Interacting with NetBSD serial console boot blocks no longer works

[Andreas Gustafsson]

The NetBSD boot blocks display a menu allowing the user to make a
selection using the keyboard. For example, when booting a NetBSD
installation CD-ROM, the menu looks like this:

         1. Install NetBSD
         2. Install NetBSD (no ACPI)
         3. Install NetBSD (no ACPI, no SMP)
         4. Drop to boot prompt

    Choose an option; RETURN for default; SPACE to stop countdown.
    Option 1 will be chosen in 30 seconds.

When booting NetBSD in a recent qemu using an emulated serial console,
making this menu selection no longer works: when you type the selected
number, the keyboard input is ignored, and the 30-second countdown
continues. In older versions of qemu, it works.

To reproduce the problem, run:

   wget http://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-7.1.1/amd64/installation/cdrom/boot-com.iso
   qemu-system-x86_64 -nographic -cdrom boot-com.iso

During the 30-second countdown, press 4

Expected behavior: The countdown stops and you get a ">" prompt

Incorrect behavior: The countdown continues

There may also be some corruption of the terminal output; for example,
"Option 1 will be chosen in 30 seconds" may be displayed as "Option 1
will be chosen in p0 seconds".

Using bisection, I have determined that the problem appeared with qemu
commit 083fab0290f2c40d3d04f7f22eed9c8f2d5b6787, in which seabios was
updated to 1.11 prerelease, and the problem is still there as of
commit 7398166ddf7c6dbbc9cae6ac69bb2feda14b40ac. The host operating
system used for the tests was Debian 9 x86_64.

Credit for discovering this bug goes to Paul Goyette.

[Ottavio Caruso (ottaviocr)]

Reverting to Seabios 1.10 (version rel-1.10.3.0-gb76661dd) fixes this problem.

Steps:

$ cd && mkdir seabios-test && cd seabios-test
$ git clone -b 1.10-stable https://github.com/coreboot/seabios.git
$ cd seabios
$ make
$ qemu-system-x86_64 \
-drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image,index=0,media=disk \
-M q35,accel=kvm -m 350M -cpu host -smp $(nproc) \
-nic user,model=virtio-net-pci,ipv6=off \
-nographic -bios /home/oc/seabios-test/seabios/out/bios.bin

Result:
I can interact with NetBSD boot menu and select one of the available options.

Host:
Linux e130 4.9.0-11-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.189-3+deb9u1 (2019-09-20) x86_64 GNU/Linux

QEMU emulator version 4.2.0

[Philippe Mathieu-Daudé (philmd)]

Possibly related thread:
"Do we need a cpu with TSC support to run SeaBIOS?"
https://<email address hidden>/msg11726.html

[Gerd Hoffmann (kraxel-redhat)]

Workaround: add "-vga none" to the qemu command line.

[Ottavio Caruso (ottaviocr)]

@kraxel-redhat,

I guess "-vga none" is implicit when using -nographic?

However, for the sake of trying, I've added "-vga none" and it won't solve it for me (when using default bios).

[Andreas Gustafsson (gson)]

Gerd Hommann wrote:
> Workaround: add "-vga none" to the qemu command line.

This supposed workaround does not work for me.

[Stefan Hajnoczi (stefanha)]

@kraxel-redhat: This issue bisects to commit d6728f301d7e6e31ba0ee2fa51ed4a24feab8860 ("add serial console support"). seabios.git/master + "[PATCH] sercon: vbe modeset is int 10h function 4f02 not 4f00" still has the issue.

I'm using the following command-line:

  qemu-system-x86_64 -M accel=kvm -m 1G -cpu host -cdrom ~/Downloads/boot-com.iso -nographic

[Gerd Hoffmann (kraxel-redhat)]

Ah, it's a special serial console boot iso. I was trying the normal NetBSD-<version>-amd64.iso.

So, it seems seabios sercon and bootloader are fighting over the serial line.

seabios enables sercon for no-graphical guests ("-machine graphics=off", "-nographics" enables this too).

So one option is to turn off seabios sercon: "qemu -nographic -machine graphics=on".

The other option is to turn on seabios sercon and use the normal boot.iso (this needs the "-vga none" workaround from comment 3, or the sercon patch).

[Ottavio Caruso (ottaviocr)]

On Fri, 6 Mar 2020 at 13:24, Gerd Hoffmann <email address hidden> wrote:
> So one option is to turn off seabios sercon: "qemu -nographic -machine
> graphics=on".

This works for me, but only if I turn off "q35", therefore changing
from a sata disk to a plain ide:

qemu-system-x86_64 \
-drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image,index=0,media=disk \
-drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/newdisk2.img,index=1,media=disk \
-m 300M -cpu host -smp $(nproc) \
-nic user,hostfwd=tcp::6665-:22,model=virtio-net-pci,ipv6=off \
-nographic -machine accel=kvm,graphics=on

[Ottavio Caruso (ottaviocr)]

Just to clarify my last comment, and in absence of updates, if I launch the VM as:

qemu-system-x86_64 \
-drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/openbsd.image,index=0,media=disk \
-drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/openbsd.image.old,index=1,media=disk \
-M q35,accel=kvm,graphics=on -m 250M -cpu host -smp $(nproc) \
-nic user,hostfwd=tcp::6666-:22,model=virtio-net-pci -nographic

(note the -M q35,accel=kvm,graphics=on), the problem still persists.

I'm still on version 4.2 and I haven't updated to 5.0 yet.

[Thomas Huth (th-huth)]

The QEMU project is currently considering to move its bug tracking to
another system. For this we need to know which bugs are still valid
and which could be closed already. Thus we are setting older bugs to
"Incomplete" now.

If you still think this bug report here is valid, then please switch
the state back to "New" within the next 60 days, otherwise this report
will be marked as "Expired". Or please mark it as "Fix Released" if
the problem has been solved with a newer version of QEMU already.

Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.

[Paul Goyette (paul-whooppee)]

This bug was fixed long ago, so long ago that I have no idea when!

Please close wiwth an appropriate status.

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021, Thomas Huth wrote:

> The QEMU project is currently considering to move its bug tracking to
> another system. For this we need to know which bugs are still valid
> and which could be closed already. Thus we are setting older bugs to
> "Incomplete" now.
>
> If you still think this bug report here is valid, then please switch
> the state back to "New" within the next 60 days, otherwise this report
> will be marked as "Expired". Or please mark it as "Fix Released" if
> the problem has been solved with a newer version of QEMU already.
>
> Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.
>
> ** Changed in: qemu
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1743191
>
> Title:
> Interacting with NetBSD serial console boot blocks no longer works
>
> Status in QEMU:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> The NetBSD boot blocks display a menu allowing the user to make a
> selection using the keyboard. For example, when booting a NetBSD
> installation CD-ROM, the menu looks like this:
>
> 1. Install NetBSD
> 2. Install NetBSD (no ACPI)
> 3. Install NetBSD (no ACPI, no SMP)
> 4. Drop to boot prompt
>
> Choose an option; RETURN for default; SPACE to stop countdown.
> Option 1 will be chosen in 30 seconds.
>
> When booting NetBSD in a recent qemu using an emulated serial console,
> making this menu selection no longer works: when you type the selected
> number, the keyboard input is ignored, and the 30-second countdown
> continues. In older versions of qemu, it works.
>
> To reproduce the problem, run:
>
> wget http://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-7.1.1/amd64/installation/cdrom/boot-com.iso
> qemu-system-x86_64 -nographic -cdrom boot-com.iso
>
> During the 30-second countdown, press 4
>
> Expected behavior: The countdown stops and you get a ">" prompt
>
> Incorrect behavior: The countdown continues
>
> There may also be some corruption of the terminal output; for example,
> "Option 1 will be chosen in 30 seconds" may be displayed as "Option 1
> will be chosen in p0 seconds".
>
> Using bisection, I have determined that the problem appeared with qemu
> commit 083fab0290f2c40d3d04f7f22eed9c8f2d5b6787, in which seabios was
> updated to 1.11 prerelease, and the problem is still there as of
> commit 7398166ddf7c6dbbc9cae6ac69bb2feda14b40ac. The host operating
> system used for the tests was Debian 9 x86_64.
>
> Credit for discovering this bug goes to Paul Goyette.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1743191/+subscriptions
>
> !DSPAM:60811a8265601949211437!
>
>

+--------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------+
| Paul Goyette | PGP Key fingerprint: | E-mail addresses: |
| (Retired) | FA29 0E3B 35AF E8AE 6651 | <email address hidden> |
| Software Developer | 0786 F758 55DE 53BA 7731 | <email address hidden> |
+--------------------+------------------...

[Andreas Gustafsson (gson)]

Paul Goyette wrote:
> This bug was fixed long ago, so long ago that I have no idea when!

No, it is not fixed, and I did actually check before I switched the
bug state back to "new".

Perhaps you are specifying "-machine graphics=on" as suggested in one
of the comments? If so, that's a work-around, and an ugly and
nonintuitive one at that, not a fix.
--
Andreas Gustafsson, <email address hidden>

[Ottavio Caruso (ottaviocr)]

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 at 13:46, Andreas Gustafsson
<email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Paul Goyette wrote:
> > This bug was fixed long ago, so long ago that I have no idea when!
>
> No, it is not fixed, and I did actually check before I switched the
> bug state back to "new".
>
> Perhaps you are specifying "-machine graphics=on" as suggested in one
> of the comments? If so, that's a work-around, and an ugly and
> nonintuitive one at that, not a fix.
> --
> Andreas Gustafsson, <email address hidden>

I am currently using:

$ qemu-system-x86_64 --version
QEMU emulator version 5.2.0

And I have no problem selecting from menu in serial console, so I
assume this is fixed for me. This is my command line:

$ cat opt/bin/boot-netbsd-virtio
#!/bin/sh
qemu-system-x86_64 \
-drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image,index=0,media=disk \
-drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image.old,index=1,media=disk \
-M q35,accel=kvm -m 250M -cpu host -smp $(nproc) \
-nic user,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:5555-:22,model=virtio-net-pci,ipv6=off \
-daemonize -display none -vga none \
-serial mon:telnet:127.0.0.1:6665,server,nowait \
-pidfile /home/oc/VM/pid/netbsd-pid -nodefaults

telnet 127.0.0.1 6665

--
Ottavio Caruso

[Paul Goyette (paul-whooppee)]

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021, Ottavio Caruso wrote:

> On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 at 13:46, Andreas Gustafsson
> <email address hidden> wrote:
>>
>> Paul Goyette wrote:
>>> This bug was fixed long ago, so long ago that I have no idea when!
>>
>> No, it is not fixed, and I did actually check before I switched the
>> bug state back to "new".
>>
>> Perhaps you are specifying "-machine graphics=on" as suggested in one
>> of the comments? If so, that's a work-around, and an ugly and
>> nonintuitive one at that, not a fix.

Andreas is correct - I am using the suggested work-around, and the
original bug is NOT fixed.

I believe Andreas has moved the bug back to New status to reflect
that it is not fixed. (Whether or not it is fixed, _I_ should not
have asked to have _his_ bug closed. It's been so long, I almost
believed it was my bug. :) My apologies to Andreas and everyone
else.)

>> --
>> Andreas Gustafsson, <email address hidden>
>
> I am currently using:
>
> $ qemu-system-x86_64 --version
> QEMU emulator version 5.2.0
>
> And I have no problem selecting from menu in serial console, so I
> assume this is fixed for me. This is my command line:
>
> $ cat opt/bin/boot-netbsd-virtio
> #!/bin/sh
> qemu-system-x86_64 \
> -drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image,index=0,media=disk \
> -drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image.old,index=1,media=disk \
> -M q35,accel=kvm -m 250M -cpu host -smp $(nproc) \
> -nic user,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:5555-:22,model=virtio-net-pci,ipv6=off \
> -daemonize -display none -vga none \
> -serial mon:telnet:127.0.0.1:6665,server,nowait \
> -pidfile /home/oc/VM/pid/netbsd-pid -nodefaults
>
> telnet 127.0.0.1 6665
>
>
> --
> Ottavio Caruso
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1743191
>
> Title:
> Interacting with NetBSD serial console boot blocks no longer works
>
> Status in QEMU:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> The NetBSD boot blocks display a menu allowing the user to make a
> selection using the keyboard. For example, when booting a NetBSD
> installation CD-ROM, the menu looks like this:
>
> 1. Install NetBSD
> 2. Install NetBSD (no ACPI)
> 3. Install NetBSD (no ACPI, no SMP)
> 4. Drop to boot prompt
>
> Choose an option; RETURN for default; SPACE to stop countdown.
> Option 1 will be chosen in 30 seconds.
>
> When booting NetBSD in a recent qemu using an emulated serial console,
> making this menu selection no longer works: when you type the selected
> number, the keyboard input is ignored, and the 30-second countdown
> continues. In older versions of qemu, it works.
>
> To reproduce the problem, run:
>
> wget http://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-7.1.1/amd64/installation/cdrom/boot-com.iso
> qemu-system-x86_64 -nographic -cdrom boot-com.iso
>
> During the 30-second countdown, press 4
>
> Expected behavior: The countdown stops and you get a ">" prompt
>
> Incorrect behavior: The countdown continues
>
> There may also be some corruption of the terminal output; for example,
> "Option 1 will be chosen in 30 seconds" may be displayed as "Option 1
> will be ...

[Andreas Gustafsson (gson)]

Ottavio Caruso wrote:
> I am currently using:
>
> $ qemu-system-x86_64 --version
> QEMU emulator version 5.2.0
>
> And I have no problem selecting from menu in serial console, so I
> assume this is fixed for me. This is my command line:
>
> $ cat opt/bin/boot-netbsd-virtio
> #!/bin/sh
> qemu-system-x86_64 \
> -drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image,index=0,media=disk \
> -drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image.old,index=1,media=disk \
> -M q35,accel=kvm -m 250M -cpu host -smp $(nproc) \
> -nic user,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:5555-:22,model=virtio-net-pci,ipv6=off \
> -daemonize -display none -vga none \
> -serial mon:telnet:127.0.0.1:6665,server,nowait \
> -pidfile /home/oc/VM/pid/netbsd-pid -nodefaults
>
> telnet 127.0.0.1 6665

Have you tried the test case in the original bug report?
--
Andreas Gustafsson, <email address hidden>

[Ottavio Caruso (ottaviocr)]

On Thu, 22 Apr 2021 at 18:23, Andreas Gustafsson
<email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Ottavio Caruso wrote:
> > I am currently using:
> >
> > $ qemu-system-x86_64 --version
> > QEMU emulator version 5.2.0
> >
> > And I have no problem selecting from menu in serial console, so I
> > assume this is fixed for me. This is my command line:
> >
> > $ cat opt/bin/boot-netbsd-virtio
> > #!/bin/sh
> > qemu-system-x86_64 \
> > -drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image,index=0,media=disk \
> > -drive if=virtio,file=/home/oc/VM/img/netbsd.image.old,index=1,media=disk \
> > -M q35,accel=kvm -m 250M -cpu host -smp $(nproc) \
> > -nic user,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:5555-:22,model=virtio-net-pci,ipv6=off \
> > -daemonize -display none -vga none \
> > -serial mon:telnet:127.0.0.1:6665,server,nowait \
> > -pidfile /home/oc/VM/pid/netbsd-pid -nodefaults
> >
> > telnet 127.0.0.1 6665
>
> Have you tried the test case in the original bug report?
> --
> Andreas Gustafsson, <email address hidden>

You're right. Using the boot-com install image, the problem persists.

--
Ottavio Caruso

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

[Thomas Huth (th-huth)]

This is an automated cleanup. This bug report has been moved to QEMU's
new bug tracker on gitlab.com and thus gets marked as 'expired' now.
Please continue with the discussion here:

 https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issues/147