[jaunty] kexec reboot breaks text VT console output

[Andy Whitcroft]

Binary package hint: kexec-tools

When kexec is intalled the default behaviour is to use kexec to perform fast reboots. However, when this is used the text VT consoles no longer show any output at all. They do show a cursor and indeed you are able to interact with the applications which are nominally on those VT's; for example it is possible to login and see the logins procesesses have been created.

The default should really not be to use kexec for reboots as this also prevents the user from seeing the boot menu and thus from choosing their next kernel. That side of the bug is already reported under bug #251242.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Package: kexec-tools 20090000-2.0.0ubuntu3
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: kexec-tools
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic x86_64

[Andy Whitcroft (apw)]

Note that I have tried this with a range of older kernels while trying to isolate the cause of the loss of text VTs and so can say if it is a kernel issue then it is systemic across a range of kernels; which is entirly likely. It is possible we should be turning off usplash before firing the kexec.

The simple work around is to disable kexec reboot. Which can be done by editing the LOAD_KEXEC entry in /etc/default/kexec configuration file.

[Andy Whitcroft (apw)]

We have already fixed the default kexec options to not use kexec without opt-in. There is little likelyhood of this being the fault of userspace, reassigning to the kernel.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Triaged a while ago but has not had any updated comments for quite some time. Please let us know if this issue remains in the current Ubuntu release, http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . If the issue remains, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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[Evan Broder (broder)]

For what it's worth, I was not able to reproduce this bug in Lucid, so it seems likely that it is gone.