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U25

Member

Registered: 2025-11-27

Posts: 7  

[SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

Hi there,

I used Debian debootstrap to install Chimaera and Excalibur in directories.
Chimaera works well.
However, Excalibur failed to finalize installation dispute the similar environment.

1 Chimaera
1.1
Download http://deb.devuan.org/devuan/pool/main/ … n1_all.deb

copy file "ceres" to /usr/share/debootstrap/scripts/ as "ceres-devuan"
make the soft links @chimaera @excalibur for "ceres-devuan"

1.2
#sudo debootstrap --include "bash,zsh,wpasupplicant,locales,grub2,wget,curl,dhcpcd5" --arch amd64 chimaera /chroot/chimaera http://deb.devuan.org/merged/ chimaera
...
Base system installed successfully.

Now I can run
sudo chroot /chroot/chimaera /bin/su -l

It works well.

2 Excalibur
The same soft links @chimaera @excalibur for "ceres-devuan".

#sudo debootstrap --include "bash,zsh,wpasupplicant,locales,grub2,wget,curl,dhcpcd5" --arch amd64 excalibur /chroot/excalibur http://deb.devuan.org/merged/ excalibur
...
I: Extracting util-linux...
I: Extracting zlib1g...

At this point it suddenly stop.
No errors, but no complete installation neither.

--
Best regards

fsmithred

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 2,772  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

You have to exclude a few things and then you can add them later.
https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=47276#p47276

U25

Member

Registered: 2025-11-27

Posts: 7  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

It doesn't  work from Debian Bullseye.
(I doubt if "--exclude" works on Debian correctly nowadays.)

However, it's possible to debootstrap  Chimaera first
and then debootstrap Excalibur from inside chroot Chimaera.

No "--exclude" needed:
#debootstrap  --arch amd64 excalibur /loc_chroot/excalibur http://deb.devuan.org/merged/ excalibur

Works fine and the result can be moved back to the Debian host.

stultumanto

Member

Registered: 2023-12-12

Posts: 133  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

It doesn't  work from Debian Bullseye.

If you're installing Devuan from Debian (or the other way around) I would recommend using the --foreign/--second-stage method. This has worked for me in the past, when the standard single-stage method didn't.

Last edited by stultumanto (Yesterday 10:45:17)

U25

Member

Registered: 2025-11-27

Posts: 7  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

1
#sudo debootstrap  --foreign  --arch amd64 excalibur /loc_chroot/excalibur http://deb.devuan.org/merged/ excalibur
...
I: Extracting zlib1g...

(the same incomplete installation)

2
As I mention in my previous post - Chimaera first and Excalibur from inside Chimaera  - works.

Talking about debugging - Chimaera works and Excalibur is not. So, the issue not on the Debian side but Devuan,

Last edited by U25 (Today 05:56:58)

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,540  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

Perhaps you could show the tail end of the debootstrap.log file, for the failing case.

U25

Member

Registered: 2025-11-27

Posts: 7  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

1
#sudo debootstrap  --merged-usr  --arch amd64 excalibur /loc_chroot/excalibur http://deb.devuan.org/merged/ excalibur

2025-11-28 19:32:34 URL:http://deb.devuan.org/merged/pool/DEBIAN/main/v/vim/vim-tiny_9.1.1230-2_amd64.deb [775840/775840] -> "/loc_chroot/excalibur//var/cache/apt/archives/partial/vim-tiny_2%3a9
2025-11-28 19:32:35 URL:http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/n/newt/whiptail_0.52.25-1_amd64.deb [24712/24712] -> "/loc_chroot/excalibur//var/cache/apt/archives/partial/whiptail_0.52.25-1_amd6
2025-11-28 19:32:36 URL:http://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/z/zlib/zlib1g_1.3.dfsg+really1.3.1-1+b1_amd64.deb [88892/88892] -> "//loc_chroot/excalibur//var/cache/apt/archives/partial/zlib1g_1%
amd64: ok
/usr/share/debootstrap/scripts/excalibur: line 26: [: -eq: unary operator expected
amd64: ok
/usr/share/debootstrap/scripts/excalibur: line 26: [: -eq: unary operator expected
/usr/share/debootstrap/scripts/excalibur: line 116: merge_usr: command not found

2
#sudo debootstrap  --no-merged-usr  --arch amd64 excalibur /loc_chroot/excalibur http://deb.devuan.org/merged/ excalibur

E: Unmerged /usr is not compatible with excalibur

3
http://deb.devuan.org/devuan/pool/main/ … n1_all.deb
no longer available

4.1
http://deb.devuan.org/packages/merged/d … ackages.gz
has no "merge_usr"

4.2
http://deb.devuan.org/packages/merged/d … ackages.gz

Package: base-files
Version: 13.8+deb13u2devuan1
Essential: yes
Installed-Size: 390
Maintainer: Devuan Developers <devuan-dev@lists.dyne.org>
Architecture: amd64
Replaces: base, dpkg (<= 1.15.0), miscutils
Provides: base, usr-is-merged

#sudo debootstrap  --include=base-files  --arch amd64 excalibur /loc_chroot/excalibur http://deb.devuan.org/merged/ excalibur

...
I: Extracting zlib1g...

/loc_chroot/excalibur/debootstrap/debootstrap.log

/usr/share/debootstrap/scripts/excalibur: line 116: merge_usr: command not found

Last edited by U25 (Today 11:30:25)

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,540  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

1. please use code block markup for code blocks.

2. what do all those mean? same use case or different use case? successful or failing?

U25

Member

Registered: 2025-11-27

Posts: 7  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

1. code blocks added.
2. same use case, same result:

Debian Bullseye host.
Debootstrap Chimaera works.
Debootstrap Excalibur failed   ("merge_usr: command not found")

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,540  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

Which deboostrap version are you using?

EDIT: the reason I'm asking is because "merge_usr" is defined in the "functions" that come with the debootstrap installation, since excalibur.

U25

Member

Registered: 2025-11-27

Posts: 7  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

Debian Bullseye host
debootstrap 1.0.123+deb11u1

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,540  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

Right. That's wrong for debootstrapping Devuan. You need to use Devuan's debootstrap for that.
Where did you get that "excalibur" script from?

U25

Member

Registered: 2025-11-27

Posts: 7  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

I mentioned it in the very first post.

http://deb.devuan.org/devuan/pool/main/ … n1_all.deb
...
copy file "ceres" to /usr/share/debootstrap/scripts/ as "ceres-devuan"
make the soft links @chimaera @excalibur for "ceres-devuan"

Again, Chimaera works well this way. Excalibur failed.

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,540  

Re: [SOLVED] Debootstrap Excalibur

You wish Devuan developers to debug Debian's debootstrap?