Comment 0 for bug 1021293

Ubuntu 12.04 release image, this contains Ubiquity 2.10.16, grub-pc 1.99-21ubuntu3 and initramfs-tools 0.99ubuntu13. The updates install grub-pc 1.99-21ubuntu3.1.

At some point between June 28th and July 3rd, the apt-get upgrade process on Precise installations started stalling. We've noticed it stops when updating the initrds for new kernels:

Jul 4 20:43:22 ubuntu in-target: Setting up unity-2d-spread (5.12.0-0ubuntu1.1) ...
Jul 4 20:43:22 ubuntu in-target: Setting up unity-2d (5.12.0-0ubuntu1.1) ...
Jul 4 20:43:22 ubuntu in-target: Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: Processing triggers for resolvconf ...
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): frontend started
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Passthrough
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf: (Failed to open fd 3: Bad file descriptor at (eval 24) line 3)
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf: falling back to frontend: Noninteractive
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): frontend running, package name is resolvconf
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): starting /var/lib/dpkg/info/resolvconf.config configure resolvconf-enable-updates
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): <-- INPUT low resolvconf/linkify-resolvconf
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: Use of uninitialized value in numeric ge (>=) at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Priority.pm line 24, <GEN3> line 1.
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): --> 30 question skipped
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): <-- GO
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): --> 0 ok
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): <-- GET resolvconf/linkify-resolvconf
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): --> 0 false
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): <-- INPUT medium resolvconf/downup-interfaces
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: Use of uninitialized value in numeric ge (>=) at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Priority.pm line 24, <GEN3> line 4.
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): --> 30 question skipped
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): <-- GO
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): --> 0 ok
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): starting /var/lib/dpkg/info/resolvconf.postinst triggered resolvconf-enable-updates
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: debconf (developer): <-- STOP
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: invoke-rc.d: policy-rc.d denied execution of start.
Jul 4 20:43:23 ubuntu in-target: Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
Jul 4 20:43:24 ubuntu in-target: update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-3-generic
Jul 4 21:17:01 ubuntu CRON[989]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)

After the last update-initramfs line it stalls forever (notice the timestamp for that command and the following CRON one).

Steps to reproduce (on any machine, this doesn't seem to be hardware-specific):

- Create a nice Ubuntu 12.04 USB stick using USB disk creator (do NOT simply dd the hybrid image onto the USB stick, as you will need to write files to it later).
- Put the attached preseed in the USB stick's preseeds directory, name it ubuntu.seed (overwriting the existing file there).
- Edit syslinux/txt.cfg, go to the second "append" line containing kernel parameters for the "install ubuntu" menu option (line 9 in the file), and right after "only-ubiquity", add a space and "automatic-ubiquity".
- Boot a test system with this USB stick
- Select the "install ubuntu" option

Expected result:
- System installs ubuntu completely, prompts to reboot and boots into a complete installation

Actual result:
- System will stall forever
- Log shows as seen above.

The main addition to the preseed is the late_command:

ubiquity ubiquity/success_command string \
for i in /dev /dev/pts /dev/shm /sys /sys/kernel/security /proc /cdrom; do mount --bind $i / target/$i; done; \
  sed -i -e "/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT/s/\"$/ initcall_debug\"/" /target/etc/default/grub; chroot /target update-grub; \
  echo "echo 0 > /sys/module/kernel/parameters/initcall_debug" > /target/etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/initcall; chroot /target update-initramfs -u; \
  for i in /dev/pts /dev/shm /dev /sys/kernel/security /sys /proc /cdrom; do umount $i; done; \
  in-target apt-get update; \
  in-target apt-get upgrade -y --force-yes; \
  true

Note this late_command basically just apt-get updates and upgrades. The first few lines are apparently needed if some of the later updates include a kernel update; without the mounts, the implicit update-grub in /target will fail.