GNU bug report logs - #60002
installer console garbled on 1984.is VPS

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Attila Lendvai <attila <at> lendvai.name>
To: "bug-guix <at> gnu.org" <bug-guix <at> gnu.org>
Subject: installer console garbled on 1984.is VPS
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2022 11:31:05 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

when trying to install 1.4.0 RC2 to a VPS on the hosting site called 1984.is, then there are two issues, as obesvable on the attached images:

1) part of the output is missing right from the start with the "graphical" installer

2) when i try to use the console based install, then right after getting a prompt the text output gets garbled, and remains so.

the obvious guess is that both are an issue with the rendering of the browser based console, but the admins of the supervisor say they have never seen this behavior from the countless other linux install images, and all browsers i tried behave the same:

$ chromium --version
Chromium 108.0.5359.94 

$ firefox --version
Mozilla Firefox 100.0.2

$ icecat --version
GNU IceCat 91.11.0esr

which suggests that it should be something peculiar with the Guix install image.

maybe someone has seen something like this before? or maybe the guest side drivers are not completely up to date, or misbehave?

bird's eye view: i cannot send CTRL+ALT+Fn to the VPS. there's no DHCP configured, therefore the graphical install doesn't get an upstream, and i can't switch to another console to configure the network manually.

with the console based install i can configure an upstream, but editing the Guix config file with such a garbled console felt hopeless.

maybe the installer could be extended with something to start a temporary shell to configure te network, without the need to switch virtual consoles?

HTH,

-- 
• attila lendvai
• PGP: 963F 5D5F 45C7 DFCD 0A39
--
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” (cf. ignore-ance with nescience)
	— Socrates (c. 470–399 BC, tried and executed)
Corollary: Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

[Screenshot from 2022-12-12 08-00-38.png (image/png, attachment)]

[Screenshot from 2022-12-12 08-04-06.png (image/png, attachment)]

Message #8 received at 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" <pelzflorian <at> pelzflorian.de>
To: Attila Lendvai <attila <at> lendvai.name>
Cc: 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#60002: installer console garbled on 1984.is VPS
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2022 18:00:02 +0100

Hello Attila.

So the admins are using a Web interface to QEMU.  Which one?  What -vga
option is it using?

Perhaps when in GRUB, press E to edit the linux boot command-line and
append to it: nomodeset

IIRC there had been discussions about QEMU Bochs graphics and such, but
I can’t find them.

> maybe the installer could be extended with something to start a
> temporary shell to configure te network, without the need to switch
> virtual consoles?

I don’t understand this.  Can others help?

Regards,
Florian

Message #11 received at 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Attila Lendvai <attila <at> lendvai.name>
To: "pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" <pelzflorian <at> pelzflorian.de>
Cc: 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#60002: installer console garbled on 1984.is VPS
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2022 00:04:31 +0000

> So the admins are using a Web interface to QEMU. Which one? What -vga
> option is it using?


i'll ask them and report back.


> Perhaps when in GRUB, press E to edit the linux boot command-line and
> append to it: nomodeset


this didn't help. the behavior appears to be the exact same.


> IIRC there had been discussions about QEMU Bochs graphics and such, but
> I can’t find them.
> 
> > maybe the installer could be extended with something to start a
> > temporary shell to configure te network, without the need to switch
> > virtual consoles?
> 
> 
> I don’t understand this. Can others help?


let me put this another way: assume that 1) it's not possible to press CTRL+ALT+Fn to switch virtual consoles, and 2) there is no DHCP configured on the machine's network.

this means that the installation is not possible, becuse it's stuck at checking for a functional network upstream.

if there was a menu entry to start a temporary shell, then i could configure the network in that shell, exit the shell, and press retry in the installer's menu.

-- 
• attila lendvai
• PGP: 963F 5D5F 45C7 DFCD 0A39
--
“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”
	— L. R. Knost

Message #14 received at 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Attila Lendvai <attila <at> lendvai.name>
To: pelzflorian <at> pelzflorian.de
Cc: 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#60002: installer console garbled on 1984.is VPS
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2022 14:42:42 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

close
done

> So the admins are using a Web interface to QEMU. Which one? What -vga > option is it using?

their response: "I changed the video mode in libvirt to virtio instead of the default cirrus."

this has fixed both the garbling of text, and the resizing of the console to accommodate for the window based installer.

maybe it's worth mentioning in the/a troubleshooting section of the doc. i couldn't find anything about it using websearch.

my only remaining issue with the installer is that the menu based installation workflow is not possible when 1) i cannot switch virtual consoles, and 2) there's no DHCP on the network, i.e. it requires manual configuration using a shell.

but i'll report that as a different issue.

thank you,

- attila

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Message #17 received at 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" <pelzflorian <at> pelzflorian.de>
To: Attila Lendvai <attila <at> lendvai.name>
Cc: 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#60002: installer console garbled on 1984.is VPS
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2022 21:54:01 +0100

Attila Lendvai <attila <at> lendvai.name> writes:
> their response: "I changed the video mode in libvirt to virtio instead of the default cirrus."

Yes yes, now that you mention cirrus, yhetil.org turns up results:

https://issues.guix.gnu.org/36069

Could you test that patch maybe?  Well of course it would maybe require
the admins to switch you back to cirrus …


> 1) i cannot switch virtual
> consoles,

I guess you could have selected shell-based installation in the
graphical installer, it just wasn’t visible.


> 2) there's no DHCP on the network, i.e. it requires manual configuration using a shell.

Maybe there’s no DHCP because the graphical installer lets you choose
which networking device you want to use.

Regards,
Florian

Message #20 received at 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Attila Lendvai <attila <at> lendvai.name>
To: pelzflorian <at> pelzflorian.de
Cc: 60002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#60002: installer console garbled on 1984.is VPS
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2022 13:59:17 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

> I guess you could have selected shell-based installation in the
> graphical installer, it just wasn’t visible.

once you chose menu based install at the beginning, it's not possible to change your mind and get a shell (without switching virtual consoles, or rebooting).

shell based install works fine (when the console text is not garbled).

as for DHCP: the VPS provider itself doesn't run a DHCP server on their network. the network must be configured manually.

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

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