[Bug 2004092] Re: casper fails to add any users because GID 999 is already taken

[Simon Quigley]

** Description changed:

+ [ Original Report ]
+ 
  Normally, when one first boots a live ISO, a desktop automatically
  appears, asking users if they want to try or install Ubuntu (or, in the
  case of Lubuntu, they are simply dropped into a working desktop with an
  installation desktop icon available). As of the Lubuntu ISO on January
  27, 2023, this has stopped occuring. Plymouth shows the initial boot
  animation, but the user is then dropped to a solid black screen. No user
  input is accepted. Attempting to switch to a TTY and sign in fails with
  the default "lubuntu" username and a blank password (the error "Login
  incorrect" is displayed).
  
  On Ubuntu Desktop, the behavior is even stranger. Rather than being
  shown a "Try or Install Ubuntu" screen, an initial system setup wizard
  appears that takes the user through the process of creating a user
  account. On a live ISO. Only after this wizard is finished does the "Try
  or Install Ubuntu" screen appear. Attempting to log into a TTY using the
  default "ubuntu" username and a blank password fails the same way as
  Lubuntu does, if done before the wizard is finished. However, one can
  log into a TTY if they finish the wizard and then attempt to log into
  the TTY using the credentials provided during user account setup.
  
  This issue affects at least the Lubuntu ISOs as of January 27, 2023, and
  the Ubuntu Desktop ISO at least as of January 28, 2023 (it is assumed
  that the 27th ISO for Ubuntu Desktop is also broken). The ISO from the
  26th is most likely unaffected as there is successful testing
  information for Lubuntu on the 26th, so something likely happened
  between the 26th and the 27th to cause this breakage.
  
  Steps to reproduce:
  
  1. Download the latest Lunar daily ISO of Ubuntu Desktop or Lubuntu.
  2. Boot the ISO (hardware is irrelevant - this appears to occur on both physical and virtual hardware).
  
  For Lubuntu:
  
  3. Wait until you are dropped to a black, blank screen.
  4. Wait a while, then attempt to switch to a TTY and attempt to log in using "lubuntu" as the username and a blank password. The login attempt will be denied.
  
  For Ubuntu Desktop:
  
  3. Wait until you are provided with an initial system setup wizard.
  4. Switch to a TTY and attempt to log in using "ubuntu" as the username and a blank password. The login attempt will be denied.
  5. Switch back to the system setup wizard, and complete it.
  6. After completing the wizard, switch to a TTY again and attempt to log in using the credentials provided to the wizard. The login attempt will be successful.
- 
- Notes:
- 
- Casper cannot be what changed to cause this, as Casper was changed in
- early December.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2004092

Title:
  casper fails to add any users because GID 999 is already taken

Status in casper package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  This bug is due to the latest systemd upload in Ubuntu. systemd-
  journald now uses GID 999, when casper explicitly sets the live user
  to that UID and GID.

  Rather than going through the painstaking task of updating systemd to
  use a *different* user, let's just update casper to use 1000, which is
  the first dynamically-allocated user account per Debian Policy[1].

  [1] https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys.html#uid-and-
  gid-classes

  [ Original Report ]

  Normally, when one first boots a live ISO, a desktop automatically
  appears, asking users if they want to try or install Ubuntu (or, in
  the case of Lubuntu, they are simply dropped into a working desktop
  with an installation desktop icon available). As of the Lubuntu ISO on
  January 27, 2023, this has stopped occuring. Plymouth shows the
  initial boot animation, but the user is then dropped to a solid black
  screen. No user input is accepted. Attempting to switch to a TTY and
  sign in fails with the default "lubuntu" username and a blank password
  (the error "Login incorrect" is displayed).

  On Ubuntu Desktop, the behavior is even stranger. Rather than being
  shown a "Try or Install Ubuntu" screen, an initial system setup wizard
  appears that takes the user through the process of creating a user
  account. On a live ISO. Only after this wizard is finished does the
  "Try or Install Ubuntu" screen appear. Attempting to log into a TTY
  using the default "ubuntu" username and a blank password fails the
  same way as Lubuntu does, if done before the wizard is finished.
  However, one can log into a TTY if they finish the wizard and then
  attempt to log into the TTY using the credentials provided during user
  account setup.

  This issue affects at least the Lubuntu ISOs as of January 27, 2023,
  and the Ubuntu Desktop ISO at least as of January 28, 2023 (it is
  assumed that the 27th ISO for Ubuntu Desktop is also broken). The ISO
  from the 26th is most likely unaffected as there is successful testing
  information for Lubuntu on the 26th, so something likely happened
  between the 26th and the 27th to cause this breakage.

  Steps to reproduce:

  1. Download the latest Lunar daily ISO of Ubuntu Desktop or Lubuntu.
  2. Boot the ISO (hardware is irrelevant - this appears to occur on both physical and virtual hardware).

  For Lubuntu:

  3. Wait until you are dropped to a black, blank screen.
  4. Wait a while, then attempt to switch to a TTY and attempt to log in using "lubuntu" as the username and a blank password. The login attempt will be denied.

  For Ubuntu Desktop:

  3. Wait until you are provided with an initial system setup wizard.
  4. Switch to a TTY and attempt to log in using "ubuntu" as the username and a blank password. The login attempt will be denied.
  5. Switch back to the system setup wizard, and complete it.
  6. After completing the wizard, switch to a TTY again and attempt to log in using the credentials provided to the wizard. The login attempt will be successful.

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