[Bug 1960089] [NEW] Ubiquity Boot Partition for LVM needs to be 2.0 GB for 22.04LTS

[Michael Mikowski]

Public bug reported:

Summary:

We propose to increase the LVM /boot partition to 2.0 GB. This provides
the space needed so advanced users can use best practice to manage up to
3 kernel flavors. The current /boot partition on 20.04 and 22.04 is
limited to just 705M, which allows only 3 concurrent kernels before
filling and sometimes locking the system (each image set takes 180M
total; 4 x 180 = 720M > 705M).

Reasoning:

Best practice recommends users keep at least two version of each kernel
flavor in the /boot directory. If a user has 3 kernel flavors installed
(e.g. oem, generic-hwe, and lowlatency-hwe), then one needs to reserve
room for 2 x 3 = 6 kernels.

The system needs the headroom of at least two additional kernels during
any automated clean-up process due to package removal scheduling. I
propose to also reserve room for 2 additional kernels as a safety
measure. Thus the total recommend available space should accommodate 10
kernels.

Each kernel file set takes up 180M in the /boot partition when used with
Nvidia driver modules. These files include initrd.img, system.map, and
vmlinuz. With future kernel and module growth, this may surpass 200M
soon. Therefore, we suggest planning for 200M for each kernel.

We therefore request a total LVM /boot partition size of 10 image x 200M
= 2.0 GB.

Other Considerations:

When unattended-upgrades works correctly (which does not yet employ best
practice), we have seen users with just a single kernel flavor over-fill
their /boot partitions. This is because unattended-upgrades can retain
up to 4 kernels, while the /boot partition is only large enough for 3. I
am currently working with others to improve the unattended-upgrades
algorithm to use best practice.

The installer could allow users to resize the /boot partition during
installation. In this case, we highly recommend a 2.0 GB default for the
reasons outlined above.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: ubiquity (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.14.0-1011.11-oem 5.14.17
Uname: Linux 5.14.0-1011-oem x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.21
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Fri Feb  4 14:53:36 2022
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/kubuntu.seed only-ubiquity quiet splash oem-config/enable=true ---
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-06-10 (604 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug focal oem-config ubiquity-20.04.15

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to ubiquity in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1960089

Title:
  Ubiquity Boot Partition for LVM needs to be 2.0 GB for 22.04LTS

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Summary:

  We propose to increase the LVM /boot partition to 2.0 GB. This
  provides the space needed so advanced users can use best practice to
  manage up to 3 kernel flavors. The current /boot partition on 20.04
  and 22.04 is limited to just 705M, which allows only 3 concurrent
  kernels before filling and sometimes locking the system (each image
  set takes 180M total; 4 x 180 = 720M > 705M).

  Reasoning:

  Best practice recommends users keep at least two version of each
  kernel flavor in the /boot directory. If a user has 3 kernel flavors
  installed (e.g. oem, generic-hwe, and lowlatency-hwe), then one needs
  to reserve room for 2 x 3 = 6 kernels.

  The system needs the headroom of at least two additional kernels
  during any automated clean-up process due to package removal
  scheduling. I propose to also reserve room for 2 additional kernels as
  a safety measure. Thus the total recommend available space should
  accommodate 10 kernels.

  Each kernel file set takes up 180M in the /boot partition when used
  with Nvidia driver modules. These files include initrd.img,
  system.map, and vmlinuz. With future kernel and module growth, this
  may surpass 200M soon. Therefore, we suggest planning for 200M for
  each kernel.

  We therefore request a total LVM /boot partition size of 10 image x
  200M = 2.0 GB.

  Other Considerations:

  When unattended-upgrades works correctly (which does not yet employ
  best practice), we have seen users with just a single kernel flavor
  over-fill their /boot partitions. This is because unattended-upgrades
  can retain up to 4 kernels, while the /boot partition is only large
  enough for 3. I am currently working with others to improve the
  unattended-upgrades algorithm to use best practice.

  The installer could allow users to resize the /boot partition during
  installation. In this case, we highly recommend a 2.0 GB default for
  the reasons outlined above.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: ubiquity (not installed)
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.14.0-1011.11-oem 5.14.17
  Uname: Linux 5.14.0-1011-oem x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.21
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  CurrentDesktop: KDE
  Date: Fri Feb  4 14:53:36 2022
  InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/kubuntu.seed only-ubiquity quiet splash oem-config/enable=true ---
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-06-10 (604 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
  SourcePackage: ubiquity
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1960089/+subscriptions