makedev installation fails in linux-vserver

[Philipp Kapfer]

After upgrading a server, which is running in a linux-vserver container on kernel 2.6.32-5-vserver-amd64, from Ubuntu 12.04 to 12.10, I'm having problems with the "makedev" package: Because containers do not have permission to change host console devices, the installation fails and the package stays in a "not fully installed" state. This, in turn, causes the "ubuntu-minimal" package installation to fail.

The package cannot be removed, because other packages such as "upstart" depend on it. Therefore, makedev should either be uninstallable or ignore permission errors when being installed in a vserver.

Output of apt-get install:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Setting up makedev (2.3.1-91ubuntu2) ...
mknod: `mem-': Operation not permitted
makedev mem c 1 1 root kmem 0640: failed
mknod: `kmem-': Operation not permitted
makedev kmem c 1 2 root kmem 0640: failed
mknod: `null-': Operation not permitted
makedev null c 1 3 root root 0666: failed
mknod: `port-': Operation not permitted
makedev port c 1 4 root kmem 0640: failed
mknod: `zero-': Operation not permitted
makedev zero c 1 5 root root 0666: failed
mknod: `full-': Operation not permitted
makedev full c 1 7 root root 0666: failed
mknod: `random-': Operation not permitted
makedev random c 1 8 root root 0666: failed
mknod: `urandom-': Operation not permitted
makedev urandom c 1 9 root root 0666: failed
mknod: `tty-': Operation not permitted
makedev tty c 5 0 root tty 0666: failed
mknod: `ram0-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram0 b 1 0 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram1-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram1 b 1 1 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram2-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram2 b 1 2 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram3-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram3 b 1 3 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram4-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram4 b 1 4 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram5-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram5 b 1 5 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram6-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram6 b 1 6 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram7-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram7 b 1 7 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram8-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram8 b 1 8 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram9-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram9 b 1 9 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram10-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram10 b 1 10 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram11-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram11 b 1 11 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram12-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram12 b 1 12 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram13-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram13 b 1 13 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram14-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram14 b 1 14 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram15-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram15 b 1 15 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `ram16-': Operation not permitted
makedev ram16 b 1 16 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `loop0-': Operation not permitted
makedev loop0 b 7 0 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `loop1-': Operation not permitted
makedev loop1 b 7 1 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `loop2-': Operation not permitted
makedev loop2 b 7 2 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `loop3-': Operation not permitted
makedev loop3 b 7 3 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `loop4-': Operation not permitted
makedev loop4 b 7 4 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `loop5-': Operation not permitted
makedev loop5 b 7 5 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `loop6-': Operation not permitted
makedev loop6 b 7 6 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `loop7-': Operation not permitted
makedev loop7 b 7 7 root disk 0660: failed
mknod: `tty0-': Operation not permitted
makedev tty0 c 4 0 root tty 0600: failed
mknod: `console-': Operation not permitted
makedev console c 5 1 root tty 0600: failed
/sbin/MAKEDEV: don't know how to make device "tty0"
dpkg: error processing makedev (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ubuntu-minimal:
 ubuntu-minimal depends on makedev; however:
  Package makedev is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing ubuntu-minimal (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 makedev
 ubuntu-minimal
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Output of apt-get remove:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 logrotate : Depends: cron or
                      anacron but it is not going to be installed or
                      fcron but it is not installable
 upstart : Depends: initscripts
           Depends: mountall
           Depends: ifupdown (>= 0.6.10ubuntu5)
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[RussianNeuroMancer (russianneuromancer)]

Try this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/makedev/+bug/1679727/comments/4