lxc-create failure creating a lucid container in a precise host with old cache

From what I can see, it looks like the error is during this step:

debootstrap --verbose --components=main,universe --arch=i386 --include=dialog,apt,apt-utils,resolvconf,iproute,inetutils-ping,vim,dhcp3-client,ssh,lsb-release,gnupg lucid /var/cache/lxc/lucid/partial-i386

Thanks for reporting this bug.

I'm setting up a 32-bit host to test on. In the meantime, could you show me the output of

df -h
ls -l /var/cache/lxc/lucid
getent passwd matiasb

Here is the output I have.

df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2 50G 5.8G 42G 13% /
udev 742M 4.0K 742M 1% /dev
tmpfs 300M 832K 299M 1% /run
none 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
none 750M 152K 749M 1% /run/shm
cgroup 750M 0 750M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda3 60G 36G 22G 63% /home

ls -l /var/cache/lxc/lucid
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 Nov 9 2009 partial-i386

getent passwd matiasb
matiasb:x:1000:1000:Matias Bordese,,,:/home/matiasb:/bin/bash

Thanks. could you try adding -F to the end of that command, i.e.

lxc-create -t ubuntu -n u1-server -f /etc/lxc/local.conf -- -r lucid -a i386 -b matiasb -F

Just tried, still getting errors:

...
I: Unpacking xkb-data...
I: Unpacking dialog...
I: Unpacking resolvconf...
W: Failure while installing base packages. This will be re-attempted up to five times.
I: Unpacking apt...
...

Let me know what else I can try, or if there is any other detail that could help.

Quoting Matias Bordese (<email address hidden>):
> Just tried, still getting errors:
>
> ...
> I: Unpacking xkb-data...
> I: Unpacking dialog...
> I: Unpacking resolvconf...
> W: Failure while installing base packages. This will be re-attempted up to five times.

This message is normal (if i recall correctly, due to resolvconf being
installed). Does the container creation fail after this?

> I: Unpacking apt...
> ...
>
> Let me know what else I can try, or if there is any other detail that
> could help.

You are right, just checked again and it finished ok (lxc was created and it is working).
Flushing the cache do the trick?
Thanks!

Thanks. Yes, if the cache is old enough (yours seemed to be from 2009!) updates can fail in a container. After precise we're hoping to handle this better.

I'm going to retitle this bug and mark it confirmed.

The gist is, IMO it should not fail to take an old lucid box and update it.

Marking low priority as there is a workaround.

This bug was fixed in the package lxc - 0.8.0~rc1-4ubuntu35

---------------
lxc (0.8.0~rc1-4ubuntu35) quantal; urgency=low

  * 0220-getitem-per-hook-type: support clear_item for specific hooks.
    (LP: #1050719)
  * 0221-make-nonflush-upgrades-robust: be more robust about out of date
    container caches. (LP: #942862)
 -- Serge Hallyn <email address hidden> Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:45:46 -0500

Per the duplicate bug, 0221-make-nonflush-upgrades-robust should be SRUd to precise.

Hello Matias, or anyone else affected,

Accepted lxc into precise-proposed. The package will build now and be available at http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lxc/0.7.5-3ubuntu67 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

Tested, all good.

The verification of this Stable Release Update has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regresssions.

This bug was fixed in the package lxc - 0.7.5-3ubuntu67

---------------
lxc (0.7.5-3ubuntu67) precise-proposed; urgency=low

  * Don't directly write/remove /etc/dnsmasq.d/lxc as that's causing problems
    when removing and reinstalling lxc.
    Instead have dnsmasq ship /etc/dnsmasq.d-available/lxc and create/remove
    a symlink in /etc/dnsmasq.d/. (LP: #1113821)
  * Bump debhelper dependency and add Pre-Depends on newer dpkg for above fix.
  * Allow the container to mount efivars on /sys/firmware/efi/efivars.
    efivars is automatically mounted by mountall on UEFI systems, failure to
    do so leads to a complete boot failure. (LP: #1117589)
  * 0221-make-nonflush-upgrades-robust: be more robust about out of date
    container caches. (LP: #942862)
  * 0207-ubuntu-cloud-fixes.patch: cleanups to lxc-ubuntu-cloud.in
    fix for quantal images that do not have user 'ubuntu' present
    (LP: #1045955)
  * 0301-debian-copy-config: Pass all the arguments to copy_configuration.
    (LP: #1111613)
 -- Stephane Graber <email address hidden> Thu, 07 Feb 2013 13:08:07 -0500