Ubuntu
live-build package

Initrd/vmlinux symbloic links not in /boot directory on PowerPC

Bug #958839 reported by ojordan
20
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
live-build (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Colin Watson

Bug Description

Version: Casper 1.309
Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop ISO PowerPC

The symbolic links for initrd.img, initrd.img.old, vmlinux and vmlinux.old are placed in the root directory of the squashfs filesystem. These are then copied by ubiquity to the root partition of the installed system. The initrd.img.old file also doesn't have the correct permissions.

On previous CDs (for example 10.04) these files were placed in the /boot directory of the squashfs filesystem.

When updating the installed system kernel the symbolic links on the root partition are the ones that are updated, rather than in /boot where yaboot looks. I don't know if something else also has to be changed to correct this.

ojordan (ojordan12345)
tags: added: casper-1.309 precise
Revision history for this message
Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa) wrote :

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/958839

tags: added: iso-testing
Revision history for this message
ojordan (ojordan12345) wrote :

On todays install 21/3/12 the only file that appears in the root directory of the installed system is initrd.img.old.

Brian Murray (brian-murray)
Changed in casper (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Revision history for this message
ojordan (ojordan12345) wrote :

Going by an old 11.04 installation I have to hand, I would say the problem lies in the /etc/kernel-img.conf file. It should read something like this:

# Kernel image management overrides
# See kernel-img.conf(5) for details
do_symlinks = yes
do_bootloader = no
do_initrd = yes
link_in_boot = yes

Revision history for this message
ojordan (ojordan12345) wrote :

I've now checked the 10.04 powerpc live ISO. This is the contents of the kernel-img.conf file in the filesystem.squashfs of the 10.04 ISO:

do_symlinks = yes
relative_links = yes
do_bootloader = no
do_bootfloppy = no
do_initrd = yes
link_in_boot = yes

An explanation of these things can be found here http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/hardy/man5/kernel-img.conf.5.html

Revision history for this message
ojordan (ojordan12345) wrote :

Okay, starting to get a bit concerned now that this is not going to be fixed before the 12.04 release. This problem is still present on every PowerPC live ISO (Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu).

When people update their kernels the symbloic links are getting placed in the root directory. Consequently they are just going to continually boot into the orginal kernel version they installed from the ISO. This will happen until they add "link_in_boot = yes" to their kernel-img.conf or change their yaboot.conf file to point to the new links.

This problem is not present on the alternate installs as far as I am aware.

Colin Watson (cjwatson)
affects: casper (Ubuntu) → live-build (Ubuntu)
Colin Watson (cjwatson)
Changed in live-build (Ubuntu):
status: New → In Progress
assignee: nobody → Colin Watson (cjwatson)
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package live-build - 3.0~a24-1ubuntu30

---------------
live-build (3.0~a24-1ubuntu30) precise; urgency=low

  * ubuntu-kernel-img-conf.patch: On some architectures (notably powerpc),
    create /etc/kernel-img.conf with the default contents plus 'link_on_boot
    yes'. This matches the behaviour of base-installer/library.sh more
    closely (LP: #958839).
 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:10:04 +0100

Changed in live-build (Ubuntu):
status: In Progress → Fix Released
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