[Bug 562312] Re: initramfs-tools failed to install/upgrade, due to not being able to write initrd or vmlinuz.

[Brian Murray]

*** This bug is a duplicate of bug 691985 ***
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/691985

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make
Ubuntu better.  Unfortunately, the package installation error message
that you have received is actually a failure with lzma and a generic one
at that.  The following steps may help resolve the issue.  Please
execute the following command, as it will clear your package cache, in a
terminal:

sudo apt-get clean

Then try performing the update again.  This may resolve your issue.  We
plan to make lzma errors more informative and that work is being tracked
in bug 691985 which I will mark this a duplicate of.

** Changed in: initramfs-tools (Ubuntu)
       Status: Triaged => Confirmed

** Changed in: usb-creator (Ubuntu)
       Status: Fix Released => Confirmed

** Changed in: initramfs-tools (Ubuntu Maverick)
       Status: New => Confirmed

** Changed in: usb-creator (Ubuntu Maverick)
       Status: Triaged => Confirmed

** Changed in: initramfs-tools (Ubuntu Natty)
       Status: Triaged => Confirmed

** Changed in: usb-creator (Ubuntu Natty)
       Status: Fix Released => Confirmed

** Tags added: lzma-efail

** This bug has been marked a duplicate of bug 691985
   lzma: Encoder error: -2147467259 is too vague and causes unhelpful apport-package reports

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/562312

Title:
  initramfs-tools failed to install/upgrade, due to not being able to
  write initrd or vmlinuz.

Status in “initramfs-tools” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in “usb-creator” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in “initramfs-tools” source package in Maverick:
  Confirmed
Status in “usb-creator” source package in Maverick:
  Confirmed
Status in “initramfs-tools” source package in Natty:
  Confirmed
Status in “usb-creator” source package in Natty:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  [Problem]
  When dragging the "How much" slider all the way to the right, it may leave very little room left for system file updates.  This can produce errors when trying to a) do a system update, b) install kernel drivers, c) anything else that requires system space outside the persistent storage.

  This can also be seen on smaller USB drives (~1 GB) even if no
  persistent storage is present, just because there isn't that much
  space available to begin with.

  [Discussion]
  This bug appears because on live systems, new initrds are written to /cdrom/casper/initrd.lz.new (see special treatment of live systems in /usr/sbin/update-initramfs starting from line 9).

  If you create a persistent live system via Startup Disk Creator and
  pull the "How much" slider to the right as far as possible (what seems
  sensible for most cases and users), all space not used for the system
  is allocated for that documents-and-settings-ext2-file and there is no
  space left on /cdrom for system file updates. Therefore update-
  initramfs fails with that cryptic lzma error code.

  You might see different error messages depending on what process
  noticed the out-of-space issue.  For instance, maybe there was enough
  space to update initramfs but not add the new kernel.

  Perhaps Startup Disk Creator should leave some spare space on the live
  medium even if the user chooses "use all remaining space available for
  my live medium".

  See also bug #685017 which describes one (unfortunately common) end
  result of this.  Installation of a binary driver can overrun the
  available space and thus error (and potentially render the usb key
  useless).

  [Original Report]
  Binary package hint: initramfs-tools

  Can not install Broadcom STA wireless driver package "bcmwl-kernel-
  source" in a fresh install of Lucid Beta 2 because there is an error
  in installing initram-fs

  (bcmwl-kernel-source is correctly detected as a wireless card hardware
  driver)

  ProblemType: Package
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
  Package: initramfs-tools 0.92bubuntu71 [modified: usr/sbin/update-initramfs]
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-19.28-generic 2.6.32.10+drm33.1
  Uname: Linux 2.6.32-19-generic i686
  AptOrdering:
   initramfs-tools: Configure
   bcmwl-kernel-source: Configure
  Architecture: i386
  Date: Tue Apr 13 13:59:53 2010
  ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta i386 (20100406.1)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: initramfs-tools
  Title: package initramfs-tools 0.92bubuntu71 [modified: usr/sbin/update-initramfs] failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

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