[Bug 875343] Re: Installer hangs forever

[TJ]

I'm experiencing the same issue attempting an 11.10 install via the Live
CD image over a PXE/NFS boot. It affects x86 and amd64 installs.

The system's hard disk is configured with 4 primary partitions:

/dev/sda1 Vaio Recovery environment
/dev/sda2 Microsoft Windows Vista
/dev/sda3 /boot
/dev/sda4 LVM

/dev/sda4 is the PV, it contains one VG "Ubuntu". The VG contains
several LVs. Some LVs are encrypted. I unlocked them via a terminal
prior to starting Ubiquity using:

"sudo cryptsetup --key-file /media/USB/somefile.key luksOpen
/dev/Ubuntu/Oneiric_var_encrypted Oneiric_var"

For the install I chose "Something Else" for the partitioning scheme and
selected recently created and ext4-formatted LVs for:

/dev/Ubuntu/Oneiric == "/"
/dev/Ubuntu/Oneiric_var_encrypted -> /dev/mapper/Oneiric_var == "/var"

and existing LVs (from the Lucid installation) for /home, /usr/local/.

The installer reports "Saving installed packages..." but there is no
further installation activity although the taster panels continue to be
active. The "Skip" button does not respond and the cursor has the 'busy'
icon.

>From trawling "/var/log/installer/debug" I think this is the pertinent
problem:

Nov 10 00:47:25 debconf (filter): <-- PROGRESS INFO ubiquity/install/apt_clone_save
Nov 10 00:47:25 debconf (filter): widget found for ubiquity/install/title
debconf (developer): <-- METAGET ubiquity/install/apt_clone_save description
debconf (developer): --> 1 Saving installed packages...
Nov 10 00:47:25 debconf (filter): --> 0 OK
Nov 10 00:47:25 ubiquity: ['log-output', '-t', 'ubiquity', '--pass-stdout', '/bin/partman-commit'] exited with code 32

Looking further into the /lib/partmain/* scripts I found that
"ubiquity/install/apt_clone_save" comes from
/lib/partman/finish.d/01apt_clone_save and the exit code "32" is
returned from mount when doing:

[ -n "$var" ] && mount "$var" "$mountpoint/var"

which fails since the /var directory has not been created in the root
file-system as a mount-point:

sudo mount /dev/mapper/Oneiric_var /tmp/tmp.WVwIJqLzQe/var
mount: mount point /tmp/tmp.WVwIJqLzQe/var does not exist
echo $?
32

This line should be:

[ -n "$var" ] && mkdir -p "$mountpoint/var" && mount "$var"
"$mountpoint/var"


** Summary changed:

- Installer hangs forever
+ Stuck at "Saving installed packages..." when using a custom /var

** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
       Status: Incomplete => Confirmed

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/875343

Title:
  Stuck at "Saving installed packages..." when using a custom /var

Status in “ubiquity” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  The installer hangs forever at message "Saving installed packages" under certain conditions. Steps to reproduce:
  - Start gparted, create GPT partition table and create big enough partitions as follows:
  - /dev/sda1 formatted as ext4
  - /dev/sda2 formatted as ext4
  - Start Ubiquity
  - Use default options until you reach "Installation Type"
  - Choose "Something else"
  - Choose usage of partitions and mount points as follows (do NOT format!)
  -- /dev/sda1 on /
  -- /dev/sda2 on /var
  - Hit "Install now" (ignore the warning)
  => Installer will then hang forever. Last message it displays is: "Saving installed packages"

  I have tried this with 11.10 live CDs on a physical machine and VMs
  and it always shows this behaviour.

  Some notes:
  - You can avoid the problem, if you mark / or /var (or both) for formatting
  - It only seems to happen with a separate /var partition. If only /usr is different, everything works as expected
  - The problem did not exist in previous installers

  The reason why I do not want to format with Ubiquity is because I have
  pre-formatted my partitions with special parameters which I cannot set
  in Ubiquity.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
  Package: ubiquity 2.8.7
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
  Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.287
  Date: Sat Oct 15 21:01:41 2011
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
  ProcEnviron:
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: ubiquity
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  --- 
  ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.287
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
  Package: ubiquity 2.8.7
  PackageArchitecture: amd64
  ProcEnviron:
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
  Tags:  oneiric ubiquity-2.8.7
  Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  UserGroups:

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