[Bug 217925] Re: migration assistant doesn't offer to migrate users from my debian system

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

[Expired for migration-assistant (Ubuntu) because there has been no
activity for 60 days.]

** Changed in: migration-assistant (Ubuntu)
       Status: Incomplete => Expired

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/217925

Title:
  migration assistant doesn't offer to migrate users from my debian
  system

Status in “migration-assistant” package in Ubuntu:
  Expired

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: migration-assistant

  Under hardy beta's live-cd, recently migration assistant stopped
  offering to migrate accounts from a partition containing a debian
  distribution. The live cd is from 4/14/08.

  I investigated this and it appears to me it is because of a change on
  3/30/08 to the configuration of kernel drivers. On my system, and
  others like it, the ide  driver was changed to a PATA version which
  renamed my ide partitions from /dev/hd.. to /dev/sd...

  The change is linux (2.6.24-13.23) hardy and it relates to bug181561.
  See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/restricted-
  manager/+bug/181561/comments/68

  The change disrupts the parsing of the debian system's /etc/fstab
  file, which lists the disks by the old names. Unlike by gutsy systems,
  the debian system does not mount /home by label or uuid.

  I don't know how many systems are affected by the driver change. If
  there is a sizable number, perhaps some consideration should be given
  to an entry in the release notes, etc. if the change might trigger
  other problems.

  Otherwise there's probably not much to be done to fix this. migration-
  assistant can't know on its own with certainty where a system's /home
  directory can be found without information relative to its
  understanding of what partition is what.

  I did find the following circumvention worked for me:

  Before starting the installation open a terminal window with Applications->Accessories->Terminal
  then enter the following command:

  sudo ln -s /dev/sdb6 /dev/hdb6

  Then start the installation

  Others may find this useful. Substitute the new and old device names
  for the partition you would like to migrate. The command makes the old
  device name known to migration-assistant.

  File /usr/share/migration-assistant/ma-script-utils on gutsy and hardy
  makes note of this kind of situation as a potential problem.

  When running ubiquity and migration assistant under an installed hardy
  assistant it may be possible to circumvent this problem by forcing the
  old ide driver to run at boot time, causing the software to run under
  a system using the old device names.

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