[Bug 1103187] Re: xfs left inconcistent after reboot, causing grub to fail

Fri Jan 25 18:24:17 UTC 2013

** Description changed:

+ take a 12.10 with XFS root partition containing the /boot/ tree
+ dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc ; sync
+ reboot (either by command, or by menu)
+ diverse error messages + grub rescue + /boot/ is partially accessible

- On 3 essentially different Ubuntu 12.10 installations
+ boot UBUNTU 12.10 pendrive + choose "try Ubuntu" + open a terminal
+ sudo -s; mkdir foo; mount [the XFS root partition] foo; umount foo
+ reboot into the "original" Ubuntu is NOW successful

-         bios or uefi boot,
-         linux is alone or other system is along,
-         legacy or guid partiton table
- 
- it is a regularly appearing issue since 12.10, that if the automatic
- update touches a package which has some impact on the boot,
- 
- then the next reboot get stock at either the grub rescue prompt, or
- booting the new kernel hangs at the missing initial ram disk, the latter
- is typical after kernel update, even just after the virgin installation
- of a fresh Ubuntu.
- 
- Grub rescue prompt is the much harder situation, I either type in the
- correct grub commands to boot the previous kernel, or I use a "boot an
- existing linux from a partition" menu of a SYSRESC pen drive.
- 
- Never really clear, what was wrong and what really helped.
- 
- Here is a list of my manual struggling and accidental solution methods:
- 
- (1) Sometimes I do nothing, except for booting once more the system by
- hand or by SYSRESC pen, and surprisingly the next time the system boots,
- asif there was no kind of problem before.   THIS happens more frequently
- on the combination below, and less frequently on the other 2
- combinations:
- 
-         bios boot + other system along + legacy partition table
- 
- (2) More frequent in general is that remove/reinstall grub2, and/or
- remove/reinstall new kernel, and/or simply grub-install and update-grub
- helps, but usually NOT IN ONE STEP, however even after a logical and
- defensive
- 
-         grub-install /dev/sda
- 
- the situation likes to become worse, usually changes between the two
- possibilities below:
- 
-         "error: invalid arch-independant ELF magic."
- 
-         "error: ELF header smaller than expected."
- 
- and naturally I have the grub rescue prompt.   This time, just before
- this error report, the solution appeared to be the
- 
-         removal of memtest86+ and reinstall of it,
- 
- as first there was a normal grub menu, but memtest was missing from it
- and the boot was unsuccessful, and after the usual kernel and grub
- tampering I got the invalid arch-independant ELF magic, furter usual
- tampering bought the ELF header smaller than expected, and finally my
- desperate trial was the removal of the memtest against it's
- dependencies, ... and it helped this time.
- 
- This kind of struggling is more frequent on the 2 combination below:
- 
-         bios boot + linux alone + legacy partition table
- 
-         uefi boot + linux alone + either legacy or guid partition table
- (the both yields the error)
- 
- The latter uefi shows the problem most stable, even if I reinstall the
- 12.10 back to bios, from scratch.
- 
- I work with computers since 1972, and with linux 1994, but I still has
- no firm idea which package is buggy.
- 
- My guess is that not the grub itself is buggy, but the other packages
- have a buggy configuration relation to grub.
- 
- I suggest to rate this bug serious, if we take serious the #1 main bug,
- see this site.
- 
- I spread linux among my students at the university since the 90's,
- however if their system can become unavailable due to an automatic
- update, then some of then will give up learning linux.
- 
- I understand that a usual other bug can be serious and hard.  But if I
- suggest the someone to switch to linux, and he/she can lost even the
- booting opportunity, then it is scary for most of the average users, and
- usually they have no enough skills to tackle the situtation, even to
- rescue their own personal files back to a proprietary system.
- 
- That's why I suggest to rate this bug serious.  Serious in the
- consequencies in public relations.
- 
- The version of the all the packages I use are the most up to date due to
- my policy to update as frequent as possible.
- 
- ProblemType: Bug
- DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
- Package: grub2 (not installed)
- Uname: Linux 3.2.34-std312-amd64 x86_64
- NonfreeKernelModules: raid10 raid456 async_raid6_recov async_pq raid6_pq async_xor xor async_memcpy async_tx raid1 raid0 multipath linear radeon r8169 mii usb_storage ttm drm_kms_helper drm i2c_algo_bit i2c_core wmi
- ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu10
- Architecture: amd64
- Date: Tue Jan 22 21:28:32 2013
- InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-10-19 (95 days ago)
- InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
- MarkForUpload: True
- ProcEnviron:
-  TERM=xterm
-  PATH=(custom, no user)
-  LANG=en_US.UTF-8
-  SHELL=/bin/bash
- SourcePackage: grub2
- UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
+ It appears that the kernel xfs filesystem driver leaves the fs in an
+ inconsistent state even after a sync.  That is corrected by a journal
+ playback done either via having the kernel mount or running fsck, but
+ grub does not use the xfs journal.

** Changed in: grub2 (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided => Medium

** Changed in: grub2 (Ubuntu)
       Status: Incomplete => Triaged

** Also affects: linux (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1103187

Title:
  xfs left inconcistent after reboot, causing grub to fail

Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged
Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  take a 12.10 with XFS root partition containing the /boot/ tree
  dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc ; sync
  reboot (either by command, or by menu)
  diverse error messages + grub rescue + /boot/ is partially accessible

  boot UBUNTU 12.10 pendrive + choose "try Ubuntu" + open a terminal
  sudo -s; mkdir foo; mount [the XFS root partition] foo; umount foo
  reboot into the "original" Ubuntu is NOW successful

  It appears that the kernel xfs filesystem driver leaves the fs in an
  inconsistent state even after a sync.  That is corrected by a journal
  playback done either via having the kernel mount or running fsck, but
  grub does not use the xfs journal.

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