ltsp-build-client fails with "debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Passthrough"

[Tom Haddon]

I'm using gutsy i386 beta.

$ dpkg -l ltsp*
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-f/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/t-aWait/T-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-===================-===================-======================================================
ii ltsp-server 5.0.38 Basic LTSP server environment
ii ltsp-server-standal 5.0.38 Complete LTSP server environment
un ltsp-utils <none> (no description available)
ii ltspfs 0.5-0ubuntu2 Fuse based remote filesystem for LTSP thin clients

When running sudo ltsp-build-client I got

error: LTSP client installation ended abnormally

I saw errors like the following as it was building:

debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Passthrough
debconf: (Failed to open fd 3: Bad file descriptor at (eval 20) line 3)
debconf: falling back to frontend: Noninteractive
Can not write log, openpty() failed (/dev/pts not mounted?)

If I run mount -l I get:

/dev/hda2 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro) [/]
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/sys on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=0755)
varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devshm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,size=414187520)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/hda1 on /boot type ext3 (rw) [/boot]
/dev/hda6 on /data type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda5 on /home type ext3 (rw)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
tmpfs on /lib/modules/2.6.22-13-386/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)

If I run sudo ltsp-update-sshkeys && sudo ltsp-update-image it seems to complete okay, but when I try booting a client, it seems to get the right IP address (i.e in the range I've defined), but says it can't contact the tftp server and obviously no client loads.

[Tom Haddon (mthaddon)]

Sorry, it seems to be seeing the tftp server, but says file not found...

[Tom Haddon (mthaddon)]

Seems like I needed to run sudo /usr/sbin/ltsp-update-kernels /opt/ltsp/i386 to have all the relevant files copied to the tftp root.

Not sure whether this is supposed to happen automatically, or this page should be updated:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LTSPQuickInstall

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

the kernel gutsy packages were broken the last days, could you try to wipe /opt/ltsp/i386 and re-run ltsp-build-client ?

teh debconf warnings are totally fine (it tells you it falls back to noninteractive mode), its very likely that you only have half a kernel image or so in your ltsp tree now ...

[Tom Haddon (mthaddon)]

I wiped /opt/ltsp/i386 and updated my ltsp install with update-manager:

$ dpkg -l ltsp*
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-f/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/t-aWait/T-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-=============================-=============================-==========================================================================
ii ltsp-server 5.0.39 Basic LTSP server environment
ii ltsp-server-standalone 5.0.39 Complete LTSP server environment
un ltsp-utils <none> (no description available)
ii ltspfs 0.5-0ubuntu2 Fuse based remote filesystem for LTSP thin clients

However, I'm still getting "error: LTSP client installation ended abnormally"

Also, If I run "sudo ltsp-update-sshkeys && sudo ltsp-update-image" it builds the ltsp-client for me and I can boot up from a client, however, I get "This workstation is not authorized to connect to the server" after entering my username and password.

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

could you please capture a log:

sudo ltsp-build-client >/tmp/ltsp.log 2>&1

and attach it

[Tom Haddon (mthaddon)]

Please find attached.

[Tom Haddon (mthaddon)]

Also, I don't know if this is in any way related, but for some reason I get the kubuntu usplash and login screen (I doubt it's related, but seems kind of non-standard)

I tried changing this by dropping into the chroot, changing /etc/alternatives/ldm-theme to point to /usr/share/ldm/themes/ubuntu and /etc/alternatives/usplash-artwork.so to point to /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-theme-ubuntu.so. I then ran update-initramfs. This seemed to give me the standard ubuntu splash screen, but still the kubuntu ldm theme. I then copied the background I wanted into all of the /opt/ltsp/i386/usr/share/ldm/theme subdirectories, but still came up with the ldm-theme. I also tried doing dpkg --list | grep kubuntu from within the chroot and saw that kubuntu-artwork-usplash was installed. I uninstalled it, but it still shows the kubuntu ldm theme.

Am I missing something to update the ldm-theme?

[Tom Haddon (mthaddon)]

Ok, I've figured out the problem. It was failing on /usr/share/ltsp/plugins/ltsp-build-client/Ubuntu/035-update-kernels because my /usr/sbin/ltsp-update-kernels script appears to have a default BASE of /opt/ltsp. To get it to run correctly, I have to pass it /opt/ltsp/i386, and then it seems to work fine.

Will investigate if I can fix /usr/sbin/ltsp-update-kernels...

[Tom Haddon (mthaddon)]

This patch has fixed /usr/sbin/ltsp-update-kernels for me so I no longer have to specify the location of the chroot. Find doesn't seem to like it if you specify /opt/ltsp as the path to find from, but is fine with /opt/ltsp/ or /opt/ltsp//, so I figure it's safe to append a trailing slash to the find command.

[Tom Haddon (mthaddon)]

Mystery solved. My /opt/ltsp is actually a symlink to /data/ltsp. This seems to be causing me the issue. I'll workaround.