usb-create does not see built-in memory module /dev/sda

[Sergei Vorobyov]

Binary package hint: usb-creator

1)
root@ubuntu:/mnt# lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Release: 10.04

2)
root@ubuntu:/mnt# apt-cache policy usb-creator-gtk
usb-creator-gtk:
  Installed: 0.2.22
  Candidate: 0.2.22.1
  Version table:
     0.2.22.1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main Packages
 *** 0.2.22 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) expected to create a bootable /dev/sda1 partition

root@ubuntu:/mnt# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 992 MB, 992968704 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 120 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0001905d

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 120 963868+ 6 FAT16

Disk /dev/sdb: 1999 MB, 1999568384 bytes
62 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1015 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 3844 * 512 = 1968128 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00069687

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 1015 1950799 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/sdc: 64.4 GB, 64407732224 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7830 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf5a48b8b

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 26 208813+ 6 FAT16
/dev/sdc2 27 1332 10490445 83 Linux
/dev/sdc3 1333 1464 1060290 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdc4 1465 7830 51134895 83 Linux

4) usb-creator sees and suggests to select just /dev/sdb1

In contrast,

unetbootin

easily created bootable /dev/sda1. It also sees /dev/sdc* (Verbatim Expresscard/34 64GB SSD),
which usb-creator-gtk does not.

Unfortunately, unetbootin does not have the useful persistent storage feature, which usb-create does

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: usb-creator-gtk 0.2.22
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Oct 3 11:04:02 2010
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: usb-creator

[Sergei Vorobyov (svorobyov)]

on another computer, on which I prepare bootable usb sticks (different Linux distributions and releases),
usb-createator started to fail (all with ubuntu*.iso):

root@tp:~# lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu maverick (development branch)
Release: 10.10

root@tp:~# grep "usb-cr" /var/log/syslog
Oct 3 13:24:08 tp kernel: [406780.344300] usb-creator-gtk[818]: segfault at 4 ip 00007f0203592f60 sp 00007fffe543af68 error 6 in libdbus-1.so.3.5.2[7f020356e000+40000]
Oct 3 14:37:00 tp kernel: [411152.652639] usb-creator-gtk[1587]: segfault at 60d ip 00007f796aa04e24 sp 00007fff2c5c2f40 error 4 in libdbus-1.so.3.5.2[7f796a9dd000+40000]
Oct 3 15:24:18 tp kernel: [413990.321978] usb-creator-gtk[2237] general protection ip:7f98352845a5 sp:7fff7d10e6d0 error:0 in libc-2.12.1.so[7f9835209000+17a000]
Oct 3 15:31:07 tp kernel: [414399.668382] usb-creator-gtk[2377]: segfault at 1d06000 ip 00007f065c5c7f40 sp 00007fff995608e8 error 4 in libc-2.12.1.so[7f065c541000+17a000]
Oct 3 16:53:25 tp kernel: [419337.640888] usb-creator-gtk[3342]: segfault at 2861000 ip 00007f37a72df124 sp 00007fff092f3b08 error 4 in libc-2.12.1.so[7f37a7258000+17a000]

Oct 3 16:31:41 tp kernel: [418033.765527] sd 23:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Exception in thread Thread-1:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/threading.py", line 532, in __bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/usbcreator/install.py", line 145, in run
    self.install()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/usbcreator/install.py", line 558, in install
    self.create_persistence()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/usbcreator/install.py", line 327, in create_persistence
    popen(dd_cmd)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/usbcreator/misc.py", line 143, in popen
    raise USBCreatorProcessException(err)
USBCreatorProcessException: dd: writing `/media/E6FE-B1A6/casper-rw': No space left on device
1214+0 records in
1213+0 records out
1272217600 bytes (1.3 GB) copied, 181.612 s, 7.0 MB/s

Although I just let it use the whole usb stick.

[Sergei Vorobyov (svorobyov)]

Looks like, I found the reason (which still seems a bug in usb-creator).

It appears to create an extra log file .cache/usb-creator.log, looking into which I discovered
too many unmounted loop (possibly mounted by usb-creator):

root@tp:~# df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 474791048 25641620 425031364 6% /
none 1537812 300 1537512 1% /dev
none 1544936 5492 1539444 1% /dev/shm
none 1544936 136 1544800 1% /var/run
none 1544936 0 1544936 0% /var/lock
none 474791048 25641628 425031356 6% /var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs
/dev/loop0 716230 716230 0 100% /tmp/tmpGGyuok
/dev/loop1 708128 708128 0 100% /tmp/tmpa8Piqc
/dev/loop2 708128 708128 0 100% /tmp/tmpGCWILG
/dev/loop3 702610 702610 0 100% /tmp/tmp3lW_H9
/dev/loop4 702610 702610 0 100% /tmp/tmpVTYeFG
/dev/loop5 702610 702610 0 100% /tmp/tmpIGmCbj
/dev/loop6 716230 716230 0 100% /tmp/tmpikHExr
/dev/loop7 702610 702610 0 100% /tmp/tmp9aMXKK
/dev/sdb1 1946972 4 1946968 1% /media/AF1D-90C4
root@tp:~# umount /dev/loop*
root@tp:~# df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 474791048 25641628 425031356 6% /
none 1537812 300 1537512 1% /dev
none 1544936 5492 1539444 1% /dev/shm
none 1544936 136 1544800 1% /var/run
none 1544936 0 1544936 0% /var/lock
none 474791048 25641628 425031356 6% /var/lib/ureadahead/debugfs

Unmounting them, I tried again and, surprise:

/dev/sdb1 1946972 702428 1244544 37% /media/B8AC-EC30
/dev/loop0 702610 702610 0 100% /tmp/tmpX_3XkN

loop0 appeared, and the new segfault again:

Oct 3 18:24:52 tp kernel: [424824.445037] usb-creator-gtk[4252]: segfault at 0 ip 00007fe271595d47 sp 00007fe263debcb8 error 6 in libdbus-1.so.3.5.2[7fe27156f000+40000]

[Sergei Vorobyov (svorobyov)]

After reformatting the usb stick (FAT32, default on my Win 7, just to be sure I am using it
fresh)

tried again, and it silently disappeared after "creating the persistent file" and
"creating an ext3 filesystem" on it, leaving in .cache/usb-creator.log:

usb-creator 2010-10-03 18:53:14,799 (DEBUG) install.py:524: Writing /media/EAD6-3FA3/.disk/release_notes_url
usb-creator 2010-10-03 18:53:14,820 (DEBUG) install.py:191: install_bootloader
usb-creator 2010-10-03 18:53:25,476 (DEBUG) install.py:222: mangle_syslinux
usb-creator 2010-10-03 18:53:26,414 (DEBUG) install.py:311: create_persistence
usb-creator 2010-10-03 18:53:26,415 (DEBUG) misc.py:128: ['dd', 'if=/dev/zero', 'bs=1M', 'of=/media/EAD6-3FA3/casper-rw', 'count=1214']
usb-creator 2010-10-03 18:57:20,947 (DEBUG) misc.py:128: ['mkfs.ext3', '-F', '/media/EAD6-3FA3/casper-rw']
usb-creator 2010-10-03 18:57:36,728 (DEBUG) install.py:336: sync

at which point syslog reported:

Oct 3 18:57:36 tp kernel: [426789.028936] usb-creator-gtk[4563] general protection ip:4523ce sp:7fff90bbf970 error:0 in python2.6[400000+21a000]

leaving

/dev/sdc1 1946700 1945564 1136 100% /media/EAD6-3FA3
/dev/loop0 702610 702610 0 100% /tmp/tmpuKeihQ

(strangely, it now appears on /dev/sdc rather than /dev/sdb before; see the previous posts)