binary linux-signed images cause panic on boot due to missing initramfs

[Lucas Thode]

If you install this package and subsequently attempt to boot the UEFI signed kernel on a non-UEFI machine, you will get a kernel panic complaining about an inability to mount the root file system. This is due to the fact that when the signed kernel is installed, no effort is made to install a matching initramfs or kernel support files.

(Mint 14 here, and the broken version is linux-signed-image-3.5.0-17-generic. HOWEVER: this bug probably affects all consumers of this package, so it's being reported here.)

[Adam Conrad (adconrad)]

linux-signed-image-$abi depends on linux-image-$abi which, in turn, ensures your modules exist and your initramfs is built. Did you force installation of *just* the signed image without its dependencies?

[Lucas Thode (lthode-r)]

What happens is that the initramfs that is built by virtue of linux-image-$abi is named corresponding to the linux-image-$abi kernel, not the differently-file-named linux-signed-image-$abi kernel. Could this be an update-grub2 issue where it can't find the initramfs that it should because of the naming difference? (And no, I did not do a forced install, I'd have known it if I did pull such a stunt :)

[Lucas Thode (lthode-r)]

Correction to my earlier comment: it is the update-initramfs trigger during the linux-signed-image-$abi install that handles making the initramfs, update-grub2 only has to find it. :)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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