Mistake in /etc/network/interfaces keeps the system from booting
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ifupdown (Ubuntu) |
Fix Released
|
Medium
|
Colin Watson | ||
Karmic |
Fix Released
|
Medium
|
Colin Watson | ||
Lucid |
Fix Released
|
Medium
|
Colin Watson |
Bug Description
SRU justification:
IMPACT: If /etc/network/
DEVELOPMENT BRANCH: Fixed in ifupdown 0.6.10ubuntu2 by manually bringing up lo before ifup -a. I consulted with Scott James Remnant on the correct implementation here.
PATCH: http://
TEST CASE: Make a deliberate syntax error in /etc/network/
REGRESSION POTENTIAL: Take care to ensure that runlevel switching continues to work normally both with valid and invalid /etc/network/
Original report follows:
Binary package hint: ifupdown
I apparently made some mistake in /etc/network/
with just a blinking cursor in the upper left corner. When pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del shutdown messages appear. Trying a few imes,
there seems to be a couple of lines of output that is cleared off the screen. Perhaps it has something to do with the
following line in /var/log/syslog:
syslog:Jan 25 10:07:36 emmaline4 init: networking main process (762) terminated with status 1
ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Jan 25 10:41:48 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: ifupdown 0.6.8ubuntu21
ProcEnviron:
PATH=(custom, user)
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSign
SourcePackage: ifupdown
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-17-server x86_64
Changed in ifupdown (Ubuntu): | |
status: | New → Confirmed |
Changed in ifupdown (Ubuntu): | |
status: | Confirmed → Invalid |
Changed in ifupdown (Ubuntu): | |
status: | Confirmed → Triaged |
importance: | Low → Medium |
assignee: | nobody → Colin Watson (cjwatson) |
Changed in ifupdown (Ubuntu Lucid): | |
assignee: | nobody → Colin Watson (cjwatson) |
Changed in ifupdown (Ubuntu Karmic): | |
status: | New → In Progress |
Changed in ifupdown (Ubuntu Lucid): | |
status: | New → In Progress |
importance: | Undecided → Medium |
Changed in ifupdown (Ubuntu Karmic): | |
assignee: | nobody → Colin Watson (cjwatson) |
importance: | Undecided → Medium |
affects: | ifupdown (Ubuntu Lucid) → plymouth (Ubuntu Lucid) |
affects: | plymouth (Ubuntu) → ifupdown (Ubuntu) |
Same here. Old i386 hardware, Ubuntu 9.10 Server (!)
Linux ubuntu910server 2.6.31- 17-generic- pae #54-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 10 17:23:29 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
If you screw up your /etc/networking /interfaces file (such as I did, very late at night), the system will NOT boot anymore, under any GRUB option (normal or "recovery mode").
The only way to recover is to boot from some sort of live CD and edit the offending file.
It hangs like so:
/dev/sdb1: clean, 50464/490560 files, 301233/1961930 blocks
init: network-interface (eth1) pre-start process (440) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (eth0) pre-start process (470) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (lo) pre-start process (482) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (eth1) post-stop process (485) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (eth0) post-stop process (486) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (lo) post-stop process (487) terminated with status 1
The offending /etc/networking /interfaces had a big mistake like this:
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet 192.168.0.222
However, I think it is ridiculous for a mistake on the config file to PREVENT a server from booting! Adding insult to injury, there is no way to recover from this problem, except booting off a live CD. Please take corrective action!