[Bug 340837] New: YOU Kernel Update Can Leave System Unbootable & / boot Unmountable
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 Summary: YOU Kernel Update Can Leave System Unbootable & /boot Unmountable Product: openSUSE 10.3 Version: Final Platform: Other OS/Version: Other Status: NEW Severity: Normal Priority: P5 - None Component: Kernel AssignedTo: kernel-maintainers@forge.provo.novell.com ReportedBy: rob.opensuse.linux@googlemail.com QAContact: qa@suse.de Found By: --- There seems not to be enough sanity checking, and error handling in YOU kernel update, this update ran without comment (text mode YaST->Online Update), appearing to complete successfully). The /boot partion was unmounted, so there was a /boot directory but it was empty without any kernel, initrd, map files nor a boot loader (grub); so parts of the update script must have received runtime errors. To reproduce : 1) Make /boot an empty directory, for instance unmounting a /boot partition, though probably mount --bind /some/empty/dir /bind would do the job. 2) Update new kernel with YOU, "forgetting" to make real /boot accessible. I noticed no error messages, nor any warning indication from YaST YOU of an issue or problem. New kernel files in /boot contained in root partion, were present. The running kernel module files were deleted! Module for ext2 partion therefore unloadable making /boot unmountable, booting to Rescue CD was therefore necessary. Off Live CD, it was possible to mount / & /boot, and copy in new kernel files, then update /boot/grub/menu.lst. Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/sdb5 489900 186616 303284 39% / Deleting /lib/module/`uname -r` and the old kernel entries, before successfully rebooting when there is plenty of disk space, seems rather aggressive and fragile. That also means that installing a kernel update accidentally, forces a reboot of system, in order to load modules for features not yet used since boot. A good precaution would be to allow the Adminstrator to nominate a fallback 'trusted' kernel, with entry in boot menu that is never removed, so that kernel upgrade cannot leave system unbootable. The update should be a transaction, that only completes if all steps to install new kernel succeeded, including boot menu changes. Safer to only delete files from previous kernel, after a successful boot, or even leave this as a task to be done by weekly maintenance script. Unused kernel files could then be deleted after a month or so, and each boot of kernel-`uname -r` recorded by boot script using touch <path>/lastboot/kernel-`uname-r` Kernel installation is a critical task, which should be done very carefully, and procedure ought be conservative. The auto update mechanism loses value if the Admin cannot trust it to be careful. Greater robustness would also protect SuSE's name in event of a troublesome kernel update, causing unforeseen problems at very many sites. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AssignedTo|kernel-maintainers@forge.provo.novell.com |bnc-team-screening@forge.provo.novell.com Component|Kernel |YaST2 QAContact|qa@suse.de |jsrain@novell.com -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 Andreas Jaeger <aj@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AssignedTo|bnc-team-screening@forge.provo.novell.com |jplack@novell.com -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 User jplack@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837#c1 Joachim Plack <jplack@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEW |RESOLVED Component|YaST2 |YaST2 Product|openSUSE 10.3 |openSUSE 11.0 Resolution| |LATER Version|Final |Alpha 2plus --- Comment #1 from Joachim Plack <jplack@novell.com> 2008-03-14 09:52:43 MST --- So this is a hidden feature request, I see. Will consider this to be done in some 11.x release -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 User jplack@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837#c2 Joachim Plack <jplack@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC| |jplack@novell.com Status|RESOLVED |REOPENED Resolution|LATER | --- Comment #2 from Joachim Plack <jplack@novell.com> 2008-03-19 22:14:01 MST --- reevaluate for SLE11 -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 User jplack@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837#c3 Joachim Plack <jplack@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AssignedTo|jplack@novell.com |juhliarik@novell.com Status|REOPENED |NEW --- Comment #3 from Joachim Plack <jplack@novell.com> 2008-07-15 05:22:12 MDT --- assign to yast2-bootloader maintainer -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 User juhliarik@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837#c4 Jozef Uhliarik <juhliarik@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AssignedTo|juhliarik@novell.com |jreidinger@novell.com --- Comment #4 from Jozef Uhliarik <juhliarik@novell.com> 2008-09-17 08:04:26 MDT --- IMO kernel update is the perl-Bootloader task -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 User jreidinger@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837#c5 --- Comment #5 from Josef Reidinger <jreidinger@novell.com> 2008-09-18 02:24:25 MDT --- fixed in svn. Will be in perl-Bootloader 0.4.71. Fix is that in perl-Bootloader I check if /boot is mounted and if not, then I exit bootloader post-install script for kernel, so installation and also uninstallation is stopped. Thats everything I can do. Multiple kernel is supported by bootloader, you can test it vie rpm -i. If you think, that more can be done, please fill feature request for kernel (pre)-post-install scripts. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 Josef Reidinger <jreidinger@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEW |ASSIGNED Priority|P5 - None |P2 - High -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837 User jreidinger@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=340837#c6 Josef Reidinger <jreidinger@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|ASSIGNED |RESOLVED Resolution| |FIXED --- Comment #6 from Josef Reidinger <jreidinger@novell.com> 2008-09-19 07:57:41 MDT --- 0.4.71 released (maybe it need some time to synchronize) -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
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