/boot/vmlinux: not a valid ELF image

[Matteo Settenvini]

Kernel 2.6.28-1.6 on PPC64 (iMac G5) fails immediately at boot with error "/boot/vmlinux: not a valid ELF image".
Last image known surely booting and working: linux-image-2.6.27-1-powerpc64-smp (2.6.27-1.1).

matteo@Dahlia:/boot$ ls -l
totale 46608
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 481920 2008-11-07 04:40 abi-2.6.27-1-powerpc64-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 511053 2009-02-13 18:52 abi-2.6.28-1-powerpc64-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 79113 2008-11-07 04:40 config-2.6.27-1-powerpc64-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 81717 2009-02-13 18:52 config-2.6.28-1-powerpc64-smp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 2009-02-14 11:39 initrd.img -> initrd.img-2.6.28-1-powerpc64-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9726549 2009-02-13 15:25 initrd.img-2.6.27-1-powerpc64-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10086168 2009-02-14 11:40 initrd.img-2.6.28-1-powerpc64-smp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 2008-11-28 22:30 initrd.img.old -> initrd.img-2.6.27-1-powerpc64-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1769032 2008-11-07 04:40 System.map-2.6.27-1-powerpc64-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1955137 2009-02-13 18:52 System.map-2.6.28-1-powerpc64-smp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2009-02-14 11:39 vmlinux -> vmlinux-2.6.28-1-powerpc64-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9460295 2008-11-07 04:40 vmlinux-2.6.27-1-powerpc64-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13513102 2009-02-13 18:52 vmlinux-2.6.28-1-powerpc64-smp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2008-11-28 22:30 vmlinux.old -> vmlinux-2.6.27-1-powerpc64-smp

[Matteo Settenvini (tchernobog)]

I'm attaching all the relevant files as per request. However, notice they refer to 2.6.27 since 2.6.28 doesn't boot.

[Luke Yelavich (themuso)]

Confirmed on a PowerMac G5 dual 1.8 machine. WIll look into it.

affects ubuntu/linux-ports
 status confirmed
 assignee themuso

[Luke Yelavich (themuso)]

 affects ubuntu/linux-ports
 status fixcommitted

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package linux-ports - 2.6.28-2.7

---------------
linux-ports (2.6.28-2.7) jaunty; urgency=low

  [ Luke Yelavich ]

  * Disable RELOCATABLE on powerpc64-smp
    - LP: #329400
  * Turn ABI/module checking back on
  * Adjust ia64 to reduce kernel size, and increase functionality
  * add the ext4 module for Debian Installer
  * add some more IDE modules for Debian Installer
  * enable Ubuntu modules for powerpc
    - LP: #329704
  * add the dm-raid4-5 module for Debian Installer
  * fix up some differences in config for modules that should be buildable
    on all powerpc variants
  * enable maple platform support in the powerpc64-smp kernel
  * a few more ia64 configuration tweaks
  * make the Ubuntu added drbd module compile properly on powerpc
  * move rtc-ppc into the powerpc kernels
    - LP: #26658
  * re-add device-tree-compiler for powerpc again

  [ Michael Casadevall ]

  * [sparc] Prevent __LITTLE_ENDIAN from being defined in the kernel
    headers

  Rebase on top of Jaunty 2.6.28-8.24:

  [ Scott James Remnant ]

  * Change CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_ONDEMAND to y
  * SAUCE: Link acpi-cpufreq.o first

  [ Tim Gardner ]

  * Build in CPU Frequency scaling drivers

  [ Andy Whitcroft ]

  * include the kernel configuration in the sub-flavour images
    - LP: #328859

  [ Tim Gardner ]

  * Revert "SAUCE: (drop after 2.6.28) [eCryptfs] Regression in unencrypted
    filename symlinks" in favor of upstream commit.
  * Fix compile issues with qc-usb
  * SAUCE: (remove after 2.6.28) V4L/DVB (10216): saa7127: fix broken
    S-Video with saa7129
    - LP: #329267

  [ Upstream Kernel Changes ]

  * Subject:SAUCE: LP#193970 iwlagn: fix hw-rfkill while the interface is
    down
    - LP: #193970
  * x86, vmi: put a missing paravirt_release_pmd in pgd_dtor
  * nbd: fix I/O hang on disconnected nbds
  * mac80211: restrict to AP in outgoing interface heuristic
  * w1: w1 temp calculation overflow fix
  * zd1211rw: adding 0ace:0xa211 as a ZD1211 device
  * zd1211rw: treat MAXIM_NEW_RF(0x08) as UW2453_RF(0x09) for TP-Link
    WN322/422G
  * parport: parport_serial, don't bind netmos ibm 0299
  * syscall define: fix uml compile bug
  * kernel-doc: fix syscall wrapper processing
  * Fix page writeback thinko, causing Berkeley DB slowdown
  * write-back: fix nr_to_write counter
  * writeback: fix break condition
  * mm: rearrange exit_mmap() to unlock before arch_exit_mmap
  * powerpc/fsl-booke: Fix mapping functions to use phys_addr_t
  * lockd: fix regression in lockd's handling of blocked locks
  * sctp: Fix crc32c calculations on big-endian arhes.
  * sctp: Correctly start rtx timer on new packet transmissions.
  * sctp: Properly timestamp outgoing data chunks for rtx purposes
  * net: Fix frag_list handling in skb_seq_read
  * net: Fix OOPS in skb_seq_read().
  * drivers/net/skfp: if !capable(CAP_NET_ADMIN): inverted logic
  * ipv4: fix infinite retry loop in IP-Config
  * net: Fix userland breakage wrt. linux/if_tunnel.h
  * net: packet socket packet_lookup_frame fix
  * packet: Avoid lock_sock in mmap handler
  * sungem: Soft lockup in sungem on Netra AC200 when switching interface
    up
  * udp: Fix UDP short packet false ...