network install of xenial 16.04 fails with linux-generic package error

[david]

network installing xenial ubuntu is failing for myself and other people (as seen on the #ubuntu irc channel).

I had this issue both with and without preseed. I am using the latest netboot kernel and initrd files from http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/ ( I re-downloaded and checked the file digest).

The latest version available from the above URL is 4.4.0-142 and the installer fails while installing 4.4.0-143. The following error messages seen during installation:

Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: Setting up linux-image-4.4.0-143-generic (4.4.0-143.169) ...
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-4.4.0-143-generic.postinst: 50: /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-4.4.0-143-generic.postinst:
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: linux-update-symlinks: not found
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: dpkg: error processing package linux-image-4.4.0-143-generic (--configure):
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 127
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-143-generic:
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-143-generic depends on linux-image-4.4.0-143-generic | linux-image-unsigned-4.4.0-143-generic; however:
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: Package linux-image-4.4.0-143-generic is not configured yet.
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: Package linux-image-unsigned-4.4.0-143-generic is not installed.
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: dpkg: error processing package linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-143-generic (--configure):
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: Setting up intel-microcode (3.20180807a.0ubuntu0.16.04.1) ...
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: intel-microcode: microcode will be updated at next boot
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: Setting up amd64-microcode (3.20180524.1~ubuntu0.16.04.2) ...^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: amd64-microcode: microcode will be updated at next boot
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-generic:
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: linux-image-generic depends on linux-image-4.4.0-143-generic | linux-image-unsigned-4.4.0-143-generic; however:
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: Package linux-image-4.4.0-143-generic is not configured yet.
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: Package linux-image-unsigned-4.4.0-143-generic is not installed.
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: linux-image-generic depends on linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-143-generic; however:
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: Package linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-143-generic is not configured yet.
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: dpkg: error processing package linux-image-generic (--configure):
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Mar 16 01:20:12 in-target: ^M

After having these issue with a preseed file, I started a PXE install without any preseed ( therefore answering the standard installer questions manually) but I still had the same error.

I was told in the #ubuntu irc channel to set :
 d-i base-installer/kernel/image string linux-image-4.4.0-142-generic
in my preseed file. This worked and the installer completed correctly without any failures. Previously my preseed file container:
 d-i base-installer/kernel/image string linux-generic
but as I said above, even without a preseed file the error occured.

One thought - shouldn't a 4.4.0-143 netboot kernel / initrd be on http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot ? Maybe the issue would go away if those files were available for us to place on our PXE servers.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

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[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Mr Robot (meltedrobot)]

This is affecting network boot installations for us as well.

[klausfiend (klausfiend)]

I can confirm we're seeing this issue as well. Our automated image builder job failed last night due to it, and a routine preseed netinstall to an unrelated host is also failing for the same reason.

[Stian Johnsen (stianjohns)]

Have the same problem. Doing the "d-i base-installer/kernel/image string linux-image-4.4.0-142-generic" in the preseed makes it complete the installation, but we're getting other issues when we do that, like not loading network-interfaces on some machine types..

[kaph10p (kaph10p)]

it said command "linux-update-symlinks" is not found in system .this command is depend on linux-base package.

[Mr Robot (meltedrobot)]

Tried putting this in our kickstart file with no luck.

preseed d-i base-installer/kernel/image string linux-image-4.4.0-142-generic

[David Negreira (dnegreira)]

I can replicate when doing virt-install using "http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/main/installer-amd64/" as --location.
I can confirm that adding "d-i base-installer/kernel/image string linux-image-4.4.0-142-generic" to the preseed is a workaround for the time being.

[Ken Stone (ken4798)]

Has anyone found another work around for this issue yet ? I can add the preseed to my kickstart file and get a system to come up with the 142 kernel but unfortunately it also has no network interfaces as Stian saw ....

[Research Computing (rcgop)]

We deploy Ubuntu exclusively via netinstall so this has brought deployments across our entire organization to a standstill.

Adding

preseed d-i base-installer/kernel/image string linux-image-4.4.0-142-generic

to our kickstart did not help; the installer continued to fetch the 4.4.0-143 packages.

Bonus failure: since the kernel post-install script dies early, it breaks DKMS, which in turn breaks the nVidia driver on machines set to auto-upgrade.

[Derek Gibson (dgibson.cim)]

@Ken Stone
I had the same issue, using the 142 kernel, successful install but when the system restarts post install, no network modules

I have just successfully tested using the HWE kernel

d-i base-installer/kernel/image string linux-image-generic-hwe-16.04

[Ken Stone (ken4798)]

@Derek Gibson
I have no issue using the HWE mini.iso to accomplish the same thing ... I'd just rather not start building "standard 16.04 workstations" that are using the HWE kernel ...

Though give it another day or so and that might not look too bad anymore ....

@rcgop ... Yes, there are whole other discussions ongoing regarding breakages in NVIDIA drivers, virtualbox, etc ...

[klausfiend (klausfiend)]

Is downgrading to linux-image-4.4.0-142-generic a viable workaround in the meantime?

We're also a full netinstall shop, and this bug is blocking all U16 deployments.

[Research Computing (rcgop)]

Downgrading to 4.4.0-142 on your install mirror for new deployments sounds viable but does not seem trivial.

Simply removing linux-image-4.4.0-143 from our local mirror did not cause the installer to revert to 4.4.0-142. I guess you'd be looking at rebuilding a special set of package indices which sounds neither quick nor fun.

Deployments have come to a halt at our site as well.

[koshlendra (koshlendra11)]

This is affecting us too in network installation, while deploying base from build
during base installation it's throwing error 'Debootstrap failed with source code'