Debian install - is the repository broken?

I have sucessfully "denutted" my Dockstar to boot from a USB pen drive, built a PlugBox Pen Drive, and then decided to move to Debian on a fresh stick
I have had awful issues with the repository (ies? ) and with each pass it fails retrieving DIFFERENT packages. Not sure if they are overloaded or is my Comcast connection an issue.
In frustration, I finally hacked up the script to bypass the procedures to format the pen drive and rerun several times to gather up the missing packages.
It seems that I may now have all the packages, and it is still doing the extraction and unpacking , so I don't yet know if it will complete properly.
Is his a common issue with the repository?

If it is, I suggest the script be PROPERLY modified ( not my hack that may not work correctly ) to offer a choice to bypass the pen drive format, leaving the existing packages alone.
I find it hard to believe I am the only one with this problem

Comments?

John Novack

I'll be happy to consider any patches to the script that you'd like to submit.

I don't consider myself smart enough to submit something that will be usable for the community.
I am still having install issues, though it seems the problem has now moved and it is complaining about specific packages.
It appears that many errors are suppressed in the script?

Perhaps IF the repository IS an issue, simply break the script into several.

1: The NAND boot alteration( isn't that already elsewhere )
2: Format the pen drive
3: Go get the packages, and allow it to rerun if it fails to obtain all necessary packages

Am I alone with this problem?

Jeff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll be happy to consider any patches to the
> script that you'd like to submit.

hi jeff here is my moddet install script with << prepare >> for the build environment after install
in the script are many fixes for scripts (led off .. if u stop the system with halt)
in my install is also nfs with lockfix samba and a ftp with root acces
and i add a select for dhcp / static ip
u can remove this for ur installer
same install like u start with pogo or rescuesys (tested only with rescuesys)
login

cd /tmp
wget http://ss4200.homelinux.com/dockstar/gogo-dock.sh
chmod ./gogo-dock.sh
./gogo-dock.sh

i leave ur orginal header in the script ... thanks for inspiration

@gorgone: I tried your gogo-dock.sh script, but got errors in downloading from ss4200.homelinux.com, like the following:

# checking for /sbin/mke2fs...

# Installing /sbin/mke2fs...
Connecting to ss4200.homelinux.com (193.16.217.9:80)
wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Connecting to ss4200.homelinux.com (193.16.217.9:80)
wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
## Could not install /sbin/mke2fs from http://ss4200.homelinux.com/dockstar/mke2fs, exiting.

I was able to cd to /sbin and do the wget explicitely. This also happened for blparam and pkgdetails. After I had downloaded them to the appropriate directories and made them executeable, the script ran for a long time installing and configuring, but eventually failed with this:

I: Configuring ftpd...
I: Configuring samba...
W: Failure while configuring base packages.
W: Failure while configuring base packages.
W: Failure while configuring base packages.
W: Failure while configuring base packages.
W: Failure while configuring base packages.
debootstrap failed.
See /tmp/debian/debootstrap/debootstrap.log for more information.

Unfortunately, there is no /tmp/debian/debootstrap/debootstrap.log. /tmp/debian is populated. Any idea why the script could not download the files, but I could manually, or why it eventually failed to complete after running for 20-30 minutes? Some issue with my setup, of course, but what?

i tested the script only with jeffs rescue system
which system u use ? pogo ?
i tested my script again all runns fine here
if u click on the link u post u get the mke2fs
so u have a problem ...

I was running from the pogo bash prompt. I was able to download manually from the site, but the script failed. After I manually downloaded the three files, the script ran for a long time but eventually failed.

This morning I ran it again, and it ran to completion, down to asking me to reboot. But it rebooted into pogo system. When I power cycle (several times) it only boots to the pogo system.

If you were expecting your script only to run from Jeff's installation, that could explain things. I will retry Jeff's first. But it would be nice if a fresh Dockstar could be installed from your script (I have several more).

Thanks very much for your work on this--it is impressive (Jeff's also, of course).

please check ur sys u must have the uboot from jeff on the dockstar
i dont use the flash routine to leave it allone
look @ KLICK HERE

@jeff can i insert your uboot script into my one ?
and link to the files ?

i make it optional and ask the user before flash
into the pogo mdt



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2010 09:47AM by gorgone.

@gorgone: The installer git repo is at http://github.com/doozan/DebianInstaller If you're interested in maintaining your installer, you should probably fork that project. After you do that, I'll be very happy to merge some of your changes back into the main script.

-- Jeff

i put my 2 scripts to github installer + prepare(build environment)
im a little bit confused wit push and pull :-(
i have to train it ;-)
http://github.com/gorgone/Gorgone-Dockstar-Installer

It seems the thread I strted has wandered off somewhere, so to bring it back, I have been unable to successfully install and boot squeeze from the published script. the repository times out on several ( different on each pass ) packages, and even after altering the script to bypass the formatting, it picks up additional packages, and eventually after several passes installs.
the install then fails to boot, though that MIGHT be some flawed 8 Gig Kingston pen drives.
The script seems to fail to access at least one of the listed repositories.
So the original question - Is the repository broken? Or does my ISP ( Comcast ) have a flawed connection? Is ANYONE else having this problem?

Using another of Jeff's scripts, I was able to install Lenny in one pass, and today succeeded in doing an upgrade to Squeeze.

The eventual goal is to compile and run Asterisk.
A number of packages are missing needed to compile, so after much Googling, I have more or less succeeded.

Last package to find is the kernel headers to please DAHDI

One final thought: Is it wise to even have a swap partition on a flash drive?

All in all, an impressive little box, the Dockstar

John Novack

I ran the squeeze installer several times yesterday without any problems. You can always try a different mirror

-- Jeff



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/2010 10:15AM by Jeff.

Curious. I can only assume then that Comcast is the bottleneck

Also curious that the mirror site doesn't list the uk
Unless I missed it.

Regardless, I have now got a working squeeze, loaded the additional packages neded for Asterisk, found the headers DAHDI wants, and can easily clone the working pen drive if needed.

thanks for your work and insight into this project.

John Novack

I also am having problems and also have Comcast as a provider. Different downloads fail on different attempts. With multiple attempts with Jeff's and Gorgone's scripts I finally got Jeff's to install on one Dockstar and Gorgone's on another, and so far many attempts on another have all failed. Frustrating, but it's clearly not the fault of the scripts when the downloads all work.

Thanks for the confirmation that I am not COMPLETELY nuts! Well, maybe, but not because of this issue!
Why I suggested days ago that that others might be better served with the script broken in to three.
I don't feel skilled enough to redo them myself, and perhaps the script posted by Gorgone solves he issue.
Good luck getting any solution out of Comcast ( or anyone else for that matter! )
See this link for a comment on customer (non) service.

http://xkcd.com/806/

Coda: After power cycling my Comcast cable modem, which fixed some other problems, I tried gorgone's script again. Failure. Tried again. Success!

So sometimes, persistence may pay off.

Thanks to Jeff and Gorgone for their work. The Dockstar is a sweet little device.