-
My
-testing
-of Debian upgrades from Lenny to Squeeze continues, and I've
-finally made the upgrade logs available from
-http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-upgrade-testing/.
-I am now testing dist-upgrade of Gnome and KDE in a chroot using both
-apt and aptitude, and found their differences interesting. This time
-I will only focus on their removal plans.
-
-
After installing a Gnome desktop and the laptop task, apt-get wants
-to remove 72 packages when dist-upgrading from Lenny to Squeeze. The
-surprising part is that it want to remove xorg and all
-xserver-xorg-video* drivers. Clearly not a good choice, but I am not
-sure why. When asking aptitude to do the same, it want to remove 129
-packages, but most of them are library packages I suspect are no
-longer needed. Both of them want to remove bluetooth packages, which
-I do not know. Perhaps these bluetooth packages are obsolete?
-
-
For KDE, apt-get want to remove 82 packages, among them kdebase
-which seem like a bad idea and xorg the same way as with Gnome. Asking
-aptitude for the same, it wants to remove 192 packages, none which are
-too surprising.
-
-
I guess the removal of xorg during upgrades should be investigated
-and avoided, and perhaps others as well. Here are the complete list
-of planned removals. The complete logs is available from the URL
-above. Note if you want to repeat these tests, that the upgrade test
-for kde+apt-get hung in the tasksel setup because of dpkg asking
-conffile questions. No idea why. I worked around it by using
-'echo >> /proc/pidofdpkg/fd/0' to tell dpkg to
-continue.
-
-
apt-get gnome 72
-
bluez-gnome cupsddk-drivers deskbar-applet gnome
- gnome-desktop-environment gnome-network-admin gtkhtml3.14
- iceweasel-gnome-support libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libgdl-1-0
- libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libmetacity0 libslab0 libxcb-xlib0
- nautilus-cd-burner python-gnome2-desktop python-gnome2-extras
- serpentine swfdec-mozilla update-manager xorg xserver-xorg
- xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
- xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
- xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
- xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
- xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
- xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
- xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
- xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
- xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
- xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
- xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
- xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
- xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
- xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
- xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
- xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
- xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
- xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
- xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
- xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
- xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
- xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9
- xulrunner-1.9-gnome-support
-
-
aptitude gnome 129
-
-
bluez-gnome bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers dhcdbd
- djvulibre-desktop finger gnome-app-install gnome-mount
- gnome-network-admin gnome-spell gnome-vfs-obexftp
- gnome-volume-manager gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gtkhtml3.14 libao2
- libavahi-compat-libdnssd1 libavahi-core5 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
- libcamel1.2-11 libcdio7 libcucul0 libcupsys2 libcurl3 libdatrie0
- libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdvdread3 libedataserver1.2-9 libeel2-2.20
- libeel2-data libepc-1.0-1 libepc-ui-1.0-1 libfaad0 libgail-common
- libgd2-noxpm libgda3-3 libgda3-common libgdl-1-0 libgdl-1-common
- libggz2 libggzcore9 libggzmod4 libgksu1.2-0 libgksuui1.0-1 libgmyth0
- libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomekbd2 libgnomekbdui2 libgnomeprint2.2-0
- libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-common
- libgnomevfs2-bin libgpod3 libgraphviz4 libgtkhtml2-0
- libgtksourceview-common libgtksourceview1.0-0 libgucharmap6
- libhesiod0 libicu38 libiw29 libkpathsea4 libltdl3 libmagick++10
- libmagick10 libmalaga7 libmetacity0 libmtp7 libmysqlclient15off
- libnautilus-burn4 libneon27 libnm-glib0 libnm-util0 libopal-2.2
- libosp5 libparted1.8-10 libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler3 libpt-1.10.10
- libpt-1.10.10-plugins-alsa libpt-1.10.10-plugins-v4l libraw1394-8
- libsensors3 libslab0 libsmbios2 libsoup2.2-8 libssh2-1
- libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libswfdec-0.6-90 libtalloc1 libtotem-plparser10
- libtrackerclient0 libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0
- libxerces2-java libxerces2-java-gcj libxklavier12 libxtrap6
- libxxf86misc1 libzephyr3 mysql-common nautilus-cd-burner
- openoffice.org-writer2latex openssl-blacklist p7zip
- python-4suite-xml python-eggtrayicon python-gnome2-desktop
- python-gnome2-extras python-gtkhtml2 python-gtkmozembed
- python-numeric python-sexy serpentine svgalibg1 swfdec-gnome
- swfdec-mozilla totem-gstreamer update-manager wodim
- xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
- xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
- zip
-
-
apt-get kde 82
-
-
cupsddk-drivers karm kaudiocreator kcoloredit kcontrol kde kde-core
- kdeaddons kdeartwork kdebase kdebase-bin kdebase-bin-kde3
- kdebase-kio-plugins kdesktop kdeutils khelpcenter kicker
- kicker-applets knewsticker kolourpaint konq-plugins konqueror korn
- kpersonalizer kscreensaver ksplash libavcodec51 libdatrie0 libkiten1
- libxcb-xlib0 quanta superkaramba texlive-base-bin xorg xserver-xorg
- xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-evdev
- xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
- xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom
- xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark
- xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
- xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-cyrix
- xserver-xorg-video-dummy xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
- xserver-xorg-video-glint xserver-xorg-video-i128
- xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-imstt
- xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
- xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
- xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-nv
- xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
- xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd
- xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
- xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
- xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
- xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
- xserver-xorg-video-tga xserver-xorg-video-trident
- xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l
- xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vga
- xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo xulrunner-1.9
-
-
aptitude kde 192
-
bluez-utils cpp-4.3 cupsddk-drivers cvs dcoprss dhcdbd
- djvulibre-desktop dosfstools eyesapplet fifteenapplet finger gettext
- ghostscript-x imlib-base imlib11 indi kandy karm kasteroids
- kaudiocreator kbackgammon kbstate kcoloredit kcontrol kcron kdat
- kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdeartwork-misc kdeartwork-theme-window
- kdebase-bin-kde3 kdebase-kio-plugins kdeedu-data
- kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kdelirc kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data
- kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdenetwork-kfile-plugins
- kdepim-kfile-plugins kdepim-kio-plugins kdeprint kdesktop kdessh
- kdict kdnssd kdvi kedit keduca kenolaba kfax kfaxview kfouleggs
- kghostview khelpcenter khexedit kiconedit kitchensync klatin
- klickety kmailcvt kmenuedit kmid kmilo kmoon kmrml kodo kolourpaint
- kooka korn kpager kpdf kpercentage kpf kpilot kpoker kpovmodeler
- krec kregexpeditor ksayit ksim ksirc ksirtet ksmiletris ksmserver
- ksnake ksokoban ksplash ksvg ksysv ktip ktnef kuickshow kverbos
- kview kviewshell kvoctrain kwifimanager kwin kwin4 kworldclock
- kxsldbg libakode2 libao2 libarts1-akode libarts1-audiofile
- libarts1-mpeglib libarts1-xine libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
- libavahi-core5 libavc1394-0 libavcodec51 libbluetooth2
- libboost-python1.34.1 libcucul0 libcurl3 libcvsservice0 libdatrie0
- libdirectfb-1.0-0 libdjvulibre21 libdvdread3 libfaad0 libfreebob0
- libgail-common libgd2-noxpm libgraphviz4 libgsmme1c2a libgtkhtml2-0
- libicu38 libiec61883-0 libindex0 libiw29 libk3b3 libkcal2b libkcddb1
- libkdeedu3 libkdepim1a libkgantt0 libkiten1 libkleopatra1 libkmime2
- libkpathsea4 libkpimexchange1 libkpimidentities1 libkscan1
- libksieve0 libktnef1 liblockdev1 libltdl3 libmagick10 libmimelib1c2a
- libmozjs1d libmpcdec3 libneon27 libnm-util0 libopensync0 libpisock9
- libpoppler-glib3 libpoppler-qt2 libpoppler3 libraw1394-8 libsmbios2
- libssh2-1 libsuitesparse-3.1.0 libtalloc1 libtiff-tools
- libxalan2-java libxalan2-java-gcj libxcb-xlib0 libxerces2-java
- libxerces2-java-gcj libxtrap6 mpeglib networkstatus
- openoffice.org-writer2latex pmount poster psutils quanta quanta-data
- superkaramba svgalibg1 tex-common texlive-base texlive-base-bin
- texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-fonts-recommended
- xserver-xorg-video-cyrix xserver-xorg-video-imstt
- xserver-xorg-video-nsc xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vga
- xulrunner-1.9
+
Most of the computers in use by the
+Debian Edu/Skolelinux project
+are virtual machines. And they have been Xen machines running on a
+fairly old IBM eserver xseries 345 machine, and we wanted to migrate
+them to KVM on a newer Dell PowerEdge 2950 host machine. This was a
+bit harder that it could have been, because we set up the Xen virtual
+machines to get the virtual partitions from LVM, which as far as I
+know is not supported by KVM. So to migrate, we had to convert
+several LVM logical volumes to partitions on a virtual disk file.
+
+
I found
+a
+nice recipe to do this, and wrote the following script to do the
+migration. It uses qemu-img from the qemu package to make the disk
+image, parted to partition it, losetup and kpartx to present the disk
+image partions as devices, and dd to copy the data. I NFS mounted the
+new servers storage area on the old server to do the migration.
+
+
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Based on
+# http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com.au/articles/35011-Six-steps-for-migrating-Xen-virtual-machines-to-KVM
+set -e
+set -x
+
+if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
+ echo "Usage: $0 <hostname>"
+ exit 1
+else
+ host="$1"
+fi
+
+if [ ! -e /dev/vg_data/$host-disk ] ; then
+ echo "error: unable to find LVM volume for $host"
+ exit 1
+fi
+
+# Partitions need to be a bit bigger than the LVM LVs. not sure why.
+disksize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-disk | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
+swapsize=$( lvs --units m | grep $host-swap | awk '{sum = sum + $4} END { print int(sum * 1.05) }')
+totalsize=$(( ( $disksize + $swapsize ) ))
+
+img=$host.img
+#dd if=/dev/zero of=$img bs=1M count=$(( $disksize + $swapsize ))
+qemu-img create $img ${totalsize}MMaking room on the Debian Edu/Sqeeze DVD
+
+parted $img mklabel msdos
+parted $img mkpart primary linux-swap 0 $disksize
+parted $img mkpart primary ext2 $disksize $totalsize
+parted $img set 1 boot on
+
+modprobe dm-mod
+losetup /dev/loop0 $img
+kpartx -a /dev/loop0
+
+dd if=/dev/vg_data/$host-disk of=/dev/mapper/loop0p1 bs=1M
+fsck.ext3 -f /dev/mapper/loop0p1 || true
+mkswap /dev/mapper/loop0p2
+
+kpartx -d /dev/loop0
+losetup -d /dev/loop0
+
+
+
The script is perhaps so simple that it is not copyrightable, but
+if it is, it is licenced using GPL v2 or later at your discretion.
+
+
After doing this, I booted a Debian CD in rescue mode in KVM with
+the new disk image attached, installed grub-pc and linux-image-686 and
+set up grub to boot from the disk image. After this, the KVM machines
+seem to work just fine.
