Debian 11: "grub-install failed", with no further information

 Debian have settled into a every-two-years release pattern.  But, just as Viz was no longer funny once they had a regular publication schedule, so Debian is no longer functioning software, now that they've found a regular release schedule.

The bitrot is everywhere, from basic editors and window managers to the "venerable" installer.

In this instance, having been through the painful process of mostly installing from DVD Debian 11, which Debian still insist on referring to by their idiotic "codename", we are told:

"Unable to install GRUM in dummy. Executing 'grub-install dummy' failed. This is a fatal error".

This may have something to do with the UEFI / "legacy" boot system choice.  I haven't managed to work out any consistent rules for which setting is required in the BIOS for Debian to successfully install.  But the installer is clearly failing to detect a situation it can't handle well, or provide useful information to the user.  Why is the user being shown "dummy" something?  It doesn't mean anything.

This is on a Zotac CI329.  I checked in the BIOS and boot mode was set to UEFI.  I set it to legacy and am trying again.  As a user experience, this is not acceptable.

Why does the thing still interrupt half-way thru a time-consuming process, to ask whether the poor user wants to "participate in the package usage survey", with the default to No?  So they have to answer it, and then wait again.  Is this a decision?  Or has it just stayed in there, since the author bugged out, so it just gets to stay the same?  If it wasn't broken, sure, don't fix it.  But it's full of quirks like this, places where obvious improvement is possible.  In this case, just by removing something, not adding it.

While it's trying again to install, here are some more observations.  

The disk partitioning is shonky.  It seems very stateful.  You can't configure the block layer above, until the block layer below is committed to the drive.  It defaults to having swap, and shouldn't.  When you remove the swap, it asks you whether you want to go back and actually yes have swap, and defaults to yes.  There are arbitrary labels on things like buttons and list items like "Finish", "Done", "Forwards!", or whatever.  The one that actually moves on is unpredictable. 

The network stuff is bad.  To configure a standalone box that has network hardware, you have to "cancel" the configuration of EACH interface TWICE before it deigns to give you the option to "not configure the network 'at this time'".  Why 'at this time'?  Can't resist doing impressions of shitware?

The localisation stuff at the start is way too much.  

Why does everyone accept that keyboards can't say what their layout is?  If it's not supported in the current USB profile, make a new one.  Why do keyboards emit scancodes by default instead of characters?  Why tolerate every Eurotarded "country" having their own special layouts in the first place.  Why not plain ANSI keyboards all round, and add on a little "retard bar" device attached to the side, for any foreign letters?

Why not just tolerate, but actively pander to, date formats other than ISO8601, or places that want to use a dot for thousands and a comma for the decimal point?  The default "locale" should be something with sane time and number formats, not whatever the local in-bred mayor thought up.  Why does selecting any different country require ten million clicks? The only thing it's useful for is the displayed timezone.

When I design an installer, it is going to look like this.

It will boot into an installer form.  It will have a big button saying "install now".  Whether it double-checks on pressing this is besides the point.  The point is there is an action, "install", which goes ahead and installs the OS, with reasonable defaults.

By changing fields in the form beforehand, the user can make changes from the defaults.  The most-likely-to-be-changed fields are at the top.

The defaults are something like this.  ANSI keyboard, ISO dates and times, English language, Zurich timezone.  Use whole drive, one big ext4 fs, no swap.  Text console VT login.  One user "u", password "n", root password "n", user is auto-logged-in.

If the user enters disk password, now there is full-disk-encryption, with LUKS block layer below.  If they enter username, user and root passwords, fine.  Repeating passwords is optional.  

User can add packages / package groups.  A reasonable selection is installed by default, but servers are not activated by default (more generally an issue for package management system).

Installer does background DHCP queries on any network interfaces, perhaps after checking for links.  Interface with link on install where DHCP worked during install defaults to DHCP on that interface.  User can override.  Nothing in the UI hangs on DHCP queries.

The installer is clear about whether it is targetting UEFI or so-called "legacy" boot mode, and what the corresponding required setting is in the BIOS.

Installer enters mode where installation is complete, and it says you can reboot.  But it continues to copy packages / other data from installation media to cache area of target drive.  If user allows it to complete, the installed system ends up with all packages that were available at install-time, available locally from drive for instant installation.

All config should be done using the same tools used at normal run time, instead of installer-time-only special stuff.  This requires new tools.  For example, a storage config management tool.

None of this is going to happen in Debian.  There is simply no one with any functional design insight, or authority.  They update to the latest versions of upstream, in particular the kernel and the google / mozilla corp browsers, stuff they try and add themselves is terrible and stagnates, and the rest slowly rots.

I was hoping the install would be finished by now and I could report on whether grub installed okay this time.  But it keeps pausing itself to ask stupid questions.  Why not at least ask the questions up-front?  It just asks the questions when it gets to installing that package, and goes interactive on you!  Jesus fucking wept.

Result: yes, legacy mode resulted in successful install and booting system with Debian 11 DVD and Zotac CI329.  This is one data point.  I have observed with other PC "architecture" devices, and / or other releases of Debian, the opposite requirement.