[Bug 1582899] [NEW] in-target: mkinitramfs: failed to determine device for /

[TJ]

Public bug reported:

Sysadmin reported in #ubuntu (later #ubuntu-kernel) the 16.04 ubuntu-
server failed due to being unable to configure linux-
image-4.4.0-21-generic.

Lots of diagnostics and one SSH remote session later we seem to have
narrowed it down to the installer.

The cause of the error message appears to be that the symlink names in
/dev/disk/by-uuid/  haven't been updated after the partitioning stage if
there were pre-existing partitions and file-systems on the install
device, *and* the sysadmin chose to format the existing partitions when
selecting mountpoints.

In this case a hardware RAID device presents:

/dev/sda1 (/boot/)
/dev/sda2 (swap)
/dev/sda3 (/)

>From the shell I noticed:

root at tmpstorage:/# ll /dev/disk/by-uuid/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 May 17 19:39 130e4419-4bfd-46d2-87f9-62e5379bf591 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 May 17 19:39 127d3fa1-c07c-48e4-9e26-1b926d37625c -> ../../sda3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 May 17 19:39 78b88456-2b0b-4265-9ed2-5db61522d887 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 May 17 19:39 2016-04-20-22-45-29-00 -> ../../sr1
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 120 May 17 19:39 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 120 May 17 19:39 .

root at tmpstorage:/# blkid /dev/sda*
/dev/sda: PTUUID="a84e60fd" PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda1: UUID="61365714-8ff7-47a2-8035-8aed9e3191a6" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a84e60fd-01"
/dev/sda2: UUID="78b88456-2b0b-4265-9ed2-5db61522d887" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="a84e60fd-02"
/dev/sda3: UUID="75f68451-9472-47c7-9efc-ed032bfa9987" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a84e60fd-03"

More details to follow.

** Affects: base-installer (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1582899

Title:
  in-target: mkinitramfs: failed to determine device for /

Status in base-installer package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Sysadmin reported in #ubuntu (later #ubuntu-kernel) the 16.04 ubuntu-
  server failed due to being unable to configure linux-
  image-4.4.0-21-generic.

  Lots of diagnostics and one SSH remote session later we seem to have
  narrowed it down to the installer.

  The cause of the error message appears to be that the symlink names in
  /dev/disk/by-uuid/  haven't been updated after the partitioning stage
  if there were pre-existing partitions and file-systems on the install
  device, *and* the sysadmin chose to format the existing partitions
  when selecting mountpoints.

  In this case a hardware RAID device presents:

  /dev/sda1 (/boot/)
  /dev/sda2 (swap)
  /dev/sda3 (/)

  From the shell I noticed:

  root at tmpstorage:/# ll /dev/disk/by-uuid/
  total 0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 May 17 19:39 130e4419-4bfd-46d2-87f9-62e5379bf591 -> ../../sda1
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 May 17 19:39 127d3fa1-c07c-48e4-9e26-1b926d37625c -> ../../sda3
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 May 17 19:39 78b88456-2b0b-4265-9ed2-5db61522d887 -> ../../sda2
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 May 17 19:39 2016-04-20-22-45-29-00 -> ../../sr1
  drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 120 May 17 19:39 ..
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 120 May 17 19:39 .

  root at tmpstorage:/# blkid /dev/sda*
  /dev/sda: PTUUID="a84e60fd" PTTYPE="dos"
  /dev/sda1: UUID="61365714-8ff7-47a2-8035-8aed9e3191a6" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a84e60fd-01"
  /dev/sda2: UUID="78b88456-2b0b-4265-9ed2-5db61522d887" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="a84e60fd-02"
  /dev/sda3: UUID="75f68451-9472-47c7-9efc-ed032bfa9987" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a84e60fd-03"

  More details to follow.

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