Debian 9 was just released two days ago. Most of us got excited to download the new version and see what’s new. And also to test the new images and whether a safe upgrade can be done at the moment or not.
However, there seems to be a bug in all the Debian 9 live images. When you try to install it using the graphical installer, an error message appears:
“There was an error reading data from the CD-ROM. Please make sure it is in the drive… Failed to copy from CD-ROM, retry?”
When debugged a little bit, the reason seems to be the following error message which is shown in the log files. The installer can’t find the libzlo2-2-udeb_2.08-1.2+b2_amd64.udeb package:
cdrom-retriever: error: Unable to find `/w/work/free/gnomepool/main/libl/libzlo2-2-udeb/libzlo2-2-udeb_2.08-1.2+b2_amd64.udeb`
We faced the same bug when we also tried to download Debian 9 GNOME live. Other users on the Debian forums have confirmed the same problem as well for all the other Debian live images. GNOME, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, Cinnamon.. All live images are affected.
Users on the mailing list captured the error message:
Unfortunately, this bug doesn’t seem to be hardware-specific or local only for some users. Debian developers have confirmed the bug and they are already working on a fix for it. A bug report with ID #865015 was created on Debian Tracker in order to track the issue, with severity: Grave.
According to Debian developer Steve McIntyre, the real reason behind the bug is:
The Packages files in the image point to .debs using full path, not relative to the stuff in the image.
He’s also testing a fix. If his fix works well, all the Debian 9 lives images will have to be rebuilt again.
But until then, all Debian 9 Live images graphical installers are broken, you can’t install the system from it. You can, however, boot into the live system and play with it to see new features. There’s also a command-line installer, which I don’t know if it has the same problem or not.
If you are in a hurry to install Debian 9, you should download the Netinstall, DVD or small CD images in order to be able to install the system on your hard drive.
Update, 22 June, 00:07 AM GMT +3: Debian developers have released version 9.0.1 which contains bug fixes for this bug and a lot of other issues. You can check them from: http://get.debian.org/cdimage/release/current-live/
Gobsmacked. Did no developer, no person, no single individual, nobody anywhere in the entire chain of Debian development actually “try”, as in test(!?!), a live Debian image?!? I mean, seriously? *ALL* of the live images are broken and not one, single, solitary “developer” noticed?
Nobody?
So much for Debian’s much vaunted “testing” and stability. I mean, Jesus H., makes them look like a bunch of clowns, amateurs and hacks. What else are they utterly clueless about?
Yeah. Grave.
As in… that’s where you’ll find their reputation—in the grave.
Well well, stop complaining and start contributing! Debian installer has now worked flawless for decades, no need to lose your head of one problem, you are getting this software for free, aren’t you? As I said, contribute something and put your energy in there, instead of complaining and being part of the problem.
Yeah, quite a weird issue considering it’s not some post-install quirk but something that stands out in the first minute of the installation process. However, mistakes can happen, especially when the automated building script has an issue – which gets inherited by all the ISOs.
The good thing we already have a fix, so it was not a big problem for m. If it was, I could’ve simply used the regular install ISO.
They have fixed the issue now. They have released version 9.0.1 which should contain the fix for it. I still don’t believe such thing happened in Debian.