3 files changed, 43 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/perl-install/partition_table.pm b/perl-install/partition_table.pm
index 0ea3fad13..03a3c9624 100644
--- a/perl-install/partition_table.pm
+++ b/perl-install/partition_table.pm
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ use Data::Dumper;
 
 
 use common qw(:common :system :functional);
+use partition_table_empty;
 use partition_table_raw;
 use partition_table_dos;
 use partition_table_bsd;
@@ -371,18 +372,12 @@ sub read_one($$) {
     my ($pt, $info);
     #- SUN bioses may blank disk or refuse to load it if the partition is unknown.
     my @parttype = arch() =~ /^sparc/ ? ('sun', 'bsd', 'unknown') : ('dos', 'bsd', 'sun', 'mac', 'unknown');
-    foreach (@parttype) {
+    foreach ('empty', @parttype) {
 	/unknown/ and die "unknown partition table format";
 	eval {
 	    bless $hd, "partition_table_$_";
 	    ($pt, $info) = $hd->read($sector);
 	    log::l("found a $_ partition table on $hd->{file}");
-	    {
-		foreach my $e (@$pt) {
-		    my $logtext = join(" ", map { "$_=$e->{$_}" } keys %$e);
-		    log::l("$logtext");
-		}
-	    }
 	};
 	$@ or last;
     }
diff --git a/perl-install/partition_table_empty.pm b/perl-install/partition_table_empty.pm
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d59cea52b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perl-install/partition_table_empty.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package partition_table_empty;
+
+#- this is a mainly dummy partition table. If we find it's empty, we just call -
+#- zero_MBR which will take care of bless'ing us to the partition table type best
+#- suited
+
+
+use diagnostics;
+use strict;
+use vars qw(@ISA);
+
+@ISA = qw(partition_table_raw);
+
+use common qw(:common :system :file);
+use partition_table_raw;
+use partition_table;
+use c;
+
+
+sub read($$) {
+    my ($hd, $sector) = @_;
+    my $tmp;
+
+    my $magic = "\0" x 256;
+
+    local *F; partition_table_raw::openit($hd, *F) or die "failed to open device";
+    c::lseek_sector(fileno(F), $sector, 0) or die "reading of partition in sector $sector failed";
+
+    #- check magic number
+    sysread F, $tmp, length $magic or die "error reading magic number";
+    $tmp eq $magic or die "bad magic number";
+
+    partition_table_raw::zero_MBR($hd);
+
+    $hd->{primary}{raw};
+}
+
+1;
diff --git a/perl-install/partition_table_raw.pm b/perl-install/partition_table_raw.pm
index 7b886a1f8..4fe3fe73b 100644
--- a/perl-install/partition_table_raw.pm
+++ b/perl-install/partition_table_raw.pm
@@ -104,10 +104,9 @@ sub kernel_read($) {
 
 sub zero_MBR($) {
     my ($hd) = @_;
-#    unless (ref($hd) =~ /partition_table/) {
-	my $type = arch() eq "alpha" ? "bsd" : arch() =~ /^sparc/ ? "sun" : arch() eq "ppc" ? "mac" : "dos";
-	bless $hd, "partition_table_$type";
-#    }
+    #- force the standard partition type for the architecture
+    my $type = arch() eq "alpha" ? "bsd" : arch() =~ /^sparc/ ? "sun" : arch() eq "ppc" ? "mac" : "dos";
+    bless $hd, "partition_table_$type";
     $hd->{isDirty} = $hd->{needKernelReread} = 1;
     $hd->{primary} = $hd->clear_raw();
     delete $hd->{extended};