lxc container does not start: cgroupfs failed to detect cgroup metadata

[Kevin Dalley]

lxc container failed to start until after I installed cgroupfs-mount

After a recent upgrade, I received the following error messages when start an lxc container:

kevin@awabi:~$ sudo lxc-start -F -n escale_build
lxc-start: cgroups/cgfs.c: cgfs_init: 2288 cgroupfs failed to detect cgroup metadata
    lxc-start: start.c: lxc_spawn: 1094 failed initializing cgroup support
                                                                          lxc-start: start.c: __lxc_start: 1354 failed to spawn 'escale_build'
                                                              lxc-start: tools/lxc_start.c: main: 344 The container failed to start.
lxc-start: tools/lxc_start.c: main: 348 Additional information can be obtained by setting the --logfile and --logpriority options.

aptitude install cgroupfs-mount

Then I could successful start my container.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: lxc 2.0.4-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-36.55-generic 4.4.16
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-36-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Sep 6 11:26:12 2016
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-05-18 (477 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Release amd64 (20150422)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: lxc
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-05-30 (99 days ago)
defaults.conf:
 lxc.network.type = veth
 lxc.network.link = lxcbr0
 lxc.network.flags = up
 lxc.network.hwaddr = 00:16:3e:xx:xx:xx

[Stéphane Graber (stgraber)]

What init system are you using on this system?

systemd would automatically mount those cgroups which then wouldn't need the help of cgroup-lite (preferred) or cgroupfs-mount (which you used).

But if you're using upstart on Ubuntu 16.04, then you indeed do need one of those two packages installed.