[Bug 1179041] [NEW] Btrfs partition too small, upgrade from Quantal to Raring failed

Sat May 11 19:24:23 UTC 2013

Public bug reported:

First off, I have fixed the problem myself and am using Raring Ringtail
to write this report. I apologize if the information collected by
Apport-bug is showing incorrect version information for "ubuntu-release-
upgrader-core".

While using Quantal Quetzal installed onto a Btrfs partition, I executed
"do-release-update" in the command line. The process failed about half
way through, after which point my system became unusable.

I investigated and found that the "do-release-update" program correctly
identified Btrfs and created a subvolume for storing the updated OS. I
assume the reason for doing this is to allow for an easy roll-back in
the event of a failed update.

Unfortunately, the Btrfs partition was small (about 24GB) and the update
process (downloading so many files) quickly filled up the entire file
system. This set the Btrfs file system into an unstable state where
executing even "rm /some-empty-file" would report an error message "no
space left on device".

I was able to roll-back the system, but I was NOT able to update my
system at all using "do-release-upgrade". I had to backup Quantal and
reformat my system partition as Ext4, then restore Quantal from the
backup. After that, running "do-release-upgrade" with a Quantal system
installed on an Ext4 partition completed successfully, and I am running
Raring now.

It seems your "do-release-upgrade" software is not prepared to handle
situations in which Btrfs is running short on space, which is definitely
a bug. "Do-release-upgrade" should not create a separate subvolume if
the available space on the file system is not enough to perform an
update. A good heuristic might be to have space available for triple the
space used by all installed packages. If there is not enough space, the
Btrfs volume should be treated the same as it would for an Ext4 volume
and update files in-place, rather than in a subvolume.

Furthermore, the "do-release-upgrade" process ought to automatically
roll-back a failed update, rather than leave the file system in an
unstable, useless state.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: ubuntu-release-upgrader-core 1:0.192.10
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-19.30-generic 3.8.8
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-19-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
CrashDB: ubuntu
Date: Sun May 12 03:49:55 2013
MarkForUpload: True
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: ubuntu-release-upgrader
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2013-04-30 (11 days ago)

** Affects: ubuntu-release-upgrader (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Tags: btrfs dist-upgrade do-release-upgrade quantal raring

** Description changed:

  First off, I have fixed the problem myself and am using Raring Ringtail
  to write this report. I apologize if the information collected by
  Apport-bug is showing incorrect version information for "ubuntu-release-
  upgrader-core".

  While using Quantal Quetzal installed onto a Btrfs partition, I executed
  "do-release-update" in the command line. The process failed about half
  way through, after which point my system became unusable.

  I investigated and found that the "do-release-update" program correctly
  identified Btrfs and created a subvolume for storing the updated OS. I
  assume the reason for doing this is to allow for an easy roll-back in
  the event of a failed update.

  Unfortunately, the Btrfs partition was small (about 24GB) and the update
  process (downloading so many files) quickly filled up the entire file
  system. This set the Btrfs file system into an unstable state where
  executing even "rm /some-empty-file" would report an error message "no
  space left on device".

  I was able to roll-back the system, but I was NOT able to update my
  system at all using "do-release-upgrade". I had to backup Quantal and
  reformat my system partition as Ext4, then restore Quantal from the
- backup. After that, running "do-release-upgrade" on an system installed
- on an Ext4 partition completed successfully, and I am running Raring
- now.
+ backup. After that, running "do-release-upgrade" with a Quantal system
+ installed on an Ext4 partition completed successfully, and I am running
+ Raring now.

  It seems your "do-release-upgrade" software is not prepared to handle
  situations in which Btrfs is running short on space, which is definitely
  a bug. "Do-release-upgrade" should not create a separate subvolume if
  the available space on the file system is not enough to perform an
  update. A good heuristic might be to have space available for triple the
  space used by all installed packages. If there is not enough space, the
  Btrfs volume should be treated the same as it would for an Ext4 volume
  and update files in-place, rather than in a subvolume.

  Furthermore, the "do-release-upgrade" process ought to automatically
  roll-back a failed update, rather than leave the file system in an
  unstable, useless state.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
  Package: ubuntu-release-upgrader-core 1:0.192.10
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-19.30-generic 3.8.8
  Uname: Linux 3.8.0-19-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8
  Architecture: amd64
  CrashDB: ubuntu
  Date: Sun May 12 03:49:55 2013
  MarkForUpload: True
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: ubuntu-release-upgrader
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2013-04-30 (11 days ago)

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to ubuntu-release-upgrader in
Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1179041

Title:
  Btrfs partition too small, upgrade from Quantal to Raring failed

Status in “ubuntu-release-upgrader” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  First off, I have fixed the problem myself and am using Raring
  Ringtail to write this report. I apologize if the information
  collected by Apport-bug is showing incorrect version information for
  "ubuntu-release-upgrader-core".

  While using Quantal Quetzal installed onto a Btrfs partition, I
  executed "do-release-update" in the command line. The process failed
  about half way through, after which point my system became unusable.

  I investigated and found that the "do-release-update" program
  correctly identified Btrfs and created a subvolume for storing the
  updated OS. I assume the reason for doing this is to allow for an easy
  roll-back in the event of a failed update.

  Unfortunately, the Btrfs partition was small (about 24GB) and the
  update process (downloading so many files) quickly filled up the
  entire file system. This set the Btrfs file system into an unstable
  state where executing even "rm /some-empty-file" would report an error
  message "no space left on device".

  I was able to roll-back the system, but I was NOT able to update my
  system at all using "do-release-upgrade". I had to backup Quantal and
  reformat my system partition as Ext4, then restore Quantal from the
  backup. After that, running "do-release-upgrade" with a Quantal system
  installed on an Ext4 partition completed successfully, and I am
  running Raring now.

  It seems your "do-release-upgrade" software is not prepared to handle
  situations in which Btrfs is running short on space, which is
  definitely a bug. "Do-release-upgrade" should not create a separate
  subvolume if the available space on the file system is not enough to
  perform an update. A good heuristic might be to have space available
  for triple the space used by all installed packages. If there is not
  enough space, the Btrfs volume should be treated the same as it would
  for an Ext4 volume and update files in-place, rather than in a
  subvolume.

  Furthermore, the "do-release-upgrade" process ought to automatically
  roll-back a failed update, rather than leave the file system in an
  unstable, useless state.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
  Package: ubuntu-release-upgrader-core 1:0.192.10
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-19.30-generic 3.8.8
  Uname: Linux 3.8.0-19-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8
  Architecture: amd64
  CrashDB: ubuntu
  Date: Sun May 12 03:49:55 2013
  MarkForUpload: True
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: ubuntu-release-upgrader
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2013-04-30 (11 days ago)

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-release-upgrader/+bug/1179041/+subscriptions