[patch] install to pcmcia-connected disk can't find root

Bug #27172 reported by Tormod Volden
10
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
initramfs-tools (Ubuntu)
Won't Fix
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

I have an external USB drive, connected through a PCMCIA-USB interface. The Dapper Flight-5 install CD installs to the drive without any complains, but the
system is not bootable. The initrd contains the usb modules, but not the pcmcia modules.

(I have grub and a copy of kernel and initrd on an internal IDE drive.)

Adding pcmcia and yenta-socket to /etc/initramfs/modules and making a new initrd fixes it for me.

Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote :

I guess initramfs-tools is working as it should, but has to be set up correctly on the install CD.

Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote :

Nope, this is initramfs-tools' job to sort out for itself.

Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote : hook-functions with pcmcia&yenta-socket added to default modules

Here is a little patch that adds pcmcia and yenta-socket to the "base" modules that get installed in all initrd's.

Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote : conditionally adds pcmcia&yenta-socket

This patch (a new file in fact) is a hook that checks if the pcmcia module is already loaded on the running system, and if so, add the modules to the generated initrd.

This should work inside the installer, since the installer already has the pcmcia module loaded if needed.

Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote : conditionally adds pcmcia _and_ yenta-socket

Sorry, the previous patch failed to add yenta_socket.

Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote : Re: install to pcmcia-connected disk fails

During installation (tried again now with flight-5), "Installing extra packages" automatically installs the pcmcia-cs package. Maybe the cleanest solution would be if that package contained this hook. Then the ugly lsmod check in the previous patch can be removed.

Adding PREREQ="udev" is probably correct too.

Should this be reassigned to pcmcia-cs?

description: updated
Revision history for this message
Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott) wrote : Re: install to pcmcia-connected disk can't find root

Should include pcmciautils as well, otherwise older sockets won't work

Paul Sladen (sladen)
Changed in initramfs-tools:
status: Unconfirmed → Needs Info
Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote :

Feisty Herd-2: The initrd on the Desktop CD (as well as on the installed system afterwards) has got the pcmcia_core.ko and pcmcia.ko, but is missing yenta_socket.ko and rsrc_nonstatic.ko.

Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote :

I don't see why this was Needsinfo.

Changed in initramfs-tools:
status: Needs Info → Unconfirmed
Adam Conrad (adconrad)
Changed in initramfs-tools:
assignee: adconrad → nobody
Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :

lowering severity due to extant workaround

Changed in initramfs-tools:
importance: Medium → Low
Colin Watson (cjwatson)
Changed in initramfs-tools:
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Tormod Volden (tormodvolden) wrote :

I guess it would solve the issue if MODULES was set to "dep" and not "most" in /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf.

Revision history for this message
Benjamin Drung (bdrung) wrote :

It's quite an old bug, but yenta_socket is still not installed (tested on Ubuntu 23.04). I checked dracut and it is installed there. Time to get initramfs-tools fixed. I'll plan to include a fix in the next upload.

Changed in initramfs-tools (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
assignee: nobody → Benjamin Drung (bdrung)
Revision history for this message
Steve Langasek (vorlon) wrote :

If this is a driver only for pcmcia, it is doubtful there's any use in putting it in the initramfs now (or even shipping the module), as there is unlikely to be any such hardware that Ubuntu still runs on - or CAN run on. The last machine I had with pcmcia predated amd64 as an architecture.

Revision history for this message
Benjamin Drung (bdrung) wrote :

As comment from Steve, marking this bug a won't fix. Please comment in case such hardware is still used with a recent Ubuntu version.

Changed in initramfs-tools (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Won't Fix
assignee: Benjamin Drung (bdrung) → nobody
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