[Bug 669481] Re: Timeout should not be -1 if $recordfail

[Louis Bouchard]

fix confirmed for Oneiric as well, with latest grub2 in -proposed

** Tags removed: verification-needed
** Tags added: verification-done

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Title:
  Timeout should not be -1 if $recordfail

Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “grub2” source package in Oneiric:
  Fix Committed
Status in “grub2” source package in Precise:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: grub2

  SRU justification

  [Impact]
  If a system fails to boot to the point where it runs /etc/init.d/grub-common, then a subsequent reboot will leave the system  at a grub prompt which waits indefinitely for user input.  Systems such as cloud instances or other headless systems may not be able to provide the necessary input to grub, which results in unavailable system.

  [Test case]
  A thorough test case is mentioned in comment #8 and has been used to confirm that the Quantal fix was applicable.

  One shortcut to testing the fix is to disable execution of /etc/init.d
  /grub-common by doing :

  $ sudo chmod -x /etc/init.d/grub-common

  Without the fix, a reboot will result in the instance waiting at the
  GRUB prompt. With the proposed fix, it will boot normally.

  
  [Regression Potential]
  There is little potential as without intentional modification of /etc/default/grub, the variable defaults to its previous value of -1.

  My experience is that $recordfail is not always written successfully,
  which is by default tested in grub.cfg (through grub.d/00_header)

  This causes grub2 to set timeout=-1 which removes the timeout for
  bootup in these cases.

  On computers which have not been configured for "USB Legacy" in the
  BIOS but use USB keyboards, this looks as if grub has frozen - because
  the keyboard does not respond. The consequence is that the computer
  won't boot without either knowledge on how to configure BIOS (and
  what) or using a PS/2 keyboard (not always available or possible to
  plugin).

  My suggestion is that Ubuntu recognizes $recordfail but instead of
  disabling timeout (-1) it should be set to a relatively high value
  (such as 10 seconds). This will be enough to alert the user on what
  option is booting, and that the computer hasn't frozen, as well as
  enabling false/known failures to be ignored.

  Maybe a future addition to recognising $recordfail is to have a
  warning on the boot menu, but that is outside the scope of this
  report.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
  Package: grub-pc 1.98+20100804-5ubuntu3
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.35-generic-pae 2.6.35.4
  Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic-pae i686
  Architecture: i386
  Date: Mon Nov  1 15:33:30 2010
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
  ProcEnviron:
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: grub2

  Related bugs:
   * bug 1035279: instance hangs at grub prompt after reboot followed by euca-reboot-instances
   * bug 872244: grub2 recordfail logic prevents headless system from rebooting after power outage

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