Ubuntu
initramfs-tools package

package initramfs-tools 0.120ubuntu5 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2

Bug #1499173 reported by Chris Kirkwood-Watts on 2015-09-24

8

This bug affects 1 person

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	initramfs-tools (Ubuntu)	Invalid	High	Unassigned

Bug Description

E: initramfs-tools: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2

During regular update via synaptic of 15.10.

Description: Ubuntu Wily Werewolf (development branch)
Release: 15.10

  Installed: 0.120ubuntu5
  Candidate: 0.120ubuntu5
  Version table:
*** 0.120ubuntu5 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ wily/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.10
Package: initramfs-tools 0.120ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.2.0-10.12-generic 4.2.0
Uname: Linux 4.2.0-10-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zcommon znvpair spl zavl nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.18.1-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed Sep 23 23:05:15 2015
DuplicateSignature: package:initramfs-tools:0.120ubuntu5:subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
PackageArchitecture: all
RelatedPackageVersions:
dpkg 1.18.2ubuntu4
apt 1.0.9.10ubuntu7
SourcePackage: initramfs-tools
Title: package initramfs-tools 0.120ubuntu5 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Tags:

Revision history for this message

Chris Kirkwood-Watts (kirkwood) wrote on 2015-09-24:

#1

AptOrdering.txt Edit (15.9 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Dependencies.txt Edit (2.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Df.txt Edit (646 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Dmesg.txt Edit (104.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
DpkgHistoryLog.txt Edit (82.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
DpkgTerminalLog.txt Edit (17.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
JournalErrors.txt Edit (24.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Apport retracing service (apport) on 2015-09-24

tags:

removed: need-duplicate-check

Revision history for this message

Chris Kirkwood-Watts (kirkwood) wrote on 2015-09-25:

#2

lines 173 - 177 of /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hook-functions contains where I've put [*] below a string of NUL bytes of length 4096.

[ "${verbose}" = "y" ] && echo "Adding binary ${src}"
cp -pL "${src}" "${DESTDIR}/$

Revision history for this message

Chris Kirkwood-Watts (kirkwood) wrote on 2015-09-25:

#3

Apparently, the NUL bytes were pasted in, but whatever followed it in the previous comment was excised. That $ above is the place the NULs start.

Revision history for this message

Chris Kirkwood-Watts (kirkwood) wrote on 2015-09-25:

#4

And, that start position is position 4096 in the file. I'm certain this means something to someone; it's too coincidental a pair of numbers.

Revision history for this message

Chris Kirkwood-Watts (kirkwood) wrote on 2015-09-25:

#5

initramfs-hook-functions.hex Edit (129.5 KiB, text/plain)

Here's a hex dump of the corrupted file.

Revision history for this message

Chris Kirkwood-Watts (kirkwood) wrote on 2015-09-25:

#6

Same thing happened to /usr/sbin/mkinitramfs: NUL bytes after 8192 this time.

Revision history for this message

Andy Whitcroft (apw) wrote on 2016-02-03:

#7

That sounds a lot like entire blocks being being lost. That is more likley a filesystem or disk issue, rather than a specific issue with initramfs-tools.

Changed in initramfs-tools (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Triaged

Alberto Salvia Novella (es20490446e) on 2016-03-03

Changed in initramfs-tools (Ubuntu):
importance:	Undecided → High

Revision history for this message

Chris Kirkwood-Watts (kirkwood) wrote on 2016-03-03:

#8

A re-install to new disk did not reproduce the issue (though there were many, many other variables that changed). If this hasn't yet been reported by others, I'm willing to believe my fs was broken.

Revision history for this message

Benjamin Drung (bdrung) wrote on 2023-07-06:

#9

The JournalErrors.txt show that there were issues with the disk. So let's assume that this was the cause and close this bug.

Changed in initramfs-tools (Ubuntu):
status:	Triaged → Invalid

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