Temporary files left under /var/tmp by mkinitramfs

[Thomas A. F. Thorne]

Test Case
---------
1) confirm there are no mkinitramfs junk files in /var/tmp
2) run 'sudo update-initramfs -k all -u -v'
3) interrupt update-initramfs with Ctrl-C
4) observe junk files in /var/tmp e.g. /var/tmp/mkinitramfs*

With the version of initramfs-tools in -proposed you should see not have any leftovers in /var/tmp.

I recently ran out of disk space on my / mount. While looking for what consumed the disk I noticed a large number (130) of directories with names / paths beginning /var/tmp/mkinitramfs. These directories seem to be either ~103 MB or ~927 MB in size. Many of these files are months old, some are almost a year.

Having had a quick look about for an explanation as to why these files are here and found Debian Bug #814345. That explains that temporary files are left behind by the initramfs-tools if something fails in the process. If this is the cause of my files then updating the Ubuntu package to version 0.123 should resolve this issue.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: initramfs-tools 0.122ubuntu8.8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-72.93-generic 4.4.49
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-72-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.10
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Fri Aug 25 09:40:41 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-03-12 (896 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20150218.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: initramfs-tools
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Thomas A. F. Thorne (tafthorne)]

Looks like this bug is related to bug #1597661 and bug #1515513 although both of those point the upgrade process being the prompt for a failing run of the initramfs-tools.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

This was fixed in initramfs-tools version 0.123 which is available in Zesty and later releases. The fix should be SRU'ed to both Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 which are affected. Here's a link to the commit which fixed this:

https://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/kernel/initramfs-tools.git/commit/?id=ac6d31fc2c707b72ff8af9944c9b4f8af303a6a3

[Serhiy (xintx-ua)]

Can https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1674568 be another manifestation of this problem? In short: old kernel versions left under /var/lib/initramfs-tools

[Chris J Arges (arges)]

Hello Thomas, or anyone else affected,

Accepted initramfs-tools into xenial-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/initramfs-tools/0.122ubuntu8.10 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 on 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-xenial to verification-done-xenial. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-xenial. 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!

[Chris J Arges (arges)]

Hello Thomas, or anyone else affected,

Accepted initramfs-tools into trusty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/initramfs-tools/0.103ubuntu4.10 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 on 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-trusty to verification-done-trusty. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-trusty. 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!

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Verification done on xenial:

bdmurray@clean-xenial-amd64:~$ ls /var/tmp/
mkinitramfs-FW_Kd1tzJ systemd-private-9729e594cf0c492a8e20b5289d9df1a3-colord.service-22FIRG
mkinitramfs-OL_IGHYM7 systemd-private-9729e594cf0c492a8e20b5289d9df1a3-rtkit-daemon.service-jbvsR3
mkinitramfs_oqn7fE systemd-private-9729e594cf0c492a8e20b5289d9df1a3-systemd-timesyncd.service-9HxFZw
bdmurray@clean-xenial-amd64:~$ sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
bdmurray@clean-xenial-amd64:~$ apt-cache policy initramfs-tools
initramfs-tools:
  Installed: 0.122ubuntu8.10
  Candidate: 0.122ubuntu8.10
  Version table:
 *** 0.122ubuntu8.10 500
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu xenial-proposed/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu xenial-proposed/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.122ubuntu8.9 500
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu xenial-updates/main i386 Packages
     0.122ubuntu8 500
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://192.168.10.7/ubuntu xenial/main i386 Packages
bdmurray@clean-xenial-amd64:~$ sudo update-initramfs -k all -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-38-generic
^C
bdmurray@clean-xenial-amd64:~$ ls /var/tmp/
mkinitramfs-FW_Kd1tzJ systemd-private-9729e594cf0c492a8e20b5289d9df1a3-colord.service-22FIRG
mkinitramfs-OL_IGHYM7 systemd-private-9729e594cf0c492a8e20b5289d9df1a3-rtkit-daemon.service-jbvsR3
mkinitramfs_oqn7fE systemd-private-9729e594cf0c492a8e20b5289d9df1a3-systemd-timesyncd.service-9HxFZw

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Verification done on trusty:

bdmurray@clean-trusty-amd64:~$ ls /var/tmp/
bdmurray@clean-trusty-amd64:~$ sudo update-initramfs -k all -u
[sudo] password for bdmurray:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-38-generic
^Cbdmurray@clean-trusty-amd64:~$ ls /var/tmp/
mkinitramfs-FW_pLwXEe
bdmurray@clean-trusty-amd64:~$ apt-cache policy initramfs-tools
initramfs-tools:
  Installed: 0.103ubuntu4.10
  Candidate: 0.103ubuntu4.10
  Version table:
 *** 0.103ubuntu4.10 0
        500 http://ubuntu.osuosl.org/ubuntu/ trusty-proposed/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.103ubuntu4.9 0
        500 http://ubuntu.osuosl.org/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
     0.103ubuntu4 0
        500 http://ubuntu.osuosl.org/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
bdmurray@clean-trusty-amd64:~$ sudo update-initramfs -k all -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-38-generic
^Cbdmurray@clean-trusty-amd64:~$ ls /var/tmp/
mkinitramfs-FW_pLwXEe

[Andreas Hasenack (ahasenack)]

There are tons of reds in the autopkg tests for initramfs-tools on trusty, were those considered and deemed flaky tests or something?

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Andreas - the initramfs-tools package doesn't have any autopkg tests. Could you provide more details about what you are talking about?

If its the linux auotpkg test failures - those have a high failure rate and are false positives.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package initramfs-tools - 0.122ubuntu8.10

---------------
initramfs-tools (0.122ubuntu8.10) xenial; urgency=medium

  * mkinitramfs: Delete or report temporary files in /var/tmp/ on failure.
    (LP: #1713004)

 -- Brian Murray <email address hidden> Tue, 05 Dec 2017 11:17:43 -0800

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for initramfs-tools 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.

[Dan Streetman (ddstreet)]

> There are tons of reds in the autopkg tests for initramfs-tools on trusty, were those
> considered and deemed flaky tests or something?

Those fail due to bug 1723223 which I am working on; it's a problem with the 'ubuntu-regression-suite' linux autopkgtest and can be ignored.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package initramfs-tools - 0.103ubuntu4.10

---------------
initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu4.10) trusty; urgency=medium

  * mkinitramfs: Delete or report temporary files in /var/tmp/ on failure.
    (LP: #1713004)

 -- Brian Murray <email address hidden> Tue, 05 Dec 2017 11:29:04 -0800