mactel-support team mailing list archive

[Colin Watson <cjwatson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

** Description changed:

  Binary package hint: ubiquity
  
  Ubuntu 8.04 Final
  
  Intel Macs have an EFI system and a GPT. The installer seems to handle
  the GPT correctly (as it has in the past), but it has recently come up
  that the installer is completely emptying the contents of the MBR
  partition table which is still required to boot Windows and Ubuntu (GRUB
  relies on the MBR partition table). The two tables are not synced
  automatically.
  
  When users install Hardy, they are suprised to find that the system is
  unbootable (the EFI loader cannot "see" the partition as bootable). a
  tool such as rEFIt or gptsync can copy the information in the GPT into
  the MBR table thus fixing the issue (for most).
  
  This is even more serious for users with other working OS installs in
  addition to Ubuntu (such as other linux distros and Windows) since it
  completely dumps the information needed to boot these installs as well.
  
  The expected procedure (and how the previous Ubuntu install seems to
  have handled it) is to 'update' both the GPT and the MBR table with
  changes instead of completely losing the information stored there.
  
  gparted / parted seemed to update both tables properly previously as
  well.
  
  I will be doing a full install on my iMac later and will be able to add
  additional information.
+ 
+ 
+ This bug was fixed in parted 1.8.8.git.2008.03.24-11.1ubuntu6 by adding "Apple Inc." as an additional system-manufacturer tag for which we do the special Apple GPT->MBR handling.
+ 
+ TEST CASE: You'll need a reasonably new Intel-based Mac system for which
+ 'sudo dmidecode -s system-manufacturer' returns "Apple Inc." (not "Apple
+ Computer, Inc."). Check that installations work, and that 'sudo fdisk
+ -l' shows a reasonable MBR representation of the first four partitions
+ on your disk (compare against 'sudo parted -s /dev/sda print').
+ 
+ REGRESSION POTENTIAL: The only other systems that really care about this
+ kind of thing are ones for which 'sudo dmidecode -s system-manufacturer'
+ returns "Apple Computer, Inc."; installations on those systems should
+ keep working. Other than that I think we're basically taking a
+ completely broken case and rendering it at least vaguely functional ...

-- 
Partition Table is cleared during install on Intel Macs
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/222126
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Mactel
Support, which is the registrant for Mactel Support.

Status in grub-installer: Invalid
Status in Mactel Support: Fix Committed
Status in “parted” source package in Ubuntu: Fix Released
Status in “ubiquity” source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
Status in parted in Ubuntu Hardy: Triaged
Status in ubiquity in Ubuntu Hardy: Invalid
Status in parted in Ubuntu Intrepid: Triaged
Status in ubiquity in Ubuntu Intrepid: Invalid
Status in parted in Ubuntu Jaunty: Fix Released
Status in ubiquity in Ubuntu Jaunty: Invalid

Bug description:
Binary package hint: ubiquity

Ubuntu 8.04 Final

Intel Macs have an EFI system and a GPT. The installer seems to handle the GPT correctly (as it has in the past), but it has recently come up that the installer is completely emptying the contents of the MBR partition table which is still required to boot Windows and Ubuntu (GRUB relies on the MBR partition table). The two tables are not synced automatically.

When users install Hardy, they are suprised to find that the system is unbootable (the EFI loader cannot "see" the partition as bootable). a tool such as rEFIt or gptsync can copy the information in the GPT into the MBR table thus fixing the issue (for most). 

This is even more serious for users with other working OS installs in addition to Ubuntu (such as other linux distros and Windows) since it completely dumps the information needed to boot these installs as well.

The expected procedure (and how the previous Ubuntu install seems to have handled it) is to 'update' both the GPT and the MBR table with changes instead of completely losing the information stored there.

gparted / parted seemed to update both tables properly previously as well.

I will be doing a full install on my iMac later and will be able to add additional information.


This bug was fixed in parted 1.8.8.git.2008.03.24-11.1ubuntu6 by adding "Apple Inc." as an additional system-manufacturer tag for which we do the special Apple GPT->MBR handling.

TEST CASE: You'll need a reasonably new Intel-based Mac system for which 'sudo dmidecode -s system-manufacturer' returns "Apple Inc." (not "Apple Computer, Inc."). Check that installations work, and that 'sudo fdisk -l' shows a reasonable MBR representation of the first four partitions on your disk (compare against 'sudo parted -s /dev/sda print').

REGRESSION POTENTIAL: The only other systems that really care about this kind of thing are ones for which 'sudo dmidecode -s system-manufacturer' returns "Apple Computer, Inc."; installations on those systems should keep working. Other than that I think we're basically taking a completely broken case and rendering it at least vaguely functional ...