[Bug 1654297] Re: Grub fails to update due to imaginary lack of free space

[Steve Langasek]

** Package changed: grub (Ubuntu) => grub2 (Ubuntu)

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Title:
  Grub fails to update due to imaginary lack of free space

Status in grub2 package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Uncertain on the mechanics, so not sure if grub is the right package.
  This has happened to me on multiple systems, including a physical
  system running on a Core i5 and on a VMware virtual machine.  Large
  amounts of searching on Google nets no answer for this, nor bug
  reports filed; meanwhile attempting to file a bug report is nigh-
  impossible because Launchpad sends you to a page which actively-
  discourages filing bug reports through Launchpad by putting the link
  to the bug filing page 2/3 of the way down, but that is an issue for a
  separate bug.

  grub-install will fail in the following way:

  
  Setting up grub-efi-amd64-signed (1.66.6+2.02~beta2-36ubuntu3.6) ...
  Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
  grub-install: error: cannot open `/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/btrfs.mod': No space left on device.
  dpkg: error processing package grub-efi-amd64-signed (--configure):
   subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
  Setting up shim-signed (1.19~16.04.1+0.8-0ubuntu2) ...
  Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
  grub-install: error: cannot open `/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/terminfo.mod': No space left on device.
  dpkg: error processing package shim-signed (--configure):
   subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
  Errors were encountered while processing:
   grub-efi-amd64-signed
   shim-signed

  
  Notice the /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/btrfs.mod and such.

  $ df -h /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/
  Filesystem             Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
  /dev/mapper/root-boot  1.9G  335M  1.5G  19% /boot
  $ df -i /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/
  Filesystem            Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on
  /dev/mapper/root-boot    480   157   323   33% /boot

  
  These are in no way full.

  
  $ ls -l /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/btrfs.mod
  ls: cannot access '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/btrfs.mod': No such file or directory
  $ ls -l /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/terminfo.mod
  ls: cannot access '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/terminfo.mod': No such file or directory

  
  Grub won't boot because these aren't properly installed.  I can install them with cp:

  
  $ sudo cp /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/{btrfs,terminfo}.mod /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/
  $ ls -l /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/terminfo.mod
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19616 Jan  5 09:53 /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/terminfo.mod
  $ ls -l /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/btrfs.mod
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19688 Jan  5 09:53 /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/btrfs.mod

  
  Re-running the configure nets this:

  
  Setting up shim-signed (1.19~16.04.1+0.8-0ubuntu2) ...
  Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
  grub-install: error: cannot open `/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/tga.mod': No space left on device.
  dpkg: error processing package shim-signed (--configure):
   subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
  Errors were encountered while processing:
   shim-signed
  E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

  
  By repeatedly copying the files by hand and reconfiguring, I can successfully complete the post-install.

  
  Setting up shim-signed (1.19~16.04.1+0.8-0ubuntu2) ...
  Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
  File descriptor 3 (pipe:[58122417]) leaked on vgs invocation. Parent PID 15727: grub-install
  File descriptor 5 (/dev/sda1) leaked on vgs invocation. Parent PID 15727: grub-install
  File descriptor 3 (pipe:[58122417]) leaked on vgs invocation. Parent PID 15727: grub-install
  File descriptor 5 (/dev/sda1) leaked on vgs invocation. Parent PID 15727: grub-install
  Installation finished. No error reported.
  find: ‘/var/lib/dkms’: No such file or directory
  No DKMS packages installed: not changing Secure Boot validation state.

  
  So something is wrong with grub-install such that it fails to copy files because it imagines the target is out of space, whereas cp can in fact copy the file.

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