Error wih the Fedora installer

[DGeeez]

I have attempted maybe 15 distro installations, and while not every one of them was successful (a few actually failed to load the installer on my machines), I never got stuck at the partition window. Now I'm stuck with errors while trying to install current Fedora from the iso I just burned.

I downloaded the default version from the main Fedora Project site, and went through the install process up to the partitioning window. I selected the space which I wanted (about 50G), selected the root for the mount point, and selected the default - yes that's the default format, ext3. No, I'm not surprised that this is the default, and I don't love risk enough that I would have considered going with otherwise at this point. What I couldn't believe was the error

Your partition does not match the live image you are installing from. It must be formatted in ext4.

At this point I sort of wondered why the default
was ext3.

I had been under the impression that ext4 is still an experiment, but apparently Fedora seems to think otherwise, so I went and changed the format option to ext4. The error which this produced looks crazier than any practical joke:

Bootable partitions cannot be on an ext4 filesystem.

So, I must format to ext4 in order to use the eurrent version, but if I do then I can't boot from it. I don't think I have ever booted from a non-file system disk, so it's kinda got me stumped. Even if the boot doesn't need to be in the system partition, do I need to create a new one just for this purpose, or can I just use one with an existing system (why does this seem to be getting silly, and then how is it supposed to be any different)? What is it that I have to do to get Fedora installed as it now is?

Thanks.

[meton_magis]

EXT4 is not expiremental, it is considered stable (it is not really all that different from EXT3, just an extension.)

I have not installed fedora in a bit, so this is from memory, but I believe you need to format / to ext4, and /boot to ext3.

"I don't love risk enough that I would have considered going with otherwise at this point."
Ext 4 is not experimental, and is not a risky filesystem in any way. If you are REALLY conscerned that it is relatively new, then I'd suggest you pick a distro that is less bleeding edge, maybe debian or CentOS (I've never used Debian, but it has quite a reputation for being stable. I've used CentOS, which is redhat based, so similar to fedora, but it is made for enterprise systems, so it is pretty close to rock solid.)

[DGeeez]

EXT4 is not expiremental, it is considered stable (it is not really all that different from EXT3, just an extension.)

I have not installed fedora in a bit, so this is from memory, but I believe you need to format / to ext4, and /boot to ext3.

Would I be too much of a stupid noob for asking why both wouldn't be ready for ext4?

"I don't love risk enough that I would have considered going with otherwise at this point."
Ext 4 is not experimental, and is not a risky filesystem in any way. If you are REALLY conscerned that it is relatively new, then I'd suggest you pick a distro that is less bleeding edge, maybe debian or CentOS (I've never used Debian, but it has quite a reputation for being stable. I've used CentOS, which is redhat based, so similar to fedora, but it is made for enterprise systems, so it is pretty close to rock solid.)

LOL, I have no opinion, and I apologize if I come off as opinionated. A few months ago the web buzz was about ext4, and that it's faster - cool! Some people consider every new thing experimental until it's been mainstream for enough years to work out all the unexpected bugs. My reasoning is also that there may be a valid reason why Fedora is about as popular as the Ubuntu which I'm sick of. Noteably, Fedora doesn't show condescending attitude, splashed all over a mock-cafe website, and served up by jackalopes and other strange creatures of alliteration - therefore, if I can find a way of getting Fedora installed, I'd like to give it a try!

[meton_magis]

As I understand it, Grub (the bootloader) does not have a way to read and boot off of EXT4 partitions (at least didn't at the time of Fedora 11) so you have to use EXT3 to hold grub files and your kernel. Once grub passes to your kernel (and initrd) you have access to EXT4, which can then boot your root partition, and the rest of your system.



I myself have never been one for ubuntu. I never got into their culture, but the way the distro is designed doesn't fit what I want out of the OS I use, so I didn't stick with them.

Fedora as a whole is considered to be a testing bed of quite a lot of "experimental" software though, so if this is a conscerne, I'd shy away from it. I use fedora almost exclusively, and have never had any serious problems, but I use it for desktop use where I reformat every 6 months for a clean install of the new fedora, so nothing is critical.