Fails silently if kernel headers are not available

Bug #247523 reported by Matt Zimmerman
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
dkms (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Mario Limonciello

Bug Description

Binary package hint: dkms

I installed nvidia-glx-173 to test out the new setup in Intrepid, but found that after booting into the new kernel, no nvidia module was available. I tried:

mizar:[~] sudo /etc/init.d/dkms_autoinstaller start
 * Running DKMS auto installation service for kernel 2.6.26-3-generic * nvidia (173.14.09)... [ OK ]
                                                                         [ OK ]

which looked approximately successful (though the logging functions seem to be called out of order), though suspiciously fast. I had to run it wish bash -x to see that it failed because the necessary kernel headers were not installed. I think that having a dkms package like nvidia-glx-173 installed, but not having the necessary kernel headers installed, should trigger a fatal error. The user has made a clear request to make the module avaliable, and the request is not satisfiable.

Related branches

Revision history for this message
Matt Zimmerman (mdz) wrote :

See bug 247527 for why the correct kernel headers weren't available

Revision history for this message
Alberto Milone (albertomilone) wrote :

Are you suggesting that we let the system display a Debconf error screen if the DKMS autoinstaller fails? Or maybe something less intrusive?

Revision history for this message
Matt Zimmerman (mdz) wrote : Re: [Bug 247523] Re: Fails silently if kernel headers are not available

On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 10:34:54AM -0000, Alberto Milone wrote:
> Are you suggesting that we let the system display a Debconf error screen
> if the DKMS autoinstaller fails? Or maybe something less intrusive?

I'm talking about the interaction of the init script, which is called by the
maintainer scripts, but also used on its own, so debconf may or may not be
appropriate here.

At the least, the init script should flag this as an error condition via
log_action_end_msg rather than success. Preferably, it should display the
precise error message in the startup log via log_failure_msg or similar.

--
 - mdz

Revision history for this message
Mario Limonciello (superm1) wrote :

That's surprising that the init script didn't report a failure. it is set to do a log_action_end_msg 1 which should have been failure (it does log_action_end_msg 0 in normal circumstances).

Revision history for this message
Mario Limonciello (superm1) wrote :

Fixed in commit 2accddb6994eff69115bd62de71e78671c8d64e1. Thanks for reporting.

Changed in dkms:
status: New → Fix Committed
assignee: nobody → superm1
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package dkms - 2.0.20.2-0ubuntu1

---------------
dkms (2.0.20.2-0ubuntu1) intrepid; urgency=low

  * If kernel headers are missing during a module build, report
    this status properly in DKMS auto installation service. (LP: #247523)

 -- Mario Limonciello <email address hidden> Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:20:29 -0500

Changed in dkms:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
cmnorton (octopusgrabbus) wrote :

Is the following problem related to this bug? I am confused as to whether it is or not.

* Running DKMS auto installation service for kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
* fglrx (8.543)... [fail]

from

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6504230#post6504230

Revision history for this message
Mario Limonciello (superm1) wrote : Re: [Bug 247523] Re: Fails silently if kernel headers are not available

try installing the kernel headers and see if it goes away. if so, then
likely yes :)

On Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 10:14, cmnorton <email address hidden> wrote:

> Is the following problem related to this bug? I am confused as to
> whether it is or not.
>
> * Running DKMS auto installation service for kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
> * fglrx (8.543)...
> [fail]
>
> from
>
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6504230#post6504230
>
> --
> Fails silently if kernel headers are not available
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/247523
> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
>

--
Mario Limonciello
<email address hidden>

To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.