lubuntu-12.10-alternate-x86_64.iso is not capable of PXE netowrk installing the lubuntu-desktop meta package

[Zack Perry]

1) The release of Ubuntu you are using, via 'lsb_release -rd' or System -> About Ubuntu: Lubuntu 12.10, as provided by lubuntu-12.10-alternate-x86_64
2) The version of the package you are using, via 'apt-cache policy pkgname' or by checking in Software Center: lubuntu-desktop 0.45 0
3) What you expected to happen: the same Iso can be used to carry out a successful lubuntu-desktop install via both a CD based install and a PXE based network install.
4) What happened instead: CD based install gets a fully working graphical login UI. PXE network based install just gets a text login.

More test details and an actual use case below:

(A) Test details:

The lubuntu-12.10-alternate-x86_64.iso can be burned to a CD and a full working lubuntu-desktop install can be carried out without even having network access (tested via pulling off the Ethernet cable from the test PC).

Nevertheless, an attempt to use the same iso for a hands-off PXE network install fails to install a full desktop. Instead, a text login screen is the end result. dpkg --get-selections |grep lubuntu-desktop on the installed PC shows it's not installed. The syslog in /var/log/installer on the target PC doesn't show lubuntu-desktop either.

I have investigated into the reason why this is the case, and came to believe that the problem starts from the Release and Release.gpg

0cfdb62cb16d4689ae9751b5facdbfb0 1458494 main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
[...]
 4b68123b7db572691d627fa22bb26093 58067 main/debian-installer/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
[...]
 9493d858da4aa8fe9e371e8e1d2d8861 6792450 universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
[...]
 8fdf433e91b496638b4a999dfb2c5c51 18510 universe/debian-installer/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

See the above differences in both md5 checksums and sizes?

The differences carry over to the Release and Packages.gz in the dists/universe subdirectory:

[root@cobbler universe]# pwd
/mnt/dists/quantal/universe
[root@cobbler universe]# ls -lR
.:
total 8
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 Oct 17 00:26 binary-amd64
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 Oct 17 00:26 binary-i386
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 Oct 17 00:25 debian-installer
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 Oct 17 00:25 source

./binary-amd64:
total 48
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 48538 Oct 17 00:26 Packages.gz
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 101 Oct 17 00:26 Release

./binary-i386:
total 1
-r--r--r-- 8 root root 20 Oct 17 00:26 Packages.gz
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 100 Oct 17 00:26 Release

./debian-installer:
total 2
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 Oct 17 00:26 binary-amd64

./debian-installer/binary-amd64:
total 1
-r--r--r-- 8 root root 20 Oct 17 00:26 Packages.gz

./source:
total 0

The lubuntu-desktop meta package is in the universe/l/

The package is there:

[root@cobbler lubuntu-meta]# ls -l
total 6
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 3278 Oct 4 04:33 lubuntu-core_0.45_amd64.deb
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 2098 Oct 4 04:33 lubuntu-desktop_0.45_amd64.deb

(B) An actual use case:

It would be great if the iso is created in such a way that it doesn't discriminate PXE network based installs. In fact, in a school setting, where a large number of computers need to be setup hands-off, providing an iso that is full PXE-capable of installing the lubuntu-desktop should increase the adoption of lubuntu.

Regards,

-- Zack

[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.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1085336/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Chris Guiver (guiverc)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. We are sorry that we do not always have the capacity to look at all reported bugs in a timely manner. There have been many changes in Ubuntu since that time you reported the bug and your problem may have been fixed with some of the updates. It would help us a lot if you could test it on a currently supported Ubuntu version. When you test it and it is still an issue, kindly upload the updated logs by running only once:
apport-collect <bug #>

and any other logs that are relevant for this particular issue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for lubuntu-meta (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]