[Bug 980917] Re: Failed to create pty - disabling logging for job [SRU]

[Bobby Powers]

I should note that I've manually installed the quantal 1.5-0ubuntu8
upstart package in my precise VM and the 'failed to create pty' errors
are gone, and everything else of mine is working fine

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/980917

Title:
  Failed to create pty - disabling logging for job [SRU]

Status in “upstart” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “upstart” source package in Precise:
  In Progress

Bug description:
  [PROBLEM]

  This bug causes Upstart to display 1 error message / job that is
  started that should have its output logged (by default ''all'' jobs
  are thus affected) if it is unable to create a pseudoterminal device,
  which is required for Upstart job logging.

  [IMPACT]

  This bug affects all users that:

  - boot their systems without an initramfs
  - have non-standard /dev setups (for example a static /dev).

  Backporting this fix to precise makes sense since:

  - precise is an LTS.
  - this bug is variously annoying/intimidating to users.
  - this bug stops Upstart from logging job output at boot time.
  - the comments on this bug show that users are already running in the environments outlined above.

  [FIX DETAILS]

  Upstart will now mount /dev as a devtmpfs filesystem if it fails to find expected device entries (/dev/ptmx and /dev/pts/) on the disk at boot time.
  If any of the following devices do not exist (after any /dev mount attempt):

  - /dev/ptmx (for pty support, required for Upstart job logging).
  - /dev/null
  - /dev/tty
  - /dev/console
  - /dev/kmsg (for early message logging)

  [TEST CASE]

  To reproduce this issue:

  1) hold down control key at power-on to enter grub menu.
  2) press 'e' to edit the top (default) kernel command-line.
  3) modify the line beginning with "linux" such that:
    3.1) "quiet" is removed.
    3.2) "splash" is removed.
    3.3) "root=" is set to the *device name*, rather than a UUID
         (generally, this will be something like "root=/dev/sda1").
    3.4) add "rootfstype=<filesystem_type>"
         (this will be either "rootfstype=ext4" or "rootfstype=ext3").
    3.5) You'll now have a linux line something like this:
         "linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-27-generic root=/dev/sda1 rootfstype=ext4 ro"
  4) *delete* the line beginning "initrd" entirely.
  5) Press Control+x or F10 to boot.
  6) Watch the boot messages and you will see various error messages including the following repeated multiple times:
     - "init: Failed to create pty - disabling logging for job".

  [REGRESSION POTENTIAL]

  None identified.

  This fix is in upstream Upstart and quantal as of upstart version
  1.5-0ubuntu8 (added to archive on 8 August 2012).

  [PRE-SRU DESCRIPTION]

  I believe this bug is in Upstart due to similar bug that was recently
  fixed:

  - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/upstart/+bug/936667

  I am booting Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (x86) as a domU under Xen.  After the
  previous bug was fixed, I still received the errors but the system now
  boots which is an improvement.  During the boot process I see a few
  combinations of this error:

  ====
  init: Failed to create pty - disabling logging for job
  init: Temporary process spawn error: No such file or directory
  ====

  After those two stop, I see a few more of these errors:

  ====
  init: Failed to create pty - disabling logging for job
  ====

  The above error also prints if I type "poweroff" or "shutdown"

  This system's ultimate destiny is to operate using a custom-compiled
  Linux kernel that does not exist on the filesystem.  Both the Ubuntu-
  supplied Linux kernel and the custom-compiled Linux kernel are
  afflicted by this bug.

  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

  -Tim

  //edit: added more details, edited for clarity.

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