Syslinux - Apr 2014 - syslinux fails to make a bootable USB stick in Slackware64-14.1 installer

Running "syslinux -s /dev/dsb" during installation of Slackware64-14.1
(to make a bootable USB stick)  fails like this:

Error converting to codepage 850 Invalid argument
Cannot initialize 'S:'
Bad target s:/ldlinux.sys
syslinux: failed to create ldlinux.sys

But running the same command in the installed system succeeds.

In both cases we are using syslinux-4.0.6 (same syslinux binary in the initrd
and in the installed system, checked with md5sum).

*But* the same command succeeds in the installer of Slackware-14.0 (syslinux
4.0.5).

I didn't find a clue with strace (output appended).

What should I do to investigate further, or where should I look at?

TIA,

Didier
-------------- next part --------------
execve("/bin/syslinux", ["syslinux", "-s",
"/dev/sdb"], [/* 18 vars */]) = 0
brk(0)                                  = 0xfb1000
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) =
0x7f5949c3d000
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or
directory)
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=5486, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 5486, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f5949c3b000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/lib64/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
read(3,
"\177ELF\2\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\220\36\2\0\0\0\0\0"...,
832) = 832
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=2098910, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 3965536, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) =
0x7f5949652000
mprotect(0x7f5949811000, 2093056, PROT_NONE) = 0
mmap(0x7f5949a10000, 24576, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1be000) = 0x7f5949a10000
mmap(0x7f5949a16000, 16992, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f5949a16000
close(3)                                = 0
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) =
0x7f5949c3a000
mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) =
0x7f5949c38000
arch_prctl(ARCH_SET_FS, 0x7f5949c38740) = 0
mprotect(0x7f5949a10000, 16384, PROT_READ) = 0
mprotect(0x7f5949c3e000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
munmap(0x7f5949c3b000, 5486)            = 0
getpid()                                = 6081
open("/dev/sdb", O_RDWR)                = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFBLK|0660, st_rdev=makedev(8, 16), ...}) = 0
pread(3,
"\353<\220mkfs.fat\0\2\10\1\0\2\0\2\352{\370\20\0>\0\4\0\0\0\0\0"...,
512, 0) = 512
brk(0)                                  = 0xfb1000
brk(0xfd2000)                           = 0xfd2000
open("/tmp//syslinux-mtools-bR8yL6", O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_EXCL, 0600) = 4
fcntl(4, F_GETFL)                       = 0x8002 (flags O_RDWR|O_LARGEFILE)
fstat(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0600, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) =
0x7f5949c3c000
lseek(4, 0, SEEK_CUR)                   = 0
write(4, "MTOOLS_SKIP_CHECK=1\nMTOOLS_FAT_C"..., 92) = 92
close(4)                                = 0
munmap(0x7f5949c3c000, 4096)            = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGINT, {SIG_IGN, [], SA_RESTORER, 0x7f5949688e50}, {SIG_DFL, [],
0}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, {SIG_IGN, [], SA_RESTORER, 0x7f5949688e50}, {SIG_DFL, [],
0}, 8) = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD], [], 8) = 0
clone(child_stack=0, flags=CLONE_PARENT_SETTID|SIGCHLD,
parent_tidptr=0x7fffded44270) = 6082
wait4(6082, [{WIFEXITED(s) && WEXITSTATUS(s) == 1}], 0, NULL) = 6082
rt_sigaction(SIGINT, {SIG_DFL, [], SA_RESTORER, 0x7f5949688e50}, NULL, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, {SIG_DFL, [], SA_RESTORER, 0x7f5949688e50}, NULL, 8) = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 0
--- SIGCHLD {si_signo=SIGCHLD, si_code=CLD_EXITED, si_pid=6082, si_status=1,
si_utime=0, si_stime=0} ---
pipe2([4, 5], O_CLOEXEC)                = 0
clone(child_stack=0, flags=CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID|CLONE_CHILD_SETTID|SIGCHLD,
child_tidptr=0x7f5949c38a10) = 6084
close(4)                                = 0
fcntl(5, F_SETFD, 0)                    = 0
fstat(5, {st_mode=S_IFIFO|0600, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) =
0x7f5949c3c000
write(5, "\r\nSYSLINUX 4.06
\0\r\n\32\0\0\0\0\376\2\262>\257s\214o"..., 36864) = 36864
write(5,
"\245/-Zg\27\4\243\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"...,
1024) = 1024
close(5)                                = 0
wait4(6084, Error converting to codepage 850 Invalid argument
Cannot initialize 'S:'
Bad target s:/ldlinux.sys
[{WIFEXITED(s) && WEXITSTATUS(s) == 1}], 0, NULL) = 6084
--- SIGCHLD {si_signo=SIGCHLD, si_code=CLD_EXITED, si_pid=6084, si_status=1,
si_utime=1, si_stime=0} ---
munmap(0x7f5949c3c000, 4096)            = 0
write(2, "syslinux: failed to create ldlin"..., 39syslinux: failed to
create ldlinux.sys
) = 39
exit_group(1)                           = ?
+++ exited with 1 +++

On 04/16/2014 02:15 PM, Didier Spaier wrote:
> Running "syslinux -s /dev/dsb" during installation of
Slackware64-14.1
> (to make a bootable USB stick)  fails like this:
> 
> Error converting to codepage 850 Invalid argument
> Cannot initialize 'S:'
> Bad target s:/ldlinux.sys
> syslinux: failed to create ldlinux.sys
> 
> But running the same command in the installed system succeeds.
> 
> In both cases we are using syslinux-4.0.6 (same syslinux binary in the
> initrd and in the installed system, checked with md5sum).
> 
> *But* the same command succeeds in the installer of Slackware-14.0
> (syslinux 4.0.5).
> 
> I didn't find a clue with strace (output appended).
> 
> What should I do to investigate further, or where should I look at?
> 
This message comes from mtools, so it is probably a difference in the
version of mtools that is the problem.

	-hpa

On 16/04/2014 23:46, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> On 04/16/2014 02:15 PM, Didier Spaier wrote:
>> Running "syslinux -s /dev/dsb" during installation of
Slackware64-14.1
>> (to make a bootable USB stick)  fails like this:
>>
>> Error converting to codepage 850 Invalid argument
>> Cannot initialize 'S:'
>> Bad target s:/ldlinux.sys
>> syslinux: failed to create ldlinux.sys
>>
>> But running the same command in the installed system succeeds.
>>
>> In both cases we are using syslinux-4.0.6 (same syslinux binary in the
>> initrd and in the installed system, checked with md5sum).
>>
>> *But* the same command succeeds in the installer of Slackware-14.0
>> (syslinux 4.0.5).
>>
>> I didn't find a clue with strace (output appended).
>>
>> What should I do to investigate further, or where should I look at?
>>
>
> This message comes from mtools, so it is probably a difference in the
> version of mtools that is the problem.
Confirmed, thanks Hans.

Since mtools-4.0.0 a codepage is used that defaults to 850

I added "default_codepage=437" to /etc/mtools.conf and now I get:

Error converting to codepage 437 Invalid argument

So I assume that we need to ship iconv in the initrd.

I'll check tomorrow and report the results.

Didier