14.04.4: work-around "SMBIOS-implementations-newer-than-version-2-8..." junk from dmidecode

[Jason Gerard DeRose]

[Impact]
This impacts installations on new hardware which is not well supported by the version of dmidecode available in the release (2.12); this is especially apparent with systems based on the Intel Skylake line of processors.

[Test case]
Attempt an install with ubiquity (Desktop image), on 15.10 or any prior release on a Skylake system. Installation will crash at the username/hostname panel in ubiquity.

[Regression potential]
None. This explicitly replaces a known string warning for the system model coming from dmidecode only in the case where ubiquity uses it as a basis for a hostname; and doesn't affect any other part of the installation or the final system.

---

With dmidecode older than 3.0, certain newer hardware contains a large warning message in, say, the system-product-name string.

For example, this:

dmidecode --quiet --string system-product-name

Would return something like:

SMBIOS-implementations-newer-than-version-2-8-are-not-fully-supported-by-this-version-of-dmidecode-MODEL-NAME

This is problematic because the resulting default hostname built by Ubiquity isn't valid (it's too long).

I while back I investigated backporting dmidecode 3.0 to 14.04.4, but it seems to have problems with older kernels for certain string keys (I was testing with the 3.19 kernel).

Another way to work around this is to have Ubiquity clean this up before using the system-product-name string as part of the default hostname.

So I'm going to whip up a merge proposal for Ubiquity to fix this. Apologies I'm bringing this up so near the 14.04.4 release, I dropped the ball on this one.

Thanks!

[Adam Conrad (adconrad)]

Hello Jason, or anyone else affected,

Accepted ubiquity into trusty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/2.18.8.12 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Jason Gerard DeRose (jderose)]

Okay, I tested:

* Normal install on physical hardware with an Haswell laptop (BIOS mode, SMBIOS older than 2.8)

* Normal install on physical hardware with a Skylake laptop (UEFI mode, SMBIOS newer than 2.8)

* OEM mode install under qemu (BIOS mode)

* OEM mode install under qemu (UEFI mode)

* OEM first-run user setup on physical hardware with an Haswell laptop (BIOS mode, SMBIOS older than 2.8)

* OEM first-run user setup on physical hardware with a Skylake laptop (UEFI mode, SMBIOS newer than 2.8)

Everything is shiny, so I'm removing the verification-needed tag, adding verification-done.

Thanks!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ubiquity - 2.18.8.12

---------------
ubiquity (2.18.8.12) trusty; urgency=medium

  [ Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre ]
  * Automatic update of included source packages: flash-kernel
    3.0~rc.4ubuntu49.7, partman-efi 25ubuntu6.14.04.2.

  [ Jason DeRose ]
  * Work-around "SMBIOS-implementations-newer-than-version-2-8..." junk from
    dmidecode when running on newer BIOS implementations. (LP: #1539266)

 -- Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre <email address hidden> Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:27:15 -0500

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for ubiquity has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Seems like we have reason to believe this may also affect wily. We won't spin new images, but having an update for ubiquity may help some people.

[Jason Gerard DeRose (jderose)]

Mathieu, yes, this does effect Wily as well, which I forgot to mention. System76 worked around this by backporting dmidecode 3.0 from Xenial and delivering it in our PPA.

Originally I thought this would be the best approach for Trusty also, but dmidecode 3.0 seems to have problems when used with the 3.19 kernel and older (dmidecode segfaults when attempting to decode certain --string keys).

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Hello Jason, or anyone else affected,

Accepted ubiquity into wily-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/2.21.37.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Earl Malmrose (earl)]

Running 15.10 Live CD, I enabled -proposed and updated ubiquity. It still crashes. Screenshot of error details attached.

[Jason Gerard DeRose (jderose)]

Earl... ah, I think that TypeError is something different, likely this bug:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1374193

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1064151

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/partman-auto/+bug/912031

For the hardware I did this work-around for, Ubiquity didn't actually crash, it just had a junk default hostname that couldn't be used (because it was too long).

[Earl Malmrose (earl)]

Are you sure this was fixed? I still get a crazy "SMBIOS-implementations-newer-than-version-2-8-are-not-fully-supported-by-this-version-of-dmidecode" with Ubiquity 2.21.37.1.

[Jason Gerard DeRose (jderose)]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Earl Malmrose" <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2016 2:01:31 PM
Subject: [Bug 1539266] Re: 14.04.4: work-around "SMBIOS-implementations-newer-than-version-2-8..." junk from dmidecode

Are you sure this was fixed? I still get a crazy "SMBIOS-
implementations-newer-than-version-2-8-are-not-fully-supported-by-this-
version-of-dmidecode" with Ubiquity 2.21.37.1.

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Title:
  14.04.4: work-around "SMBIOS-implementations-newer-than-
  version-2-8..." junk from dmidecode

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[Jason Gerard DeRose (jderose)]

I haven't had a chance to test this yet on Wily, but it definitely fixed it on the hardware I tested on with the 14.04.4 daily ISOs leading up to the 14.04.4 release.

Also, I'm not entirely sure whether updating the packages from the live environment gives you an accurate test, so that might be what's going on.

At this point the 15.10 ISO can't be fixed itself, so fixing this is Wily would only really be useful for OEM mode installs (where the packages were updated prior to building the golden image).

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

I removed the wily SRU from -proposed. Wily has a remaining life time of a week or two.