  83  Linux
+
/dev/sda3          247808  142854143    71303168  83  Linux
+
/dev/sda4      142854144  143374737      260297  82  Linux swap / Solaris
+
</pre>
+
* format the /boot, /root, /home, etc. and swap partitions. We give those partitions a name (BOOT/ROOT/HOME/(etc.)) to make it easier. You may also assign labels to your swap partitions to make sure the OS sees them properly and to make it easier to setup /etc/fstab (explained later), e.g. mkswap -L SWAP0 or SWAP1, etc.
+
<pre>
+
mke2fs -L BOOT /dev/sda2
+
mke2fs -j -L ROOT /dev/sda3
+
mke2fs -j -L HOME /dev/sdb1 ...and so on.
+
mkswap /dev/sda4 or mkswap -L SWAP0
+
</pre>
+
* Now, bring up your network. If you have a dhcp server you can run dhclient
+
<pre>
+
dhclient eth0
+
</pre>
+
* Mount the newly designed /root, /boot, /home, and other necessary filesystems to /mnt/destroot, /mnt/destroot/boot, /mnt/destroot/home, etc.:
+
<pre>
+
mount LABEL=ROOT /mnt/destroot/
+
mkdir /mnt/destroot/boot then mkdir /mnt/destroot/home and any other filesystems that need to be mounted at the next boot.
+
mount LABEL=BOOT /mnt/destroot/boot/ mount LABEL=HOME /mnt/destroot/home/, etc.
+
</pre>
+
* '''IMPORTANT!''': If you are behind a proxy server, you will need to create a /root/.wgetrc file and export the proxy setting on the command line. Here is an example:
+
<pre>
+
export http_proxy=http://proxy:8080
+
echo $http_proxy > /root/.wgetrc
+
echo "use_proxy = on" >> /root/.wgetrc
+
</pre>
+
* Now run debootstrap. This may take some time... (10-20 minutes depending on your connection speed):
+
<pre>
+
debootstrap --arch=hppa --no-check-gpg  unstable /mnt/destroot http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian/
+
</pre>
+
* copy over the palo package from the boot image to the new filesystem and create 'palo.conf'
+
<pre>
+
cp /palo*deb /mnt/destroot | touch /mnt/destroot/etc/palo.conf
+
</pre>
+
* '''IMPORTANT!''': If you work on a serial console, please remember to un-comment the following line in '''/etc/inittab''' or you won't see a login prompt on the serial console (kill -HUP 1 activates the change):
+
<pre>
+
echo "T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100" >> /mnt/destroot/etc/inittab
+
</pre>
+
* '''IMPORTANT!''': Remember to set your new root password and add LABEL=BOOT as /boot partition and also set your hostname.
+
<pre>
+
echo "LABEL=ROOT    /      ext3 defaults 1 1" >> /mnt/destroot/etc/fstab
+
echo "LABEL=BOOT    /boot  ext2 defaults 1 1" >> /mnt/destroot/etc/fstab
+
echo "LABEL=HOME    /home  ext3 defaults 0 2" >> /mnt/destroot/etc/fstab
+
echo "LABEL=SWAP0    none  swap sw,pri=3 0 0" >> /mnt/destroot/etc/fstab
+
..and so forth for other necessary partitions.
+
  
(You may also use 'nano' to edit /mnt/destroot/etc/fstab directly if desired)
+
The latest installation medias for Debian unstable is available at either one of the following locations:
 +
# http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/hppa/debian-8.0/
 +
# http://backup.parisc-linux.org/debian-cd/
 +
# http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian-cd/
 +
# http://ftp.nz.parisc-linux.org/debian-cd/ (Debian 9 & 10 NZ mirror)
 +
# http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports/pool-hppa/main/d/debian-installer/ (latest Netboot images)
  
chroot /mnt/destroot
+
In those directories you find (you need to download only one of those):
passwd root
+
* lifimage file, used for tftp/netbooting the installation
<enter your new password for the 'root' user>
+
* debian-8.0-hppa-NETINST-1.iso, ISO image to burn to a CD/DVD for booting
Type 'exit' to get out of the chroot.
+
* debian-8.0-hppa-CD-1.iso, full ISO image with all packages for booting via CD/DVD
  
echo "your hostname" >> /mnt/destroot/etc/hostname
+
'''Installation instructions'''
</pre>
+
* Instructions to burn the ISO image on a Mac: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5132196
* You are now finished with the initial initialization of the filesystem.
+
* '''IMPORTANT: ''' If your machine has a DVD-drive, you should better burn the image to a DVD disc. The first-generation DVD-drives in some older PA-RISC machines may have problems booting from e.g. a CD-RW so you may get this error message: ''IPL error: bad LIF magic.''
* You may now run the blkid command to take a look at your partitions.  
+
* Those images should work on all machines, with 32- and 64bit kernels. Installation of a C8000 workstation needs to happen via serial console since the install image will not activate the ATI graphics card. After installation the ATI cards will work in non-accelerated mode though.
<pre>
+
* If your machine is behind a firewall, enter the proxy at the IPL command line the Linux kernel command line (change parameter 7):
blkid
+
  mirror/http/proxy=http://proxy:8080  (adjust the proxy settings to your need and drop the underscores)
</pre>
+
* Choose the automatic disc partitioning, unless you know all details about disc partitions for PA-RISC (e.g. PALO bootloader needs ext2).
* Now reboot again from the CD/TFTP and choose to interact with IPL.
+
* The palo bootloader needs to reside on a SCSI disc. The installer will detect SATA discs and will not complain if you install to a SATA disc!
<pre>
+
* At the "Software selection" screen,
reboot now
+
** for the debian 7.0 disc: do not enable any software other than "SSH server" . You can install additional software later!
<nowiki> <wait...> </nowiki>
+
** for the debian 8.0 disc: You can choose to install the KDE-, LXDE-, MATE- or Xfce desktops, SSH, web- and print server. Do not choose to install the GNOME desktop since it will fail (we are still having problems to compile a recent-enough iceweasel on hppa!).
Interact with IPL (Y, N, or Cancel)?> y
+
* for the debian 7.0 disc:
</pre>
+
** When the installation finished, do not press "Continue" to reboot the machine, but instead choose "Go Back" and then in the main menu choose to execute a shell. In the shell type the following command to enable serial console (needed e.g. for boot console on GSP):
* Press "0" to change the "0/vmlinux" line, and replace this line by "0/vmlinux64" to boot the 64bit kernel or "0/vmlinux32 on 32 bit machines.
+
  echo "T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100" >> /target/etc/inittab
<pre>
+
** Type "exit" to quit the shell and return to the main menu.
0/vmlinux64 (64 Bit) or 0/vmlinux32 (32 Bit)
+
** In the main menu choose to "Finish the installation" and let it reboot the machine.
</pre>
+
* Press "1" to change the "initrd=0/ramdisk" line, replace this line by "root=/dev/sda3" (look at the output of blkid above):
+
<pre>
+
root=/dev/sda3
+
</pre>
+
* and then press "b" to boot this configuration.
+
* The machine should now have booted into the shell on /dev/sda3. Login as 'root' with your new password. You can use tools like blkid, mount and such to see if everything is correct.
+
* Install the most recent 32- or 64-bit Linux kernel and install the palo bootloader (See networking bug workaround below):
+
* First of all: make sure the boot partition is mounted correctly
+
<pre>
+
mount LABEL=BOOT /boot
+
</pre>
+
* Networking bug Work-around: Due to a minor bug, networking doesn't start automatically, and the RSA keys for debian-ports.org are not available. Here is the current solution:
+
<pre>
+
Type 'dhclient eth0' to re-start the network
+
  
then: gpg --recv-keys 1C466F272FF7A9F4 --keyserver http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian
+
'''Notes:'''
 +
* Debian installer seem to use the well-known screen utility to implement multiple tabs on a serial console, so use its key combinations to switch tabs: Ctrl+A, then 1-4
 +
* When asked for Network mirror with the 10.0 installer, give '''ftp.ports.debian.org''' and '''/debian-ports/'''. (Avoidable when this Bug gets resolved: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=879130).
 +
* After reboot add this line to /etc/apt/sources.list and run '''apt-get update''':
 +
  deb http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports unstable main
 +
* After reboot the sshd daemon will not accept password-logins for root. You need to log in as the user which you created during installation and then become root via "su -". To change this sshd behaviour, edit '''/etc/ssh/sshd_config''' file and change the value of '''PermitRootLogin to yes''' (not recommended!).
 +
* Install latest archive keys, and configure timezone and locales:
 +
** '''apt-get install debian-ports-archive-keyring'''  - to receive the latest debian ports archive keys (avoids this warning: ''W: GPG error: http://ftp.debian-ports.org unstable InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY AA651E74623DB0B8 or A53AB45AC448326E'')
 +
** '''dpkg-reconfigure locales'''
 +
** '''dpkg-reconfigure tzdata'''
 +
* We are happy to hear from you, if you installed PA-RISC Linux on your machine. Please send us a short mail to [mailto:debian-hppa@lists.debian.org debian-hppa@lists.debian.org]. Thanks!
 +
* If you install on a HP 712 workstation you may need the kernel option "hp_sdc.no_hpsdc=1" to [https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=787794 avoid an endless loop of "HP SDC: Transaction add failed: transaction already queued ?" messages]
  
(It will error out the first time, so just run the above command again and it will import keys.)
+
'''IMPORTANT NOTE (only for the debian 7.0 installer image)'''
 +
* NEVER install the policykit-1 package or another one which will give you the following warning. It will render your machine unbootable!
 +
The following packages will be REMOVED:
 +
  sysvinit-core
  
then: gpg --export --armor 2FF7A9F4 | apt-key add -
+
* The debian 8.0 installer image does successfully installs systemd if you like.
  
Now you can successfully run - 'apt-get update' and 'apt-get install openssh-server'
+
== How to disable systemd and switch to sysvinit ==
</pre>
+
* Install 'palo'
+
<pre>
+
dpkg -i /palo*deb
+
</pre>
+
* and select your new kernel...
+
<pre>
+
apt-get install linux-image-parisc64-smp  # for a 64bit SMP kernel
+
(or)
+
apt-get install linux-image-parisc        # for a 32bit UP kernel
+
</pre>
+
* Don't forget to set up your symlinks in /boot
+
<pre>
+
cd /boot
+
ln -s initrd* initrd.img
+
ln -s vmlinux* vmlinux
+
</pre>
+
* Now you can run the palo configuration:
+
<pre>
+
palo --init-partitioned=/dev/sda -k/boot/vmlinux -r/boot/initrd.img --commandline="2/vmlinux initrd=2/initrd.img root=LABEL=ROOT rootfstype=ext3  HOME=/ panic_timeout=60 panic=-1"
+
</pre>
+
  
* '''Reboot now and HPPA Linux should now load from the hard drive.'''
+
Debian 8 installs systemd by default. There is no way around it.
  
* At this time you can install a couple handy utilities to make sure your network always starts on boot, and your hotplug devices load properly (external USB drives, etc.)
+
So, if you want to switch back to sysvinit, e.g. if you do kernel developement without initrd, then first install Debian as described above. After the first boot follow those steps and finally reboot again.
<pre>
+
# apt-get install sysvinit-core sysvinit sysvinit-utils
First run: nano /etc/network/interfaces and add the following lines:
+
# if you are running on serial console, either make sure that a getty gets started on the ttyS0 device in /etc/inittab, or run this command:
 +
echo "T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100" >> /target/etc/inittab
  
auto lo
+
Futher instructions are on this external website:
iface lo inet loopback (This brings up the local loopback network 'lo' on system boot)
+
[http://without-systemd.org/wiki/index.php/How_to_remove_systemd_from_a_Debian_jessie/sid_installation How to remove systemd from a Debian jessie/sid installation]
  
iface eth0 inet dhcp  (This will bring up eth0 when the system is booted.. (don't add 'allow-hotplug eth0', as this will interfere with 'ifplugd' later).
+
== Upgrade the kernel to latest stable kernel ==
  
Do this for any additional interfaces leaving a blank line between each one.
+
After installation an old Linux kernel like 4.16 is installed.
</pre>
+
Newer Linux kernels run much more stable and faster.<br>
* Re-start your network:
+
To upgrade to the latest kernel, make sure you have this additional entry in /etc/apt/sources.list:
<pre>
+
deb http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports unstable main
dhclient eth0
+
</pre>
+
* Now for ifupdown-extra and ifplugd
+
<pre>
+
apt-get install ifupdown-extra ifplugd
+
Run: dpkg-reconfigure ifplugd
+
Use 'auto' (no quotes) as the "static interfaces to be watched by ifplugd". Select 'OK' to go to the next screen.
+
Use 'all' (no quotes) as the "hotplugged interfaces to be watched by ifplugd". Select 'OK' to go to the next screen.
+
In the 'arguments to ifplugd' screen you can stick to the defaults unless there is a problem with the daemon.
+
Select 'OK' to go to the next screen for 'suspend behavior' Select 'suspend' to compensate for any broken net drivers.
+
Select 'OK' to finish
+
  
Type: 'service networking stop' and then 'service networking start' (no quotes) to reload all daemons.
+
Then follow this steps:
 
+
# Run "apt update"
You can check interface and connectivity status by typing: 'network-test' (no quotes)
+
# You may run "apt search ^linux-image" to find available kernels
</pre>
+
# Run "apt install linux-image-parisc64/unstable"  (or linux-image-parisc/unstable for a 32-bit kernel)
 
+
# Make sure that /boot/vmlinux and /boot/initrd.img points to the new kernel and initrd
* For more detailed networking info, look here:[http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch05.en.html#_the_basic_network_infrastructure]
+
# Reboot
 
+
* ...and that's it! ifplugd has the added advantage of automatically detecting external USB drives at boot time also.
+
 
+
* Now add more packages and have fun!
+
 
+
 
+
--[[User:Dave Land|Dave Land]] ([[User talk:Dave Land|talk]]) 13:48, 14 January 2014 (UTC)
+
 
+
 
+
 
+
== Old installation medias (Debian Lenny) ==
+
 
+
If you have an older parisc system (not a c8000!) you may use the Debian Lenny installation medias to upgrade.
+
 
   
 
   
* Download one of the installation medias for Debian 5.0 (lenny) for parisc from one of the following locations:
+
== Technical background of the install images ==
** [http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/5.0.10/hppa/iso-cd/ official debian cdimage download link]
+
** [ftp://ftp.parisc-linux.org/debian-ports/lenny-5.0.10-hppa-iso-cd/cdimage.debian.org/ cdimage mirror on parisc-linux.org FTP server]
+
 
+
* The debian-5010-hppa-netinst.iso or the debian-5010-hppa-xfce+lxde-CD-1.iso may work.
+
 
+
* Install Debian Linux. It's recommended to just install a minimalistic set of packages at this stage, since everything will be updated later to debian-unstable anyway. Furthermore every installed package may prevent your from easily upgrading.
+
 
+
* A very good documenation which covers PARISC specifics (e.g. PARISC bootloader and firmware) is available at http://www.pateam.org/parisc-linux-boot/doc.html.
+
 
+
* After installation you should upgrade to debian-unstable via the debian-ports repository:
+
* modify your /etc/apt/sources.list file to have this content:
+
<pre>
+
deb http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian unstable main
+
# for unstable sources if you want to compile yourself:
+
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free 
+
</pre>
+
 
+
* now instruct apt to pull the latest package list:
+
<pre>
+
apt-get update
+
</pre>
+
 
+
* packages in the debian-ports repository are signed. You will need to install the debian-ports archive signing key once (details see: http://www.debian-ports.org):
+
<pre>
+
gpg --recv-keys 1C466F272FF7A9F4
+
gpg --export --armor 2FF7A9F4 | apt-key add -
+
</pre>
+
 
+
* make sure you run a recent Linux kernel, at least 2.6.32. If possible upgrade to at least kernel 3.9 which seems to be the most stable release.
+
+
* run the usual command to upgrade your packages:
+
<pre>
+
apt-get upgrade
+
</pre>
+
 
+
* if you run issues during upgrading packages, e.g. by strange dependency problems, it's often helpful to just uninstall some packages
+
  
* finally you should be able to update most packages to a more recent (unstable) version. If you miss some packages, please drop us an email on the mailing list [http://lists.debian.org/debian-hppa].
+
: The installer images mentioned above pull the debian packages from the repositories at
 +
:: (for debian-7.0): http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian/
 +
:: (for debian-8.0): http://backup.parisc-linux.org/debian/
 +
: which contains only the minimal set of necessary files for installation.
 +
: This is realized by the ''preseed/url=http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian/preseed.cfg'' Linux kernel parameter which is hardcoded in the palo bootloader code in those images.
 +
: I would prefer to directly install from the official debian unstable repository at http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian/ but this is not possible, because:
 +
:# The debian ports repository is a moving target, which means that the Linux kernel udeb packages which are needed by the kernel on the ISO/liffile may not be available any longer at a later date, and
 +
:# The debian ports repository is missing the http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian/palo-installer_0.0.15_hppa.udeb and http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian/partman-palo_20_hppa.udeb packages which are needed to install the palo bootloader during installation.
 +
: The iso images were created with debian-cd, [[File:Debian-cd.diff.gz]] is the diff which was used to build them.
 +
: See [[How to create Debian unstable iso images]] on how the images were created.

Latest revision as of 09:35, 7 October 2022

Contents

[edit] Installation of PA-RISC Linux

In the middle you see our HP C8000 machine (sibaris) which acts as Debian buildd server and currently builds most of the hppa packages. An overview of all our build servers is at http://unstable.buildd.net/index-hppa.html

HPPA became an officially supported Debian architecture in release 3.0 (woody), 3.1 (sarge), 4.0 (etch) and 5.0 (lenny) releases. In July 2011, PA-RISC Linux was dropped as an officially supported platform from Debian 6.0 (squeeze). That's the reason that the latest available official installation CDs are available for Debian 5.0 (lenny) only.

Subsequently, it became a non-release architecture in the Debian Ports project. Helge Deller and John David Anglin set up several package build servers for Debian Ports. Overtime, this infrastructure has been improved and it now uses the same wanna-build system as the release architectures. Kernel and tool chain support was also improved with the transition to Debian Ports.

Today the recommended installation of a new parisc machine is via the debian-ports unstable respository at http://debian-ports.org as described in the following section. An install image can be downloaded from this list:

If you want to install debian the hard way with many manual steps, you can read the instructions at Debian_Ports_Installation_Manual.

[edit] Installation of Debian unstable via debian-ports repository

The latest installation medias for Debian unstable is available at either one of the following locations:

  1. http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/hppa/debian-8.0/
  2. http://backup.parisc-linux.org/debian-cd/
  3. http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian-cd/
  4. http://ftp.nz.parisc-linux.org/debian-cd/ (Debian 9 & 10 NZ mirror)
  5. http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports/pool-hppa/main/d/debian-installer/ (latest Netboot images)

In those directories you find (you need to download only one of those):

  • lifimage file, used for tftp/netbooting the installation
  • debian-8.0-hppa-NETINST-1.iso, ISO image to burn to a CD/DVD for booting
  • debian-8.0-hppa-CD-1.iso, full ISO image with all packages for booting via CD/DVD

Installation instructions

  • Instructions to burn the ISO image on a Mac: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5132196
  • IMPORTANT: If your machine has a DVD-drive, you should better burn the image to a DVD disc. The first-generation DVD-drives in some older PA-RISC machines may have problems booting from e.g. a CD-RW so you may get this error message: IPL error: bad LIF magic.
  • Those images should work on all machines, with 32- and 64bit kernels. Installation of a C8000 workstation needs to happen via serial console since the install image will not activate the ATI graphics card. After installation the ATI cards will work in non-accelerated mode though.
  • If your machine is behind a firewall, enter the proxy at the IPL command line the Linux kernel command line (change parameter 7):
  mirror/http/proxy=http://proxy:8080   (adjust the proxy settings to your need and drop the underscores)
  • Choose the automatic disc partitioning, unless you know all details about disc partitions for PA-RISC (e.g. PALO bootloader needs ext2).
  • The palo bootloader needs to reside on a SCSI disc. The installer will detect SATA discs and will not complain if you install to a SATA disc!
  • At the "Software selection" screen,
    • for the debian 7.0 disc: do not enable any software other than "SSH server" . You can install additional software later!
    • for the debian 8.0 disc: You can choose to install the KDE-, LXDE-, MATE- or Xfce desktops, SSH, web- and print server. Do not choose to install the GNOME desktop since it will fail (we are still having problems to compile a recent-enough iceweasel on hppa!).
  • for the debian 7.0 disc:
    • When the installation finished, do not press "Continue" to reboot the machine, but instead choose "Go Back" and then in the main menu choose to execute a shell. In the shell type the following command to enable serial console (needed e.g. for boot console on GSP):
  echo "T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100" >> /target/etc/inittab
    • Type "exit" to quit the shell and return to the main menu.
    • In the main menu choose to "Finish the installation" and let it reboot the machine.

Notes:

  • Debian installer seem to use the well-known screen utility to implement multiple tabs on a serial console, so use its key combinations to switch tabs: Ctrl+A, then 1-4
  • When asked for Network mirror with the 10.0 installer, give ftp.ports.debian.org and /debian-ports/. (Avoidable when this Bug gets resolved: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=879130).
  • After reboot add this line to /etc/apt/sources.list and run apt-get update:
  deb http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports unstable main
  • After reboot the sshd daemon will not accept password-logins for root. You need to log in as the user which you created during installation and then become root via "su -". To change this sshd behaviour, edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config file and change the value of PermitRootLogin to yes (not recommended!).
  • Install latest archive keys, and configure timezone and locales:
    • apt-get install debian-ports-archive-keyring - to receive the latest debian ports archive keys (avoids this warning: W: GPG error: http://ftp.debian-ports.org unstable InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY AA651E74623DB0B8 or A53AB45AC448326E)
    • dpkg-reconfigure locales
    • dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
  • We are happy to hear from you, if you installed PA-RISC Linux on your machine. Please send us a short mail to debian-hppa@lists.debian.org. Thanks!
  • If you install on a HP 712 workstation you may need the kernel option "hp_sdc.no_hpsdc=1" to avoid an endless loop of "HP SDC: Transaction add failed: transaction already queued ?" messages

IMPORTANT NOTE (only for the debian 7.0 installer image)

  • NEVER install the policykit-1 package or another one which will give you the following warning. It will render your machine unbootable!
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  sysvinit-core
  • The debian 8.0 installer image does successfully installs systemd if you like.

[edit] How to disable systemd and switch to sysvinit

Debian 8 installs systemd by default. There is no way around it.

So, if you want to switch back to sysvinit, e.g. if you do kernel developement without initrd, then first install Debian as described above. After the first boot follow those steps and finally reboot again.

  1. apt-get install sysvinit-core sysvinit sysvinit-utils
  2. if you are running on serial console, either make sure that a getty gets started on the ttyS0 device in /etc/inittab, or run this command:
echo "T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100" >> /target/etc/inittab

Futher instructions are on this external website: How to remove systemd from a Debian jessie/sid installation

[edit] Upgrade the kernel to latest stable kernel

After installation an old Linux kernel like 4.16 is installed. Newer Linux kernels run much more stable and faster.
To upgrade to the latest kernel, make sure you have this additional entry in /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports unstable main

Then follow this steps:

  1. Run "apt update"
  2. You may run "apt search ^linux-image" to find available kernels
  3. Run "apt install linux-image-parisc64/unstable" (or linux-image-parisc/unstable for a 32-bit kernel)
  4. Make sure that /boot/vmlinux and /boot/initrd.img points to the new kernel and initrd
  5. Reboot

[edit] Technical background of the install images

The installer images mentioned above pull the debian packages from the repositories at
(for debian-7.0): http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian/
(for debian-8.0): http://backup.parisc-linux.org/debian/
which contains only the minimal set of necessary files for installation.
This is realized by the preseed/url=http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian/preseed.cfg Linux kernel parameter which is hardcoded in the palo bootloader code in those images.
I would prefer to directly install from the official debian unstable repository at http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian/ but this is not possible, because:
  1. The debian ports repository is a moving target, which means that the Linux kernel udeb packages which are needed by the kernel on the ISO/liffile may not be available any longer at a later date, and
  2. The debian ports repository is missing the http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian/palo-installer_0.0.15_hppa.udeb and http://parisc.osuosl.org/debian/partman-palo_20_hppa.udeb packages which are needed to install the palo bootloader during installation.
The iso images were created with debian-cd, File:Debian-cd.diff.gz is the diff which was used to build them.
See How to create Debian unstable iso images on how the images were created.
Personal tools