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Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

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MouettE
Site admin
Posts: 341
Joined: 06 Oct 2011, 19:45

Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by MouettE »

Hello everyone,

I've just release the debian bullseye image for the B3. Sorry it took a little more time as usual. As for the buster image, this image is constructed from 3 different projects : the bullseye OS image itself, an install/rescue system and an installer script. More details on these further in this post.

Current users of the buster image can also directly upgrade their system using standard system tools. More details below.

First the link and quick howtos for install and upgrade:
Quick install howto

This works the same way as the buster image:
  • Unzip the downloaded file on a fat-formatted usb key with a partition table
  • By default the installer will wipe the entire disk. If you wish to keep the existing data of your device, edit the install.ini file inside the install directory and set wipe to false at the bottom of the file. The installer will then only format the first partition of the drive.
  • plug the usb key on the B3 and apply power while pushing the rear button.
  • The rescue/install system will start, format the drive, extract the bullseye image and reboot the server.
  • By default the network is configured for dhcp on both network interface. It can be changed in the install.ini file (the installer will now copy the network settings from install.ini to the bullseye system by default. This can be changed in the install.ini file).
  • If the LED turns red, something went wrong. Turn off the server and post the install.log file which is created in the install directory of the key so I can help you out.
  • When the LED is solid blue you can ssh into the box with user 'excito' (no quotes) and password 'excito' (no quotes). Then you can 'su' ; the root password is 'excito' (no quotes).
  • Once you're logged in I strongly recommend to set the locale and timezone of your server (its defaults are POSIX and UTC). Run the following commands :

    Code: Select all

    dpkg-reconfigure locales
    dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
    
Quick upgrade howto

I recommend you go through the bullseye release notes which include upgrade instructions. The only b3 specific task you need to do is to update the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/excito.list and change buster to bullseye inside when preparing apt sources (step 4.3 of the upgrade guide)

That being said if you want to go fast and don't mind fixing broken stuff after the upgrade here is a very quick-and-dirty how-to :
  • update packages to the latest version with apt-get update and apt-get upgrade
  • replace stretch with bullseye in /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/excito.list
  • Replace the buster security repository definition with

    Code: Select all

    deb https://deb.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib
  • run

    Code: Select all

    apt-get update
    and

    Code: Select all

    apt-get dist-upgrade
  • reboot the b3, check the running kernel with uname -a (should be a 5.10.x kernel) and check services with systemctl status
  • Fix whatever needs to be fixed :)
  • run

    Code: Select all

    apt-get autoremove --purge
    to cleanup old packages.
OS image contents

The bullseye OS is a very minimal debian install with only the core packages needed to start and ssh into the server. The image was bootstraped directly from standard debian utils (not built from upgrade of a previous version). There is a github repository which describes all the steps taken to build it.
  • The kernel used is Linux LTS 5.10.x series with Excito patches. This is actually the series used in debian and it's LTS upstream. Sources are available on github
  • Excito-specific packages (kernel, button and led management) are available in a repository I maintain on the Excito servers. The image is pre-configured to use it so further upgrades can be installed with apt tools. Everything is on github too.
  • U-Boot tools are installed and configured so you can play with u-boot if you dare. WARNING this is risky business, use it at your own risk.
  • The root password is 'excito' (without quotes) and I've also created an excito user with the same password. Note that by default in stretch you can not ssh directly as root with a password.
  • SSH host keys are generated on the first boot and it takes a few seconds.
  • The default network configuration is DHCP for both interfaces. It may be overridden by the install.ini configuration.
The install/rescue system

Full sources and rudimentary compilation instructions are available on github.

The installer script

I've also updated the installer script with a couple of fixes and the most-requested option of copying the network settings from the install/rescue system to the installed stretch system. Everything else work the same way and is still configured through the install.ini file on the USB install key. It's heavily commented so all the options can be understood and changed accordingly.

Also in rescue-only or if reboot is disabled, the install script on exit will also still animate the LED to dictate the first IP address of the box. It's bonus 8) and will hopefully make it easier to know the DHCP-attributed address of the server.

Conclusion

As always ask as many questions as you want I will be more than happy to answer them.

Charles
OldB3User
Posts: 7
Joined: 28 Oct 2018, 04:06

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by OldB3User »

Hi

Thanks for this. I am having trouble installing/updating a lot of packages that boil down to a virtual package being missing that is provided by libc6-udeb:

Code: Select all

root@serverb3:~# apt install apache2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 apache2 : Depends: apache2-bin (= 2.4.51-1~deb11u1) but it is not going to be installed
           Depends: apache2-utils (= 2.4.51-1~deb11u1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
root@serverb3:~# apt install apache2-bin
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 apache2-bin : Depends: libapr1 (>= 1.7.0) but 1.6.5-1+b1 is to be installed
               Depends: libcrypt1 (>= 1:4.1.0) but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/libcrypt1

Similar result installing bind9-dnsutils for example. This is when upgrading from Buster to Bullseye, not a fresh install.
OldB3User
Posts: 7
Joined: 28 Oct 2018, 04:06

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by OldB3User »

Oops, I didn’t RTFM properly and forgot to edit the sources.list file. I blame being in a moving car at the time.
Gordon
Posts: 1461
Joined: 10 Aug 2011, 03:18

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by Gordon »

OldB3User wrote: 22 Dec 2021, 18:46 Hi

Thanks for this. I am having trouble installing/updating a lot of packages that boil down to a virtual package being missing that is provided by libc6-udeb:

Similar result installing bind9-dnsutils for example. This is when upgrading from Buster to Bullseye, not a fresh install.
libcrypt has been deprecated for a long time and has been replaced by libxcrypt. Debian appears to have done something strange though, as the link you provided indicates that libcrypt1 is in fact created from libxcrypt source and trying to find this package in the pool I did not find it under libc but under libx which I suppose may be confusing to the package manager and likely requires some sort of translate module that is (currently) missing from your system.

Your best option at this point thus appears to be to manually download the package from http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/libx/libxcrypt/ and install it using dpkg.
OldB3User
Posts: 7
Joined: 28 Oct 2018, 04:06

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by OldB3User »

Thanks Gordon. See my post above. I forgot to edit sources.list, only the excito one. Apache updated without any drama once I did things properly.
Gordon
Posts: 1461
Joined: 10 Aug 2011, 03:18

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by Gordon »

OldB3User wrote: 24 Dec 2021, 03:42 Thanks Gordon. See my post above. I forgot to edit sources.list, only the excito one. Apache updated without any drama once I did things properly.
Excellent! May be worth noting that where excito list points to does not contain anything that will run on recent Debian (as far as I know).
Clive
Posts: 164
Joined: 07 Mar 2007, 07:15

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by Clive »

Thanks Charles ! The upgrade went fine for me. I had a few issues with Apache2/PHP/Wordpress after the upgrade, but removing them and re-installing solved my issues. (Directory permissions on the wordpress directory /var/www/html/wordpress had me struggling for a while)

Thanks again for all your work to keep our (ancient) B3's up and running. :D

Although I run numerous Raspberry PI's, the B3 always feels so much more stable and reliable, even with a 10 year old HDD and components. It's the only server I have which I can be confident will not crash or have strange issues. Although I don't use it as my main file storage anymore, it is still the backup server and gateway from the outside into the the rest of my network..
grushog
Posts: 5
Joined: 19 Oct 2008, 05:18

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by grushog »

I have upgraded as well.

I did have an issue with "/" being owned by the "excito" user rather than "root".
Probably due to my own error when doing the original install back in 2017.
After fixing this the upgrade went smooth.

Thanks for keeping this alive.
elsbernd
Posts: 32
Joined: 18 Jul 2012, 17:40

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by elsbernd »

I just upgraded my second B3 to bullseye. Bought them in 2012 (?). Still using it.
The most complex thing was the replacement of the dead 3.5 disk with a Samsung SSD. I know the usage of screw drivers but haven't used them in recent years :-)
Well, installation went smooth.

Thank you very much for your effort supporting the hardware in all those years.
Satrap
Posts: 12
Joined: 13 Jan 2012, 15:50

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by Satrap »

@MouettE

thank you for bullseye image!
I'm trying to upgrade my old B3 wifi to intel AC wlan . iwlwifi firmware. Unfortunately I need to load modules and firmware for iwlwifi.
In /usr/lib/modules/5.10.87-1/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ seems to be missing intel subfolder. Is kernel from your image compiled without iwl modules and do I need to recompile kernel in order to activate this option? Or isn't it working with this board generally?
Gordon
Posts: 1461
Joined: 10 Aug 2011, 03:18

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by Gordon »

You can verify with

Code: Select all

zcat /proc/config.gz | grep IWL
I suspect you will find it is not included as this is a fairly new driver and typically while upgrading kernels you reference the config of the old kernel and only add stuff if some core service requires it.
MouettE
Site admin
Posts: 341
Joined: 06 Oct 2011, 19:45

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by MouettE »

Gordon wrote: 22 May 2022, 06:29 I suspect you will find it is not included as this is a fairly new driver and typically while upgrading kernels you reference the config of the old kernel and only add stuff if some core service requires it.
Your suspicion is correct :-). A new version is currently compiling with the intel wifi drivers added. It should be uploaded to the repository by tomorrow (compilation usually takes 7-8 hours).
Satrap
Posts: 12
Joined: 13 Jan 2012, 15:50

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by Satrap »

Thank you!
I'll check it out, once I unbricked my B3 again. Tried to add bigger hard drive yesterday and tried to flash u-boot. Now nothing is working anymore :roll: :lol:

So I created another topic :roll: viewtopic.php?t=6533
MouettE
Site admin
Posts: 341
Joined: 06 Oct 2011, 19:45

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by MouettE »

The kernel is ready but I saw a minor issue with leftover files after upgrade/removal. I'll need to rebuild the package tomorrow, it should be uploaded afterwards, I'll let you know.
fredrikj
Posts: 45
Joined: 27 Jul 2011, 12:31

Re: Debian bullseye (11) image 1.0 released for B3

Post by fredrikj »

Mouette, I saw this commit:
> Imported new upstream version 5.10.117
https://github.com/Excito/kernel-5.10/c ... e02f05d339

Does that mean that you'll roll out kernel 5.10.117 as a stable update to all bullseye users now? If so, yay! :)
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