ubi-partman crashed with eit code 141

[Robert Stonehouse]

This is a fresh install using x86_64 nightly from 20120831 on a new Ivy Bridge laptop with 1TB HD partitioned before the install as
==============================================
(parted) print
Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABD1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
 1 32.3kB 41.1MB 41.1MB primary fat16 diag
 2 41.9MB 21.3GB 21.3GB primary ntfs boot
 3 21.3GB 126GB 105GB primary ntfs
 4 126GB 1000GB 874GB extended
==============================================

I get past the "preparing to install Ubuntu" page but after 5-10 seconds I get a "ubi-partman crashed dailog" with the error "ubi=partman failed with exit code 141"
The "try again" button gets the same error. I am unable to get further in the installation.

There are a number of other reports of this for older Ubuntu releases but as this was reproduced on the 12.10 nightly I thought it deserved a new bug. It is 100% reproducible

I am a developer and happy to try patches or collect more debug info.

My basic analysis:
 * ubi-partman failing with 141 is SIGPIPE
 * The python traceback in /var/log/syslog suggests /var/lib/partman/outfifo (FIFO to parted_server) could not be opened. outfile is a zero length file afterwards, but does seem to be a FIFO as the installer is running. I tried a time.sleep(1) before outfile was opened but it did not help.
 * The parted_server log in /var/log/partman suggests that parted_server did service requests via the FIFOs and was then asked to QUIT (but that might be a reaction to an earlier failure).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: ubiquity 2.11.25 [modified: lib/partman/automatically_partition/question]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-13.14-generic 3.5.3
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-13-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.5.1-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.321
Date: Sat Sep 1 09:05:23 2012
ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity
InstallCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- nomodeset keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=gb
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python3.2mu
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Alpha amd64 (20120831)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 TERM=unknown
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Sasa Paporovic (melchiaros)]

In UbiquitySyslog.txt:

Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu os-prober: debug: running /usr/lib/os-probes/50mounted-tests on /dev/sda4
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu 50mounted-tests: debug: /dev/sda4 type not recognised; skipping
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu os-prober: debug: os detected by /usr/lib/os-probes/50mounted-tests
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: Device /dev/sda1 not found in os-prober output
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: Device /dev/sda3 not found in os-prober output
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: Device free not found in os-prober output
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: Traceback (most recent call last):
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/misc.py", line 204, in boot_device
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: for part in p.partitions():
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/parted_server.py", line 206, in partitions
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: self.open_dialog('PARTITIONS')
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/parted_server.py", line 139, in open_dialog
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: self.outf = open(outfifo, 'r')
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/var/lib/partman/outfifo'
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]:
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: Traceback (most recent call last):
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/misc.py", line 204, in boot_device
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: for part in p.partitions():
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/parted_server.py", line 206, in partitions
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: self.open_dialog('PARTITIONS')
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/parted_server.py", line 141, in open_dialog
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: self.error_handler()
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/parted_server.py", line 129, in error_handler
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: raise PartedServerError(exception_type, message, options)
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: ubiquity.parted_server.PartedServerError: ('', '', [])
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]:
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: debconffilter_done: ubi-partman (current: ubi-partman)
Sep 1 09:04:57 ubuntu ubiquity[3530]: dbfilter_handle_status: ('ubi-partman', 141)

[Robert Stonehouse (rstonehouse)]

Note that 12.04 LTS installed first time without a problem on the same machine; hence I think this is a regression