Grub install failed on sda and sda3-btrfs

[Hadriel]

I saw the btrfs file system choice and decided to see how it went. Not sure if its a problem with that or what, but grub failed to install on sda and sda3(the btrfs partition) .

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: ubiquity 2.8.7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.287
Date: Thu Oct 20 17:25:06 2011
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Exception during installation:
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: Traceback (most recent call last):
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 1641, in <module>
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: install.run()
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 55, in wrapper
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: func(self)
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 199, in run
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: self.configure_bootloader()
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 944, in configure_bootloader
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: old_bootdev = self.db.get('grub-installer/bootdev')
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 60, in <lambda>
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: lambda *args, **kw: self.command(command, *args, **kw))
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 65, in command
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: self.write.flush()
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py: IOError: [Errno 32] Broken pipe
Oct 20 17:24:47 ubuntu plugininstall.py:

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Oct 20 17:19:06 ubuntu grub-installer: info: Installing grub on '/dev/sda'
Oct 20 17:19:06 ubuntu grub-installer: info: grub-install supports --no-floppy
Oct 20 17:19:06 ubuntu grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target grub-install --no-floppy --force "/dev/sda"
Oct 20 17:19:08 ubuntu grub-installer: /usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Your embedding area is unusually small. core.img won't fit in it..
Oct 20 17:19:08 ubuntu grub-installer: /usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
Oct 20 17:19:13 ubuntu grub-installer: /usr/sbin/grub-setup: error:
Oct 20 17:19:13 ubuntu grub-installer:
Oct 20 17:19:13 ubuntu grub-installer: cannot read `/@/boot/grub/core.img' correctly
Oct 20 17:19:13 ubuntu grub-installer: .
Oct 20 17:19:13 ubuntu grub-installer: error: Running 'grub-install --no-floppy --force "/dev/sda"' failed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Alessandro Menti (elgaton)]

Confirmed using an Ubuntu 11.10 i386 installation disk on VirtualBox.

[Alessandro Menti (elgaton)]

These are the log files that I collected manually (not using Apport, but
copying them to a USB key instead) during my test installation.

[Dave Gilbert (ubuntu-treblig)]

High suggested by Elgaton; seems reasonable -> Has a severe impact on a small portion of Ubuntu users (estimated)

[Caio Costa (caiocc12)]

I've tried to install Xubuntu 12.04 on a 16 GB thumb drive, following partition table
1st partition: Primary, NTFS, 8GB
2nd partition: Primary, ext2, /boot, 0.5GB
3rd partition: Primary, brtfs, /, 7.5GB

And then I've hit the grub-install error:

ubuntu grub-installer: cannot read `/grub/core.img' correctly

For those also looking to install ubuntu on a thumb drive, I've found that ext4 with " journal-data-writeback" option set on tune2fs, and mount options "commit=120,data=writeback,noatime" added to /etc/fstab offer acceptable performance.

[filip (bandit-s-fw)]

i experience this bug in quantal 12.10 daily (7/7/12).
i've installed quantal, as a test, on a 8 gb stick formated btrfs as / and there everything works.
Then because this worked, i decided to install it to my internal harddrive and got most likely this problem.
I have seen these messages:
ubuntu grub-installer: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged.
ubuntu grub-installer: cannot read `/@/boot/grub/core.img' correctly"
in the window below of the installer.

(see duplicate 800840)
Also as above, i reinstalled from the same live envirement (didn't reboot) and used ext4 and the installation finished without a problem.

[filip (bandit-s-fw)]

this bug is possible a duplicate of this bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/774217