initramfs-tools needs to update lilo after changing the initrd

[Chris Moore]

Whenever there's an update for initramfs-tools, the next time I reboot, ubuntu shows a kernel panic instead of booting.

In such cases I boot to "ubuntuOLD" and run "sudo lilo", then reboot again and the problem is fixed.

Would it not be better if the post-install script for initramfs-tools could run lilo automatically if it is found to be necessary?

[Chris Moore (dooglus)]

I've seen this kernel panic quite a lot of times in the past but never known which package was causing it. This time I made a list of all the packages which had been installed since the last time I booted. Here it is:

2006-02-17 10:47:11 status installed xfce4 4.2.3
2006-02-17 10:47:29 status installed xfce4-toys 4.2.3-1
2006-02-17 10:48:16 status installed xfce4-iconbox 4.2.3-1
2006-02-17 10:48:17 status installed xfce4-systray 4.2.3-1
2006-02-17 10:48:30 status installed xffm4 1:4.2.3-1ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:08 status installed libxfce4mcs-manager-2 4.2.3-1
2006-02-17 10:49:12 status installed xfdesktop4 4.3.6.4-1ubuntu3
2006-02-17 10:49:14 status installed libxfce4mcs-client-2 4.2.3-1
2006-02-17 10:49:14 status installed xfce4-mixer 1:4.2.3-1ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:26 status installed xfce4-xkb-plugin 0.3.2-3ubuntu2
2006-02-17 10:49:27 status installed xfce4-battery-plugin 0.3.0-2
2006-02-17 10:49:27 status installed xfce4-trigger-launcher 4.2.3-1
2006-02-17 10:49:27 status installed xfce4-weather-plugin 0.4.9-2ubuntu3
2006-02-17 10:49:30 status installed libxfcegui4-3 4.2.3-1ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:33 status installed libxfce4util-1 4.2.3.2-1
2006-02-17 10:49:42 status installed libxfce4mcs-client3 4.3.0svn+r19775-0ubuntu3
2006-02-17 10:49:42 status installed libxfce4mcs-manager3 4.3.0svn+r19775-0ubuntu3
2006-02-17 10:49:42 status installed libxfce4util2 4.3.0svn+r19775-0ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:42 status installed libxfcegui4-4 4.3.8svn+r19895-0ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:42 status installed xfce4-panel 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu3
2006-02-17 10:49:42 status installed xfce4-session 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu2
2006-02-17 10:49:42 status installed xfprint4 4.3.0svn+r19872-0ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:43 status installed orage 4.3.1.22svn-1ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:43 status installed xfce4-appfinder 4.3.0svn+r19895-0ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:43 status installed xfce4-mcs-manager 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:43 status installed xfce4-taskmanager 0.3.1-0ubuntu2
2006-02-17 10:49:43 status installed xfce4-utils 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:43 status installed xfwm4 4.3.0svn+r19872-0ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:49:44 status installed mousepad 0.2.2-2ubuntu3
2006-02-17 10:49:45 status installed xfce4-mcs-plugins 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu1
2006-02-17 10:51:49 status installed alsa-utils 1.0.10-1ubuntu7
2006-02-17 10:52:23 status installed initramfs-tools 0.40ubuntu23
2006-02-17 10:52:24 status installed app-install-data 0.1.12
2006-02-17 10:52:43 status installed gnome-app-install 0.1.12
2006-02-17 10:52:44 status installed ubuntu-artwork 0.2.28-2
2006-02-17 14:11:39 status installed gnupg 1.4.2.1-0ubuntu1
2006-02-17 14:11:39 status installed gqview 2.0.1-1ubuntu1

[Chris Moore (dooglus)]

And here it is again in a slightly different format, in the hope that malone won't mangle it this time:

 * xfce4 4.2.3
 * xfce4-toys 4.2.3-1
 * xfce4-iconbox 4.2.3-1
 * xfce4-systray 4.2.3-1
 * xffm4 1:4.2.3-1ubuntu1
 * libxfce4mcs-manager-2 4.2.3-1
 * xfdesktop4 4.3.6.4-1ubuntu3
 * libxfce4mcs-client-2 4.2.3-1
 * xfce4-mixer 1:4.2.3-1ubuntu1
 * xfce4-xkb-plugin 0.3.2-3ubuntu2
 * xfce4-battery-plugin 0.3.0-2
 * xfce4-trigger-launcher 4.2.3-1
 * xfce4-weather-plugin 0.4.9-2ubuntu3
 * libxfcegui4-3 4.2.3-1ubuntu1
 * libxfce4util-1 4.2.3.2-1
 * libxfce4mcs-client3 4.3.0svn+r19775-0ubuntu3
 * libxfce4mcs-manager3 4.3.0svn+r19775-0ubuntu3
 * libxfce4util2 4.3.0svn+r19775-0ubuntu1
 * libxfcegui4-4 4.3.8svn+r19895-0ubuntu1
 * xfce4-panel 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu3
 * xfce4-session 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu2
 * xfprint4 4.3.0svn+r19872-0ubuntu1
 * orage 4.3.1.22svn-1ubuntu1
 * xfce4-appfinder 4.3.0svn+r19895-0ubuntu1
 * xfce4-mcs-manager 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu1
 * xfce4-taskmanager 0.3.1-0ubuntu2
 * xfce4-utils 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu1
 * xfwm4 4.3.0svn+r19872-0ubuntu1
 * mousepad 0.2.2-2ubuntu3
 * xfce4-mcs-plugins 4.3.0svn+r19871-0ubuntu1
 * alsa-utils 1.0.10-1ubuntu7
 * initramfs-tools 0.40ubuntu23
 * app-install-data 0.1.12
 * gnome-app-install 0.1.12
 * ubuntu-artwork 0.2.28-2
 * gnupg 1.4.2.1-0ubuntu1
 * gqview 2.0.1-1ubuntu1

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

You forgot to provide the text of the panic that you see.

[Chris Moore (dooglus)]

I just applied some updates and rebooted. This lead to a kernel panic.

The packages that the update installed are as follows:

  tangerine-icon-theme tango-icon-theme ubuntu-base ubuntu-desktop ubuntu-minimal ubuntu-standard udev x-window-system-core x11-common xbase-clients xserver-xorg xutils

None of them look like they would affect /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-20-686, but the modification date on that file is the same as the time that I applied the updates.

Looking around, I discovered that updating udev modifies the initrd.img file:

(dapper) chris@chrislap:/boot$ ls -l /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-19-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6725161 2006-04-18 16:41 /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-19-686
(dapper) chris@chrislap:/boot$ sudo apt-get --reinstall install udev
[...]
Preparing to replace udev 079-0ubuntu25 (using .../udev_079-0ubuntu25_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement udev ...
Setting up udev (079-0ubuntu25) ...

(dapper) chris@chrislap:/boot$ ls -l /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-19-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6725163 2006-04-18 16:47 /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-19-686
(dapper) chris@chrislap:/boot$ date
Tue Apr 18 16:47:35 CEST 2006
(dapper) chris@chrislap:/boot$ uname -r
2.6.15-19-686

(notice in this case I have booted into an older kernel version, since the newest one won't boot due to the kernel panic; I also notice that installing udev only modifies the initrd.img file for the kernel which is currently running - that doesn't seem like it could be the right thing to do - shouldn't it either modify them all or none of them?)

The installation of udev is editing the /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-20-686 file, resulting in the boot sequence getting broken.

The kernel panic says this, by the way:

  "[4294671.271000] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unk
nown-block(3,6)

Note that the original bug report doesn't list udev in the list of installed packages, so it looks like it isn't just udev which needs to re-run lilo after installation.

[Chris Moore (dooglus)]

Both
  /var/lib/dpkg/info/udev.postinst
and
  /var/lib/dpkg/info/initramfs-tools.postinst
run
  update-initramfs -u

So it is the same bug, and I guess the fix would be to get update-initramfs (from the initramfs-tools package) to re-run lilo after updating the file if lilo is being used.

[Chris Moore (dooglus)]

I can't see how to change the status back from 'needsinfo' now that the needed info has been provided.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

Indeed, if lilo is in use, update-initramfs either needs to re-run it, or leave the initramfs alone.

[Dejan (dejan-rodiger)]

Check my problem here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lilo/+bug/88219

I have problem with initramfs and lilo I think.
Short story:
- upgraded from Ubuntu 6.10 to 7.04 through internet
- some packages didn't upgrade (initramfs-tools is one of them)
- rebooted with my 2.6.17 kernel
- boot error
- reboted with my old kernel 2.6.15-23
- boot ok
- apt-get upgrade or install initramfs-tools doesn't work because I have zero size initrd.img.old (for kernel which works)
- I commented initrd instruction in lilo.conf
- upgrade finished
- since it added 2.6.20-14 and 2.6.20-13 to the lilo.conf, I added 2.6.15-23 to lilo.conf myself (kernel which worked)
- rebooted
- boot in new kernel 2.6.20 ends in busybox and messages that it can't mount /sys, /proc, /root/dev and because of that it can't start /sbin/init
- boot in old kernel 2.6.15 ends in kernel-panic: unable to mount root ...bla bla...

I will try to boot my ubuntu 6.06 DVD if I can solve my problems. (Since I upgraded from 6.06 to 6.10 with no problems)

[maximilian attems (maks-debian)]

Newer lilo has hooks to run on initramfs upgrade if /etc/lilo.conf is configured.
So this should be fixed from Maverick on, thus marking as Fix released.