Oneiric network install fails with "mount: mounting /dev on /target/dev/ failed: Invalid argument"

[Andrew Glen-Young]

I am attempting a network install on an AMD64 machine using the current Oneiric netboot.tar.gz downloaded from archive.ubuntu.com and I am encountering the below error causing the installation to fail.

Jul 27 16:28:22 main-menu[560]: (process:11881): mount: mounting /dev on /target/dev/ failed: Invalid argument

~ # mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (rw)
none on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=611224k,mode=755)
none on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw,relatime)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=600,ptmxmode=000)
/dev/sda1 on /target type ext4 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/sda1 on /dev/.static/dev type ext4 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered)

A similar bug (LP#300426) was reported in Jaunty-alpha.

Syslog:

Jul 27 16:27:36 anna[3777]: DEBUG: retrieving base-installer 1.119ubuntu3
[...]
Jul 27 16:28:21 debconf: --> SUBST base-installer/debootstrap/info/configuring SECTION Configuring the base system
Jul 27 16:28:21 debconf: Adding [SECTION] -> [Configuring the base system]
Jul 27 16:28:21 debconf: <-- 0
Jul 27 16:28:21 debconf: --> PROGRESS INFO base-installer/debootstrap/info/configuring
Jul 27 16:28:21 debconf: <-- 0 OK
Jul 27 16:28:21 debconf: --> PROGRESS SET 100
Jul 27 16:28:21 debconf: <-- 0 OK
Jul 27 16:28:21 debconf: --> METAGET base-installer/debootstrap/info/basesuccess description
Jul 27 16:28:21 debconf: <-- 0 Base system installed successfully.
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: --> PROGRESS SET 103
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: <-- 0 OK
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: --> PROGRESS INFO base-installer/section/setup_dev
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: <-- 0 OK
Jul 27 16:28:22 main-menu[560]: (process:11881): mount: mounting /dev on /target/dev/ failed: Invalid argument
Jul 27 16:28:22 main-menu[560]: WARNING **: Configuring 'bootstrap-base' failed with error code 255
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: --> GET debconf/priority
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: <-- 0 critical
Jul 27 16:28:22 main-menu[560]: WARNING **: Menu item 'bootstrap-base' failed.
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: --> SETTITLE debian-installer/bootstrap-base/title
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: <-- 0 OK
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: --> CAPB
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: <-- 0 multiselect backup progresscancel align plugin-detect-keyboard plugin-terminal
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: --> METAGET debian-installer/bootstrap-base/title Description
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: <-- 0 Install the base system
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: --> SUBST debian-installer/main-menu/item-failure ITEM Install the base system
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: Adding [ITEM] -> [Install the base system]
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: <-- 0
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: --> INPUT critical debian-installer/main-menu/item-failure
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: <-- 0 question will be asked
Jul 27 16:28:22 debconf: --> GO

[Andrew Glen-Young (aglenyoung)]

Looks like the 'setup_dev_linux' function in '/usr/lib/base-installer/library.sh' is failing when running: mount --bind /dev /target/dev/

Running the command manually from a shell gives the same error.

~ # mount --bind /dev /target/dev/
mount: mounting /dev on /target/dev/ failed: Invalid argument

[Jacob Strauss (jacob-strauss)]

I see the exact same behavior. Should /dev have its own partition? I tried a few bind mounts from the shell and all the ones I tried returned EINVAL when the source was under /, and worked if they were elsewhere.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 817443, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.