[9fans] installing from 9vx?

[9fans] installing from 9vx?

[Mathieu]

Hello,

I have a bit of free space at the beginning of my hard drive so I wanted
to reinstall a native plan9 there, however installing from the iso (dled
on 23/12/2008) fails for me. I get some I/O errors at the fmtfossil stage,
such as those:
sdE0: i/o error d0 @0
sdE0: LLBA 312,581,808 sectors

I suppose this happens because of some changes with the sata driver since
I was able to install with the iso something like one year ago. I guess I
could try to create an alternate iso with Erik's sdiahci but I figured
I could try to install from 9vx first, if that's at all possible.

What I've already tried is to get past the fmtfossil stage by setting
up fossil from 9vx, but it does not seem to do the trick, since when I
retry with the iso, configdist and fmtfossil are still to be done.

So, that's what I did from 9vx so far:

echo loop rw '#Z/dev/sda' > /dev/sdctl
disk/fdisk -p /dev/sd00/data > /dev/sd00/ctl
disk/prep -p /dev/sd00/plan9 > /dev/sd00/ctl
fossil/flfmt /dev/sd00/fossil

Is there anything preventing from completing the whole install from
9vx? If no, where can I find the basic steps to do just that?

Cheers,
Mathieu

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[erik quanstrom]

> I have a bit of free space at the beginning of my hard drive so I wanted
> to reinstall a native plan9 there, however installing from the iso (dled
> on 23/12/2008) fails for me. I get some I/O errors at the fmtfossil stage,
> such as those:
> sdE0: i/o error d0 @0
> sdE0: LLBA 312,581,808 sectors
>
> I suppose this happens because of some changes with the sata driver since
> I was able to install with the iso something like one year ago. I guess I
> could try to create an alternate iso with Erik's sdiahci but I figured
> I could try to install from 9vx first, if that's at all possible.

i just reviewed the changes on sources.  i don't see anything that
jumps out at me as a regression.  mainly u32int's were changed to
ulong and there are some locking fixes.  not likely your problem.
perhaps you were never using a driver from sources?  there are a
number of postitive changes in the current driver.  it's been in
production for a year or so and we've gotten a few fixes for esoteric
cases from that.  (there's nothing like a bad drive to ferret these
things out.) lucio also found that i had absolutely no idea what i was
doing with hbas that support Hsss (staggered spinup), at least for
ich9m-based thinkpads.  and i know there were some other folks who
helped me kick disks out of power-mgmt funks.

my current versions are:
/n/sources/contrib/quanstro/src/9/pc/^(ahci.h sdiahci.c).
/n/sources/contrib/quanstro/src/9loadaoe/^(ahci.h sdiahci.c).

by the way, since in the plan 9 world int ≡ 32 bits, why is it
customary to use ulong instead of uint for 32 bit values?
the reason for doing this probablly passed before kenc was
written.

- erik

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[blstuart]

> I have a bit of free space at the beginning of my hard drive so I wanted
> to reinstall a native plan9 there, however installing from the iso (dled
> on 23/12/2008) fails for me. I get some I/O errors at the fmtfossil stage,
> such as those:
> sdE0: i/o error d0 @0
> sdE0: LLBA 312,581,808 sectors
>
> So, that's what I did from 9vx so far:
>
> echo loop rw '#Z/dev/sda' > /dev/sdctl
> disk/fdisk -p /dev/sd00/data > /dev/sd00/ctl
> disk/prep -p /dev/sd00/plan9 > /dev/sd00/ctl
> fossil/flfmt /dev/sd00/fossil

That's pretty close to what I remember doing, but it's been
several months since I did the install.

> I suppose this happens because of some changes with the sata driver since
> I was able to install with the iso something like one year ago. I guess I

I would doubt that it's got to do with the sata driver, since
the actual access to the disk controller is handled by the
underlying UNIX OS.  That seems consistent with the
error messages reporting the problem with sdE0.

> What I've already tried is to get past the fmtfossil stage by setting
> up fossil from 9vx, but it does not seem to do the trick, since when I
> retry with the iso, configdist and fmtfossil are still to be done.

I think I ended up doing nearly all of it manually.  I seem
to remember using the install script as a guide, but issuing
the commands manually.

BLS

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[Mathieu]

> > I suppose this happens because of some changes with the sata driver since
> > I was able to install with the iso something like one year ago. I guess I
>
> I would doubt that it's got to do with the sata driver, since
> the actual access to the disk controller is handled by the
> underlying UNIX OS.  That seems consistent with the
> error messages reporting the problem with sdE0.

Ah you misunderstood, sorry if I haven't been clear. I'm getting the
error while trying to install directly with the plan 9 iso. The point
is to use 9vx to do the install, precisely because it fails with the iso.

> I think I ended up doing nearly all of it manually.  I seem
> to remember using the install script as a guide, but issuing
> the commands manually.

Oh that would probably do it. Can you point me to that install script
please?

Cheers,
Mathieu

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[blstuart]

>> > I suppose this happens because of some changes with the sata driver since
>> > I was able to install with the iso something like one year ago. I guess I
>>
>> I would doubt that it's got to do with the sata driver, since
>> the actual access to the disk controller is handled by the
>> underlying UNIX OS.  That seems consistent with the
>> error messages reporting the problem with sdE0.
>
> Ah you misunderstood, sorry if I haven't been clear. I'm getting the
> error while trying to install directly with the plan 9 iso. The point
> is to use 9vx to do the install, precisely because it fails with the iso.

Oh, I gotcha now.  Actually, that's pretty much the same situation
I was in.  When I first got this laptop, almost a year ago, I tried
to do a native install and ran into a disk controller issue.  I never
got around to trying again, but when 9vx came along, a round
tuit suddenly appeared.

>> I think I ended up doing nearly all of it manually.  I seem
>> to remember using the install script as a guide, but issuing
>> the commands manually.
>
> Oh that would probably do it. Can you point me to that install script
> please?

I just had to look again, but found it faster this time :-)  They're
in /sys/lib/dist/pc/inst.

Have fun,
BLS

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[erik quanstrom]

> When I first got this laptop, almost a year ago, I tried
> to do a native install and ran into a disk controller issue.  I never
> got around to trying again,

chances are that this is fixed.  if not, and you still
care, you can send me details offline.  i'd be glad to
fix it.  dimes to doughnuts, it's power mgnt.

- erik

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[lucio]

> lucio also found that i had absolutely no idea what i was
> doing with hbas that support Hsss (staggered spinup), at least for
> ich9m-based thinkpads.

Flattering as this is, I do not recall such a thing.  I made only an
insignificant contribution regarding flash, if my memory isn't too
muddled.  :-)

++L

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[erik quanstrom]

On Thu Jan  1 22:47:59 EST 2009, lucio@proxima.alt.za wrote:
> > lucio also found that i had absolutely no idea what i was
> > doing with hbas that support Hsss (staggered spinup), at least for
> > ich9m-based thinkpads.
>
> Flattering as this is, I do not recall such a thing.  I made only an
> insignificant contribution regarding flash, if my memory isn't too
> muddled.  :-)

different part, but same idea.  i got the flash vs nvram thing
backwards for your 82567.  i'm sure there's a document around
here somewhere that should have put me on the path to
righteousness, but my reprobaeous nature prevented me from
comprehending.  some seeds fall in the rocky places.

at least i didn't walk all over the nvram like linux. ☺
some seeds fall on the path and are eaten right away.

in the world of drivers, god is a calvinist.

- erik

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[Latchesar Ionkov]

I think you got the names mixed up, I had problems with the sata and
the 82567 on my thinkpad. :)

Thanks,
   Lucho

On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 9:16 PM, erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net> wrote:
> On Thu Jan  1 22:47:59 EST 2009, lucio@proxima.alt.za wrote:
>> > lucio also found that i had absolutely no idea what i was
>> > doing with hbas that support Hsss (staggered spinup), at least for
>> > ich9m-based thinkpads.
>>
>> Flattering as this is, I do not recall such a thing.  I made only an
>> insignificant contribution regarding flash, if my memory isn't too
>> muddled.  :-)
>
> different part, but same idea.  i got the flash vs nvram thing
> backwards for your 82567.  i'm sure there's a document around
> here somewhere that should have put me on the path to
> righteousness, but my reprobaeous nature prevented me from
> comprehending.  some seeds fall in the rocky places.
>
> at least i didn't walk all over the nvram like linux. ☺
> some seeds fall on the path and are eaten right away.
>
> in the world of drivers, god is a calvinist.
>
> - erik
>
>

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[erik quanstrom]

> I think you got the names mixed up, I had problems with the sata and
> the 82567 on my thinkpad. :)

but unless i've really gone mad, the staggered spinup
was the sata and the flash/nvram was the 82567.

- erik

Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?

[lucio]

> I think you got the names mixed up, I had problems with the sata and
> the 82567 on my thinkpad. :)

Yes, even I get us mixed up.

I'm glad you don't seem to, although I am rather jealous that in your
much shorter relationship with Plan 9, you have achieved infinitely
more.

:-)

++L

[9fans] 9vx hangs w/ fossil [was: installing from 9vx?]

[Mathieu]

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Hi all,

So I followed the install scripts from the iso in /sys/lib/dist/pc/inst
to install manually from 9vx (pretty interesting to look at btw), which
turned out to work pretty well, until I reached the copydist stage.
If I understood correctly, that part is basically a replica/pull, so I
prepared the name spaces properly (my fossil root in /n/newfs and the
iso root in /n/dist) and ran
'replica/pull -c / /n/dist/sys/lib/dist/pc/inst/replcfg'
This seemed to work fine (syscalls and contexts going high in stats)
but after a few dozen seconds, it seems that 9vx froze (everything
stopped and I couldn't act on any of the windows nor open a new one).
I killed 9vx and retried (after having checked/fixed fossil from fscons),
and got the same behaviour.
That had also happened to me in the past when copying big files from
the 9vx tree to the fossil partition.

Now for this particular case I guess I can get away by simply doing the
replica/pull in several smaller transfers, I'll try that soon. However,
that issue is annoying and it'd be nice if I could do long writes to
fossil without risking 9vx to get blocked like that. So is there anything
I can do to fix that, or to at least help debugging it?

Stuart, haven't you encountered this problem as well?

Cheers,
Mathieu

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From: blstuart@bellsouth.net
To: 9fans@9fans.net
Subject: Re: [9fans] installing from 9vx?
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:22:23 -0600
Message-ID: <4303b03b515a966b71ca914e68799051@bellsouth.net>

>> > I suppose this happens because of some changes with the sata driver since
>> > I was able to install with the iso something like one year ago. I guess I
>>
>> I would doubt that it's got to do with the sata driver, since
>> the actual access to the disk controller is handled by the
>> underlying UNIX OS.  That seems consistent with the
>> error messages reporting the problem with sdE0.
>
> Ah you misunderstood, sorry if I haven't been clear. I'm getting the
> error while trying to install directly with the plan 9 iso. The point
> is to use 9vx to do the install, precisely because it fails with the iso.

Oh, I gotcha now.  Actually, that's pretty much the same situation
I was in.  When I first got this laptop, almost a year ago, I tried
to do a native install and ran into a disk controller issue.  I never
got around to trying again, but when 9vx came along, a round
tuit suddenly appeared.

>> I think I ended up doing nearly all of it manually.  I seem
>> to remember using the install script as a guide, but issuing
>> the commands manually.
>
> Oh that would probably do it. Can you point me to that install script
> please?

I just had to look again, but found it faster this time :-)  They're
in /sys/lib/dist/pc/inst.

Have fun,
BLS

Re: [9fans] 9vx hangs w/ fossil [was: installing from 9vx?]

[Brian L. Stuart]

> but after a few dozen seconds, it seems that 9vx froze (everything
> stopped and I couldn't act on any of the windows nor open a new one).
> I killed 9vx and retried (after having checked/fixed fossil from fscons),
> and got the same behaviour.
> ...
> Stuart, haven't you encountered this problem as well?

I did see that sort of thing, particularly if you're also
seeing the load stay up, where basically one of the threads
goes into an infinite loop.  I sent Russ a core dump and
a few other tidbits, but I think he was pretty busy with
some other things at the time.  Not long after that I moved
to using FreeBSD rather than Linux, and I've had a lot fewer
issues there.  The behavior feels like a thread getting
stuck in a spin lock with no one else releasing the lock,
but I haven't dug deep enough to see if such a thing is
at all possible.  It does seem to show up most when running
fossil though which would seem to be some kind of clue.

BLS