[Bug 1065281] Re: Installer crashed when trying to partition 4k/4k sector hard disks

[Kent Baxley]

With the latest fixes on 13.10 I still fail to boot the OS, even with a
larger FAT32 EFI partition in place.  In other words the server cannot
find anything to boot from and asks me to press F1 to try again, F11 to
return to the EFI boot menu, etc.

**HOWEVER**

If I restart the installation and edit
"/lib/partman/commit.d/50format_efi" prior the partitioning phase and
adjust this line:

mkdosfs -F "${new_efi_fs#fat}" \

to look like this:

mkdosfs -s 1  -F "${new_efi_fs#fat}" \

We are dropped to a grub prompt after installation and reboot...so, I
think how the fat partition getting created is one factor in this.

>From the grub prompt, I can type the following commands and boot the OS:

grub> linux (hd0,gpt2)/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2
grub> initrd (hd0,gpt2)/initrd.img
grub> boot

Also, I noticed in the logs if we use the original mkdosfs command
*without* the -s 1  option a warning is logged:

WARNING: Not enough clusters for a 32 bit FAT!

Whereas I don't see this if I use -s 1.

I'll attach logs from both an install with the way things currently are
and another set with the mkdosfs modifications in place.

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Title:
  Installer crashed when trying to partition 4k/4k sector hard disks

Status in The Dell PowerEdge project:
  In Progress
Status in OEM Priority Project:
  Fix Committed
Status in OEM Priority Project precise series:
  In Progress
Status in OEM Priority Project quantal series:
  In Progress
Status in OEM Priority Project raring series:
  Fix Released
Status in Release Notes for Ubuntu:
  Invalid
Status in Release Notes for Ubuntu quantal series:
  Triaged
Status in “dosfstools” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “efibootmgr” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “partman-auto” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “partman-base” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “partman-basicfilesystems” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “partman-efi” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “dosfstools” source package in Precise:
  Fix Released
Status in “efibootmgr” source package in Precise:
  Triaged
Status in “partman-auto” source package in Precise:
  In Progress
Status in “partman-base” source package in Precise:
  Triaged
Status in “partman-basicfilesystems” source package in Precise:
  Fix Released
Status in “partman-efi” source package in Precise:
  Fix Released
Status in “dosfstools” source package in Quantal:
  Fix Released
Status in “efibootmgr” source package in Quantal:
  Triaged
Status in “partman-auto” source package in Quantal:
  New
Status in “partman-base” source package in Quantal:
  Triaged
Status in “partman-basicfilesystems” source package in Quantal:
  Fix Released
Status in “partman-efi” source package in Quantal:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  partman_server crashes on Ubuntu 12.10 server for amd64 when trying to
  partition an Advanced Format (4k / 4k sector) hard disk.

  Disks that utilize 4k sectors with 512 emulation work fine.  The
  installer has no problems with those.

  Steps to Reproduce:
  1) Begin the installation in EFI mode. 
  2) At the disk partitioning stage, select "Guided use Entire Disk" or "Manual"
  3) Review and accept the proposed partitioning scheme and write changes to disk. 

  Actual Results:
  The system will attempt to create a the EFIboot partition.  At this stage the installer appears to hang.   Pressing Ctrl+AltF4 reveals that parted_server has crashed with the following message:

  parted_server[13865]: segfault at 22fa000 ip 00007fa6eb74bee7 sp
  00007fffec3ab500 error 4 in libparted.so.0.0.1[7fa6eb735000+64000]

  Expected results:
  Installation should carry on without a crash.

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