[Bug 1523637] [NEW] grub-installer fails due to alternate disk partition error - 14.04.3

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

You have been subscribed to a public bug by Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton):

---Problem Description---
This is the Habanero NV system.
Try to install Ubuntu 14043.
It fails to install the GRUB boot loader at the very end of the process.

---boot type---
Network boot
 
== Comment: #3 - Kevin W. Rudd - 2015-12-02 16:48:46 ==
This looks to be an issue very similar to the one originally reported
in Bug 120779 (LP1415918)

In this case, the install is being done to /dev/sdj, but the
grub-installer script is finding a PReP partition on /dev/sdr that it
wants to remove.  It fails because /dev/sdr1 has not been mapped and
does not exist in /dev

Dec  2 15:45:46 grub-installer: info: Identified partition label for
/dev/sdj2: gpt
Dec  2 15:45:47 grub-installer: info: Wiping PReP partition /dev/sdr1
Dec  2 15:45:47 grub-installer: dd: invalid number ''
...
Dec  2 15:45:47 main-menu[835]: (process:28150): blockdev: can't open
'/dev/sdr1': No such file or directory

/var/log # ls -l /dev/sdj*
brw-------    1 root     root        8, 144 Dec  2 18:31 /dev/sdj
brw-------    1 root     root        8, 145 Dec  2 18:24 /dev/sdj1
brw-------    1 root     root        8, 146 Dec  2 18:24 /dev/sdj2
brw-------    1 root     root        8, 147 Dec  2 18:24 /dev/sdj3

/var/log # ls -l /dev/sdr*
brw-------    1 root     root       65,  16 Dec  2 18:42 /dev/sdr

One big question I have is:

Does it make sense to remove a PReP partition on a *different* disk
than the one being used for the install?  It seems rather heinous to
be destroying data on a non-install disk.

== Comment: #4 - Kevin W. Rudd - 2015-12-02 18:17:19 ==
Hmmm.  This may be key information for replicating this behavior.  It might explain why the partition device entries are not being auto-created for the problem /dev/sdr drive:

# parted /dev/sdr print
Warning: /dev/sdr contains GPT signatures, indicating that it has a GPT table.
However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition table, as it should.
Perhaps it was corrupted -- possibly by a program that doesn't understand GPT
partition tables.  Or perhaps you deleted the GPT table, and are now using an
msdos partition table.  Is this a GPT partition table?
Yes/No? Yes                                                               
Model: ATA ST1000NM0033 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdr: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  8389kB  7340kB                        prep
 2      8389kB  975GB   975GB   ext4
 3      975GB   1000GB  25.1GB  linux-swap(v1)

== Comment: #7 - Kevin W. Rudd -  2015-12-03 16:11:11 ==
After a bit more research on this system, it appears that the
problem drive was previously used for Trusty testing within a
PowerKVM environment.  To avoid further blocking the test team,
I temporarily removed the problem drive from the installer's view,
and the grub-installer was able to continue without further error.

The primary reason for the failure was that the installer did not
like the partition on that other drive.  In addition to the parted
warning listed in comment 4, kpartx also complained:

  Warning: Disk has a valid GPT signature but invalid PMBR.

Either this partition was slightly corrupted, or this is just a side
effect of the earlier PowerKVM storage mapping to the /dev/vdb device.

This still begs the question:

? Should the grub-installer really be touching other drives ?

It seems to me that a multi-boot environment is still valid, and
destroying partitions on alternate drives could really mess up the
testing on a shared resource.

== Comment: #12 - Paulo Flabiano Smorigo - 2015-12-07 13:15:01 ==
Even if Ubuntu overwrite PReP from other disk you can still boot the older system because grub-mkconfig (using os-prober) seeks for other systems and add them to the config file.

The problem with this approach is that old system can overwrite PReP
partition for some reason (i.e. an update) and its grub-mkconfig has the
OS seeker disabled.

For me, the safer approach is to have PReP in the same disk as Kevin is
suggesting.

I believe that we should have ask Canonical for an option about it since
grub-installer is a Debian/Ubuntu tool.

** Affects: grub-installer (Ubuntu)
     Importance: High
     Assignee: Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (mathieu-tl)
         Status: Triaged


** Tags: architecture-ppc64le bugnameltc-133698 patch severity-critical targetmilestone-inin14044
-- 
grub-installer fails due to alternate disk partition error - 14.04.3
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1523637
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Sponsors Team, which is subscribed to the bug report.