[Bug 1691218] [NEW] PXELINUX always selects default option

[Ben Harris]

Public bug reported:

I have a DHCP/TFTP server that's used for network installations.  When I
tried to switch it to use the version of PXELINUX supplied with Ubuntu
16.04 (3:6.03+dfsg-11ubuntu1), I found that whatever I typed at the
PXELINUX command-line, PXELINUX would boot the default image.  Replacing
the Ubuntu PXELINUX binaries with the official upstream binaries caused
the problem to go away.

More specifically, I installed /usr/lib/PXELINUX/pxelinux.0 and
/usr/lib/syslinux/modules/bios/ldlinux.c32 into my /tftpboot directory.
To avoid breaking the existing PXELINUX 4.03 installation, I installed
pxelinux.0 as "test.0" and configured my DHCP server to provide that as
a filename to my test server.  I put the following configuration file in
/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/AC1CD020 (the correct name for the IP address of
my server):

DEFAULT mongoose
PROMPT 1

LABEL mongoose
        KERNEL mongoose

LABEL kitten
        KERNEL kitten

When I boot my test server, pressing [TAB] twice at the PXELINUX prompt
lists both "mongoose" and "kitten" as available images, but whatever I
type, PXELINUX says "Loading mongoose... failed: No such file or
directory" (see attached screenshot), indicating that PXELINUX was
trying to load "mongoose" every time.  When I replace test.0 and
ldlinux.c32 with pxelinux.0 and ldlinux.c32 from the official PXELINUX
6.03 release, I get the behaviour I expect, namely that the error
message mentions the name of the image I selected.

While my test involves images that don't exist, I get the same behaviour
for more normal configuration files that load actual kernels.  I also
get the same behaviour from two different PXE implementations (VMware
and a Sun Fire X4150).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: pxelinux 3:6.03+dfsg-11ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-77.98-generic 4.4.59
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-77-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue May 16 18:37:49 2017
Dependencies: syslinux-common 3:6.03+dfsg-11ubuntu1
JournalErrors:
 Error: command ['journalctl', '-b', '--priority=warning', '--lines=1000'] failed with exit code 1: Hint: You are currently not seeing messages from other users and the system.
       Users in the 'systemd-journal' group can see all messages. Pass -q to
       turn off this notice.
 No journal files were opened due to insufficient permissions.
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: syslinux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2017-05-11 (5 days ago)

** Affects: syslinux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug xenial

** Attachment added: "Console screenshot demonstrating problem"
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1691218/+attachment/4877699/+files/index.png

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1691218

Title:
  PXELINUX always selects default option

Status in syslinux package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I have a DHCP/TFTP server that's used for network installations.  When
  I tried to switch it to use the version of PXELINUX supplied with
  Ubuntu 16.04 (3:6.03+dfsg-11ubuntu1), I found that whatever I typed at
  the PXELINUX command-line, PXELINUX would boot the default image.
  Replacing the Ubuntu PXELINUX binaries with the official upstream
  binaries caused the problem to go away.

  More specifically, I installed /usr/lib/PXELINUX/pxelinux.0 and
  /usr/lib/syslinux/modules/bios/ldlinux.c32 into my /tftpboot
  directory.  To avoid breaking the existing PXELINUX 4.03 installation,
  I installed pxelinux.0 as "test.0" and configured my DHCP server to
  provide that as a filename to my test server.  I put the following
  configuration file in /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/AC1CD020 (the correct
  name for the IP address of my server):

  DEFAULT mongoose
  PROMPT 1

  LABEL mongoose
          KERNEL mongoose

  LABEL kitten
          KERNEL kitten

  When I boot my test server, pressing [TAB] twice at the PXELINUX
  prompt lists both "mongoose" and "kitten" as available images, but
  whatever I type, PXELINUX says "Loading mongoose... failed: No such
  file or directory" (see attached screenshot), indicating that PXELINUX
  was trying to load "mongoose" every time.  When I replace test.0 and
  ldlinux.c32 with pxelinux.0 and ldlinux.c32 from the official PXELINUX
  6.03 release, I get the behaviour I expect, namely that the error
  message mentions the name of the image I selected.

  While my test involves images that don't exist, I get the same
  behaviour for more normal configuration files that load actual
  kernels.  I also get the same behaviour from two different PXE
  implementations (VMware and a Sun Fire X4150).

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: pxelinux 3:6.03+dfsg-11ubuntu1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-77.98-generic 4.4.59
  Uname: Linux 4.4.0-77-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Tue May 16 18:37:49 2017
  Dependencies: syslinux-common 3:6.03+dfsg-11ubuntu1
  JournalErrors:
   Error: command ['journalctl', '-b', '--priority=warning', '--lines=1000'] failed with exit code 1: Hint: You are currently not seeing messages from other users and the system.
         Users in the 'systemd-journal' group can see all messages. Pass -q to
         turn off this notice.
   No journal files were opened due to insufficient permissions.
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: syslinux
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2017-05-11 (5 days ago)

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