[Bug 580408] Re: Option 'No' at question 'Continue without installing GRUB?' does nothing. Forced to answer 'Yes'.

Tue Feb 7 20:10:02 UTC 2012

Just experienced this bug when updating a Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS server to
grub-pc (1.98-1ubuntu13). Before finding myself in the endless loop when
answering 'No' at question 'Continue without installing GRUB?' I was
prompted by another screen asking me what to do regarding the modified
/etc/default/grub file, where I have chosen to install the maintainer's
version and then I reapplied my changes (and ran update-grub).

Anyway, answering 'Yes' to get out of the otherwise endless 'Continue
without installing GRUB?' loop, did not seem to have any adverse effect
and the system booted properly.

Right after that I updated another server, which I thought to be pretty
similar. Surprisingly I was not prompted about what to do with the
changed /etc/default/grub file and was also not prompted with the
'Continue without installing GRUB?' question. I can only speculate as to
why I was not prompted: I  already had
'GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="noquiet nosplash"' and no surrounding
comments like on the other server ... just guessing here.

This bug has not been fixed.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/580408

Title:
  Option 'No' at question 'Continue without installing GRUB?' does
  nothing. Forced to answer 'Yes'.

Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “grub2” source package in Lucid:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: grub2

  This bug is in the debconf screens of grub-pc.

  During upgrades it asks 'You chose not to install GRUB to any devices.
  [ ... ] Continue without installing GRUB?' and offers two options: Yes
  or No. Answering 'No' does nothing and brings you back to the same
  screen which forces you to answer 'Yes' and continue upgrading (and
  manually installing / updating GRUB in the MBR of your disks).

  It would be nice if answering 'No' in that screen brings you to a
  screen to select which devices to install GRUB to and disable the
  question in later upgrades.

  SRU justification:

  IMPACT: This was caused by the fact that there's a while loop around
  the code that asks the grub-pc/install_devices or grub-
  pc/install_devices_disks_changed question, in order that it can be
  asked again on failure, but the code that did upgrade analysis on the
  previous value of that question ran every time round the while loop
  instead of just once; plus, we failed to make sure that the question
  would be asked again on subsequent runs around the while loop.  The
  above description is one possible symptom; the other major ones are
  that if disk device names changed on upgrade from Lucid or later (e.g.
  due to removing a removable device to which GRUB had been installed)
  then the wrong question will be asked second and subsequent times
  round the loop, and that on upgrades from Karmic the question may have
  the wrong defaults second and subsequent times round the loop.  This
  can cause upgrades to get stuck in a loop unless you give a probably-
  undesirable answer to a question, at which point you have to use dpkg-
  reconfigure in a terminal to fix it.

  DEVELOPMENT BRANCH: While I haven't uploaded this yet due to the
  Alpha-2 freeze, I've committed it to the Maverick branch for grub2
  1.98+20100614-2ubuntu4: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-
  dev/ubuntu/maverick/grub2/maverick/revision/1998

  PATCH: The raw patch is quite large due to indentation changes (the
  result would have been much more confusing without those changes!).
  'diff -bu' makes it much more readable, though:
  http://launchpadlibrarian.net/51174650/580408.patch

  TEST CASE: Install Karmic on a two-disk system, run 'echo SET grub-
  pc/install_devices /dev/sda | sudo debconf-communicate' to arrange for
  initial conditions that trigger this bug, then upgrade to Lucid.  The
  first time round the loop, uncheck all the boxes, and then answer "No"
  to "Continue without installing GRUB"; it should ask you the same
  question with a list of checkboxes again, and should have left all of
  them unchecked.  Also try an upgrade from Lucid as released to this
  update on the same system, running 'echo SET grub-pc/install_devices
  /dev/hda | sudo debconf-communicate' before starting the upgrade; this
  should give you a dialog reading "The GRUB boot loader was previously
  installed to a disk that is no longer present ...", and again if you
  uncheck all the boxes you should get consistent behaviour the second
  time round the loop.  You may be able to save time by testing this
  together with bug 576724.

  REGRESSION POTENTIAL: As with bug 576724, upgrades or dpkg-reconfigure
  might break.  I think this test case should exercise most of the
  possible problem cases, though.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
  Package: grub-pc 1.98-1ubuntu6
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-server 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
  Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-server x86_64
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Fri May 14 11:22:47 2010
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100427)
  ProcEnviron:
   LC_COLLATE=C
   PATH=(custom, user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/zsh
  SourcePackage: grub2

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