<> == Introduction == We will be describing how to install Ubuntu from within your current distribution, replacing your current distribution ON THE SAME PARTITION. Anytime you do a major re installation you run the risk of losing data. The programs used in installation are quite reliable and most have seen years of use; but they are also quite powerful and a false move can cost you. You would use this procedure when you have no boot Ubuntu install disk, and no cd burner. It can also be useful for saving your old homedirs when you have no way to back them up, and your file system is of a type that can't be resized to allow for a new partition. == Before We Begin == === Things You Will Need === 1. Any linux boot/rescue cd with standard utilities for your filesystem (often the install disk for your current distribution will work fine, as long as you can get to a shell) 2. A network connection. There's no need for the Ubuntu install disk. 3. The package "alien", to convert the install package to your own distribution's format, from that of Ubuntu. You should install this now, if it isn't already on your system. 4. To verify that Ubuntu supports your current file system. 5. To convert your current distribution's bootloader to "grub", unless it already uses it. We will be assuming RPM as the package management for the original OS in this howto, but alien converts between quite a few formats. === Summary of Actions to be taken === The following is a summary of the steps involved. 1. [[http://archive.ubuntulinux.org/ubuntu/pool/main/d/debootstrap/|Get debootstrap]](w/install scripts), convert with the "Alien" package converter, and install to original system. 2. Run the install scripts, wait, configure the new system, and install a few things. 3. Configure bootloader and reboot to rescue disk. 4. Move some things around -- out with the old, and in with the new. :-) 5. Boot to Ubuntu 6. Install and configure the rest of the system == Installation == === Install Debootstrap and Ubuntu Debootstrap Scripts === * Grab the latest debootstrap_*.deb from http://archive.ubuntulinux.org/ubuntu/pool/main/d/debootstrap/. Make sure it matches your architecture. * Using alien, convert the package to your distribution's format. For example: {{{ # alien -r debootstrap*.deb }}} * Now install the new RPM package as you normally would for your distribution. If your distribution already has debootstrap installed (debian?), then uninstall it, and install the package you downloaded. {{{ # rpm -iv debootstrap*.rpm }}} * Locate the installation directory for the scripts. This should be in /opt or in /usr. {{{ # find /opt | grep debootstrap\/scripts; find /usr | grep debootstrap\/scripts }}} This should return the location of pathnames that contain debootstrap/scripts, for example: {{{ /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/sid /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/hoary /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/sarge /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/slink /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/warty /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/woody /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/woody.buildd /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/potato /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/hoary.buildd /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/sid.buildd /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/warty.buildd /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts/sarge.buildd }}} * Set DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR environment variable and start the install. * Make sure DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR is set to the path you got above (not including the "scripts" directory). {{{ # export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR="/usr/lib/debootstrap" # cd /usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts # debootstrap --arch i386 warty /mnt/ubuntu http://archive.ubuntulinux.org/ubuntu warty ^1^ ^2^ ^^3^^ }}} *For 1: Choose your processor architecture (all, including new, pc's are i386). *For 2: Choose the directory to install to. Choose something unique, like /mnt/ubuntu. :-) Don't choose a used directory. *For 3: Choose an appropriate, up-to-date mirror, or use the above address. Wait for the install to finish. If your network is unreliable, then you may need to run debootstrap multiple times to complete the installation. It should resume where it left off. If it has successfully installed, you should see the message "Base system installed successfully" near the end of its output. If you run into a problem unrelated to networking, you may need to delete all of the installed files and directories and restart. === Set up Fstab === * Create your fstab. You can copy your current one, but you may need to make a couple changes. {{{ # cp /etc/fstab /mnt/ubuntu/etc/fstab # nano /mnt/ubuntu/etc/fstab }}} You can use your favorite text editor in place of nano above. * Change the mount points on the partition(s) you set up in step 1 * Change their options to "defaults" * Change the Type to whatever Filesystem is on that particular partition. * Change /mnt/auto/floppy to /mnt/floppy. Do the same for /mnt/cdrom. * Add "sync" to the options for /mnt/floppy. * Remove the /dev/pts line -- not needed? Here is a decent fstab file: {{{ #FileSystem MountPT FSType Options Dump fsck-order #System Mounts.. /proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /sys /sys sysfs defaults 0 0 #Hard Drives.. ..edit these if necessary /dev/hda2 none swap defaults 0 0 /dev/hda3 / ext3 defaults 0 1 /dev/hda6 /home ext3 defaults 0 2 #Uncomment and edit the following line if you have a boot partition #/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 defaults,noauto 0 0 #Removable Media.. /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto user,noauto,sync,exec,umask=000 0 0 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto user,noauto,exec,ro 0 0 }}} Make sure your / entry has options set to 'defaults', otherwise sudo may not function: "Sorry, sudo must be setuid root." === Set up Hostname and Networking === ==== Hostname ==== You should replace HOSTNAME in the command below with the desired name for your machine. You may need to remove /mnt/ubuntu/etc/hostname first, because it may be a symbolic link to your current /etc/hostname by default, due to a bug in some versions of debootstrap. {{{ # rm -f /mnt/ubuntu/etc/hostname # echo $HOSTNAME > /mnt/ubuntu/etc/hostname }}} ==== Networking ==== * If you are running a debian-based distribution already, you can copy /etc/network.interfaces. * Copy the resolv.conf, as in the second line below: {{{ # cp /etc/network/interfaces /mnt/ubuntu/etc/network/ # cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/ubuntu/etc/ # nano /mnt/ubuntu/etc/network/interfaces }}} Here is my Ubuntu /etc/network/interfaces setup (in /mnt/ubuntu/etc/network/). {{{ auto lo iface lo inet loopback auto wlan0 iface wlan0 inet dhcp }}} You also need to set up the hosts file to include your machine name. {{{ # cp /etc/hosts /mnt/ubuntu/etc/ # nano /mnt/ubuntu/etc/hosts }}} Here is an example /etc/hosts file for cowflavors.dyndns.org. {{{ 127.0.0.1 localhost 127.0.0.1 cowflavors.dyndns.org cowflavors }}} === Enter the Install Environment === Chroot puts you in the new Ubuntu environment. "mount /proc" mounts proc in the new environment. You may also need to mount /sys, if you are on a 2.6 kernel. Finally if you run into errors accessing devices, mount /sys. If you have a separate boot partition, mount /boot before you do the other three commands. {{{ # mount /boot #If you have a separate boot partition. # mount -o bind /boot /mnt/ubuntu/boot # chroot /mnt/ubuntu # mount /proc }}} === Set up Base System === Setting up your locale and keyboard. """***If you do not do this then dpkg, may have problems, due to a bug in certain versions of dpkg.""" I use en-US ISO 8859-1, as I don't often type international characters, and can use a character selector in X when I do. en-US ISO 8859-15 contains mapping to type international characters. ("u becomes ΓΌ, etc) {{{ # dpkg-reconfigure locales console-data }}} === Install the Kernel and Botloader === When installing the linux kernel below, you have the option of installing one specifically for your particular processor. Your options are: linux-image-386 Safest linux-image-686 Optimized for Intel PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/PIV linux-image-686-smp Intel multiprocessor or hyperthreading machines. linux-image-k7 AMD K7, Athlon, AthlonXP etc. and higher. linux-image-k7-smp AMD K7, etc. Multiprocessor systems {{{ # apt-get install linux-image-386 # apt-get install grub }}} === Configuring Grub for Both Systems === As was mentioned initially, your original distribution should be using Grub. Grub is much more flexible than Lilo, and works very well for our purposes. Since your present/original system should already boot from Grub, all we have to do here is edit the menu.lst file to add Ubuntu. Because Linux starts numbering at hda1, but grub starts at (hd0,0), you must subtract 1 from the partition number. (hd0,2) is equivalent to hda3, and (hd1,0) is equivalent to hdb1. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst (and/or /boot/grub/grub.conf). If you have both, check and see if they are identical. If so, do the following. {{{ rm menu.lst ln -s grub.conf menu.lst }}} If they are not identical, either edit them both or determine which one your system boots from normally, keep that one, and make a link by the name of the original file which points to the file you kept (as above). Insert the following into the file, with the following caveats. A. "root (hd0,0)", replacing (hd0,0) with the device that contains your kernels. This is usually either your root or boot partition. B. "kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3" and "initrd /initrd.img" 1. If you have no boot partition, using the /vmlinuz and /initrd links should be fine. 2. If those do not work, use "kernel /boot/" and "initrd /boot/