Three-way merge issues with menu.lst file during kernel updates: "Conflicts found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out manually."

Thanks for your report.

Can you please attach the following files:
/var/run/grub/menu.lst.ucf-new
/var/run/grub/menu.lst

Did you edit it manually ?

I have looked for these files, but there not the system.....
I didnt edit it manually, i just download the updates and selected 3 way merger (expermental) and the error occured

Not sure if this is a grub or linux issue affecting linux too.
confirming because there is a duplicate.

Please, can you try to reproduce the problem by (re)installing linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic and attach the files /var/run/grub/menu.lst.ucf-new and /var/run/grub/menu.lst . Get them just after the failure because they are deleted when you reboot.

Thanks in advance.

From the terminal i got this

Merging changes into the new version

 Conflicts found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out manually.
 The file `/var/run/grub/menu.lst.ucf-new' has a record of the failed merge of the configuration file.

User postinst hook script [/sbin/update-grub] exited with value 3
dpkg: error processing linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 3
Errors were encountered while processing:
 linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
======

menu.lst.ucf-new attachments
If i manully edit grub i can boot to 2.6.27.3.... but selected 3 way experimental merge fails

Thanks for following up. This looks like a bug in ucf triggered by the config file shipped with the kernel.

affecting to ucf and un-assigning kernel team.

Closing grub task as is appears to be an ucf issue.

reopening grub task for now because even if ucf is failing it's called from update-grub

Will the users who are seeing this bug please attach both /var/run/grub/menu.lst.ucf-new and /boot/grub/menu.lst for analysis?

Sorry i cant attach those files as my hard drive has been formatted..... i thought i did in my post on the 2008-09-20

ibizatunes, yes, your menu.lst and menu.lst.ucf-new are attached to the bug, thank you.

There are a large number of bug reports that have been marked duplicates of yours, so I would like to get confirmation that they're really seeing the same issue before proceeding. This bug should in fact be closed if everyone is having the same issue, because the conflict shown in your case was a one-time bug restricted to systems running pre-release versions of intrepid, caused by backing out the last-good-boot support.

I was seeing this issue, im not seeing it now, but i haven't done a 3 way merge when i do a update to the kernal so maybe the issue has gone! Im not 100% to be honest if it has been fixed

I just got this on an 8.04->8.10 upgrade. Attaching menu.lst, menu.lst.ucf-new to come.

menu.lst.ucf-new is not present.

Questions:

1) Has the 8.10 upgrade been successful. Seems so after reboot, but I can't find the version 3 anywhere.

2) Is linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic installed?

3) If not, where do I get it?

4) Is there any other action needed on my part?

Hi.

Attached is the message from Ubuntu for my error. Please help me to read
through and tell me how to fix it.

Thank you very much.

On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 1:04 PM, Brian King <email address hidden> wrote:

> I just got this on an 8.04->8.10 upgrade. Attaching menu.lst, menu.lst
> .ucf-new to come.
>
> ** Attachment added: "menu.lst"
> http://launchpadlibrarian.net/19729226/menu.lst
>
> --
> package linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic failed to install/upgrade: "Conflicts
> found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out manually."
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/269539
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in "grub" source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in "ucf" source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Ubuntu 8.10 failed to install 2.6.27.3 kernal during update
>
> ProblemType: Package
> Architecture: amd64
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
>
> During a kernel upgrade, under certain conditions, if the user select "Do a
> 3-way merge" for menu.lst then the following error occurs:
>
> update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-3-generic
> Running postinst hook script /sbin/update-grub.
> Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
> Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
> Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
> Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-3-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/last-good-boot/vmlinuz
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-2-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-5-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
> Merging changes into the new version
>
> Conflicts found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out
> manually.
> The file `/var/run/grub/menu.lst.ucf-new' has a record of the failed merge
> of the configuration file.
>
> User postinst hook script [/sbin/update-grub] exited with value 3
> dpkg: error processing linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic (--configure):
> subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 3
>
>
>
>

Hi Brian

Did you intend to send this to me? I'm the bug filer not the people
resolving it?

In my case, the system did work afterwards but with the old kernel, and I
was then able to do a force of the new kernel.

I'm actually very experienced with linux so I am able to pretty much resolve
all of this stuff myself, but I filed the bug in case it was affecting other
people

Joel

On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 7:04 AM, Brian King <email address hidden> wrote:

> I just got this on an 8.04->8.10 upgrade. Attaching menu.lst, menu.lst
> .ucf-new to come.
>
> ** Attachment added: "menu.lst"
> http://launchpadlibrarian.net/19729226/menu.lst
>
> --
> package linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic failed to install/upgrade: "Conflicts
> found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out manually."
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/269539
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug.
>
> Status in "grub" source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in "ucf" source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Ubuntu 8.10 failed to install 2.6.27.3 kernal during update
>
> ProblemType: Package
> Architecture: amd64
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
>
> During a kernel upgrade, under certain conditions, if the user select "Do a
> 3-way merge" for menu.lst then the following error occurs:
>
> update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-3-generic
> Running postinst hook script /sbin/update-grub.
> Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
> Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
> Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
> Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-3-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/last-good-boot/vmlinuz
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-2-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-5-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
> Merging changes into the new version
>
> Conflicts found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out
> manually.
> The file `/var/run/grub/menu.lst.ucf-new' has a record of the failed merge
> of the configuration file.
>
> User postinst hook script [/sbin/update-grub] exited with value 3
> dpkg: error processing linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic (--configure):
> subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 3
>
>
>
>

Brian,

The fact that menu.lst.ucf-new is absent suggests that you rebooted after receiving this error message; unfortunately that may make it impossible to debug further in your case, but we'll see what we can do.

> 2) Is linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic installed?

2.6.27-3 is an older version, that was superseded before 8.10 was released; but 2.6.27 should be installed if you upgraded to 8.10. You can check for this with the command 'dpkg -l linux-image-2.6.27-*-generic'.

If 2.6.27-7-generic is installed, but is not showing up in your menu.lst, this suggests that after receiving this error the first time you chose the default option ("use locally modified version") on the next run through. If I'm not mistaken, running 'sudo update-grub' from the command line will let you pull the new kernel into menu.lst. (if it doesn't, removing and reinstalling the linux-generic package will do the trick.)

tomnt2007, please provide the files requested in
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub/+bug/269539/comments/10>.

/var/run/grub/menu.lst does not exist on my system, which is likely the cause of the problem. I've also attached a backup of /boot/grub/menu.lst that I made just before the upgrade.

Relevant info: I manual edited /boot/grub/menu.lst (long before the upgrade), adding a boot option with a framebuffer.

Dear,

Last time, I used Ubuntu on my flash drive (4Gb).

Now, after I installed Ubuntu totally on my hard disk, I have seen no such
error anymore, I can do the update totally well.

Thank you for your kindly help.

Regards,

Tom

On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 9:04 PM, Brian King <email address hidden> wrote:

> I just got this on an 8.04->8.10 upgrade. Attaching menu.lst, menu.lst
> .ucf-new to come.
>
> ** Attachment added: "menu.lst"
> http://launchpadlibrarian.net/19729226/menu.lst
>
> --
> package linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic failed to install/upgrade: "Conflicts
> found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out manually."
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/269539
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in "grub" source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in "ucf" source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Ubuntu 8.10 failed to install 2.6.27.3 kernal during update
>
> ProblemType: Package
> Architecture: amd64
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
>
> During a kernel upgrade, under certain conditions, if the user select "Do a
> 3-way merge" for menu.lst then the following error occurs:
>
> update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-3-generic
> Running postinst hook script /sbin/update-grub.
> Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
> Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
> Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
> Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-3-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/last-good-boot/vmlinuz
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-2-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-5-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
> Merging changes into the new version
>
> Conflicts found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out
> manually.
> The file `/var/run/grub/menu.lst.ucf-new' has a record of the failed merge
> of the configuration file.
>
> User postinst hook script [/sbin/update-grub] exited with value 3
> dpkg: error processing linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic (--configure):
> subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 3
>
>
>
>

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/364435

This bug has continued into the 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Version, I had stopped using that option since it always crashed on me. The change that I make in the menu.lst grub file is deleting all the "quiet" and replacing and adding "splash", because I like to see some of the messages going on behind the screens. The merge function doesn't seem to like that.

I have not tried it with the latest stuff yet, but will try it next time it comes around.

with ubuntu jaunty this bug just occured while updating kernel 2.6.28-11-generic to 2.6.28-13-generic : the script is updating my kernel and asks me about menu.lst, I then chose show a diff. nothing happens.

then: when you make that selection again, you'll see the diff.
BUT: when you instead chose the 3way diff marked as being experimental, the application crashes and menu.lst doesn't get updated.

BTW: when menu.lst get's updated, my VGA=0x0365 entry (native resolution for my 1400x900 display):
## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash locale=de_DE vga=0x0365

is constantly ignored by update-grub(?) and replaced with a crappy, non-working number.
I experienced that bug multiple times while the kernel gets updated in prior ubuntu versions.

bye

Both files in /var/run/grub attatched. I got the same error. It must be because I have edited my menu.lst manually before. Maybe I should have edited it in another way to avoid problems?

I hope that your are helped by these two files.

Regards,
Lani

Same problem, kubuntu 64 bit 9.04

I have a proposal in order to solve forever this big problem with the kernel update and the Grub. Normal users are not able to choose on of the 5-6 choice available, it could be easier if the grub would be automatically updated, mantaining the eventually windos/other OS present and the last kernel before the update (in case of problem).
It would be easier and user-friendly!

It seems to me a good compromise - of course it should still maintains a
backup of the most recent menu.lst before changing it.

On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 12:44 AM, Shaikailash <email address hidden>wrote:

> Same problem, kubuntu 64 bit 9.04
>
> I have a proposal in order to solve forever this big problem with the
> kernel update and the Grub. Normal users are not able to choose on of the
> 5-6 choice available, it could be easier if the grub would be automatically
> updated, mantaining the eventually windos/other OS present and the last
> kernel before the update (in case of problem).
> It would be easier and user-friendly!
>
> --
> package linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic failed to install/upgrade: "Conflicts
> found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out manually."
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/269539
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

Same problem with my ubuntu 9.10. I had a backup copy of the menu.lst and just restored it and worked just fine.

Steve, can you look at this and see if we can fix for Karmic?

-Robbie

has anyone experienced this problem with grub2?

I got this error when upgrading from 2.6.28-14 to 2.6.28-15.

grub2 handles configuration in a completely different way; it's extremely unlikely that anyone would encounter this particular problem with it. We'll still have to support grub for Karmic and probably beyond for upgrades, so this bug is *not* closeable just because we're now using grub2 by default, but I'm not sure that it's worth putting lots of energy into it since we already know it's a hideous can of worms. For 9.10 and beyond I'd advise affected users to migrate to GRUB 2.

This bug was fixed in the package ucf - 3.0018ubuntu1

---------------
ucf (3.0018ubuntu1) karmic; urgency=low

  * On a three-way merge conflict, output the error message using a debconf
    error and then return to the debconf menu - instead of throwing a
    non-zero error code and causing the package install to abort. Anything
    the user needs to do to fix up the broken merge can be done as well
    from the debconf menu as from after the install failure, and this way we
    don't have a logjam of failed package installs on dist-upgrade.
    LP: #269539, #293687.

 -- Steve Langasek <email address hidden> Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:10:29 -0700

The ucf package that's just been uploaded will help to trap these merge errors where the user can deal with them immediately, instead of cascading them into a dist-upgrade failure. I think that's as much as can be hoped for here; grub itself can't do anything more to prevent the three-way-merge failures, which are always a possibility.

Ultimately, though, as Colin points out, switching to grub2 is the right thing to do, and will completely bypass the need for ucf at all.

Sorry for the dumb question, but how do you migrate to grub2?

On Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 4:53 PM, Colin Watson <email address hidden>wrote:

> grub2 handles configuration in a completely different way; it's
> extremely unlikely that anyone would encounter this particular problem
> with it. We'll still have to support grub for Karmic and probably beyond
> for upgrades, so this bug is *not* closeable just because we're now
> using grub2 by default, but I'm not sure that it's worth putting lots of
> energy into it since we already know it's a hideous can of worms. For
> 9.10 and beyond I'd advise affected users to migrate to GRUB 2.
>
> --
> Three-way merge issues with menu.lst file during kernel updates: "Conflicts
> found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out manually."
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/269539
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug.
>
> Status in “grub” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in “ucf” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in grub in Ubuntu Karmic: Confirmed
> Status in ucf in Ubuntu Karmic: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Ubuntu 8.10 failed to install 2.6.27.3 kernal during update
>
> ProblemType: Package
> Architecture: amd64
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
>
> During a kernel upgrade, under certain conditions, if the user select "Do a
> 3-way merge" for menu.lst then the following error occurs:
>
> update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-3-generic
> Running postinst hook script /sbin/update-grub.
> Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
> Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
> Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
> Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-3-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/last-good-boot/vmlinuz
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-2-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-5-generic
> Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
> Merging changes into the new version
>
> Conflicts found! Please edit `/var/run/grub/menu.lst' and sort them out
> manually.
> The file `/var/run/grub/menu.lst.ucf-new' has a record of the failed merge
> of the configuration file.
>
> User postinst hook script [/sbin/update-grub] exited with value 3
> dpkg: error processing linux-image-2.6.27-3-generic (--configure):
> subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 3
>
>
>
>

On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 10:04:53PM -0000, Youssef wrote:
> Sorry for the dumb question, but how do you migrate to grub2?

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2

'wontfix' generally, not just for karmic.

HI Just got this today on an upgrade.
Here are the two files:

**********************************************************
## ## End Default Options ##

<<<<<<< Current
title Ubuntu 9.04, bob kernel 2.6.28-15-generic
||||||| Older
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic
=======
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-16-generic
uuid 77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-16-generic root=UUID=77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-16-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-16-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-16-generic root=UUID=77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-16-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic
>>>>>>> New
uuid 77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

****************************************************************

menu list:

***************************************************************

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 9.04, bob kernel 2.6.28-15-generic
uuid 77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=77574d0c-4a11-48bf-a142-c3e01faf9c78 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sdb1.
title Zenwalk GNU/Linux (on /dev/sdb1)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb1 ro splash=silent resume=/dev/sdb2 vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.splash
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sdb1.
title Zenwalk GNU/Linux (recovery mode) (on /dev/sdb1)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb1 ro 1
initrd /boot/initrd.splash
savedefault
boot

*********************************************************************************

So it's still a problem at the moment.

Cheers
Bob ( user)

I am also seeing this bug. I have attached my menu.lst file.

I should add, unlike the original poster, I was not notified of any conflicts when merging, so the presence (or absence) of conflicts when merging does not appear to be the root cause of the problem. A quick grep shows there are no lines containing >>> in the file I uploaded as well, and a visual scan didn't turn up what I would easily recognize as a conflict.

The file you uploaded was not /var/run/grub/menu.lst, it was /boot/grub/menu.lst.

You're probably better off foregoing a three-way merge in your case; the fix for this bug was for ucf to avoid aborting on this case, instead giving the user a chance to pick a different option from the menu.

I know that new versions of Ubuntu have come out. Still, I'm using 9.04 for the moment.