[Bug 778520] Re: install on degraded raid1 does not boot, drops to initramfs shell

[Clint Byrum]

Excerpts from xor's message of Fri Jun 10 22:27:06 UTC 2011:
> Ok. Is it possible for you guys to deploy the fixed package / close this
> bug without me setting up another testing machine?
> 
> You've said that you were able to reproduce it yourself so I guess I'm
> fine with you closing the bug if you say that you've fixed it according
> to your reproducing-setup.
> 

We need somebody to try out the test case with the -proposed package to
verify, independently from myself, that it fixes the problem. It does
not need to be you, just somebody.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/778520

Title:
  install on degraded raid1 does not boot, drops to initramfs shell

Status in “initramfs-tools” package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid
Status in “mdadm” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “initramfs-tools” source package in Natty:
  Invalid
Status in “mdadm” source package in Natty:
  Fix Committed

Bug description:
  Yesterday I did a fresh install of Natty amd64. I used the PXE
  installer so all packages are up to date right after installation.

  I partitioned the disk to have two software raid1 devices. One for swap, one for / with xfs.
  Installation completed successfully, grub was installed to MBR.

  The system has a >95% failure rate in booting.
  At first it would hang on a purple screen. I blindly typed "reboot" at this screen, which worked. So I figured out that it would boot to a shell but not show it.
  Then, I added "nosplash" to the kernel command line and removed "quiet".

  This revealed that the system drops into a BusyBox shell labled "initramfs" when booting fails.
  Unfortunately, I cannot tell whether it shows any errors on screen because the BusyBox shell resets the screen buffer, CTRL+PageUp does not work.

  Please help me how to figure out what is wrong. Either tell me which log file I can search for the very first booting messages OR release a package update which fixes the screen-clearing of the initramfs shell.
  If you do that I will take the effort of doing the 10-20 boot attempts to get to the point where I can update the packages...
  If the initramfs-boot-process is logged anywhere I can check the log files without getting the system to boot through a bootable USB stick...

  ==== SRU Justification ====

  IMPACT: Users who install on a degraded RAID1 or who lose a disk drive
  will be unable to boot.

  TEST CASE:

  1. Install a natty system with root on a software RAID1
  2. After booting once, shutdown
  3. remove one disk entirely
  4. boot the system, it may drop to initramfs, or it may boot degraded
  5. reboot, this time it should reliably drop to initramfs
  6. poweroff and add the disk in again, it should now boot degraded
  7. install updated mdadm
  8. repeat steps 2-5 , it should pass and NOT drop to initramfs

  REGRESSION POTENTIAL: The fix that has been uploaded to oneiric
  already takes care to err on the side of responding to degraded
  arrays. Still mdadm is very sensitive and so probably needs a bit of
  extra testing to ensure that it works properly, including passing the
  usual RAID1 iso install tests (with the additional step of installing
  the mdadm package from proposed right after install)

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