Bug#502940: linux-image-2.6.18-6-686: Upgrade overrides current kernel with no rollback available
Package: linux-image-2.6.18-6-686
Version: 2.6.18.dfsg.1-22etch3
Severity: normal
We have applied several DSAs, for example, DSA 1653-1, and find that
they replace the currently running kernel and don't keep a backup copy -
the only possible "on-box" rollback would be to a much older kernel.
We don't understand how this fits with Stable's conservative, logical
update process (which we really like, btw). Is this really meant to
happen or do we have something wrong?
We've waited to file this bug because we thought we had something wrong
and it hasn't caused a problem (yet) on Etch. We believe this has been
happening since Sarge or earlier. We started using Debian on Potato.
We have had a problem on Lenny where we needed to copy a kernel from
another system using a rescue cdrom. Our googling finds several people
making similar comments on lists, forums etc but nothing definitive.
Below is an extract from the aptitude log, showing the last few kernel
upgrades. The Debian package version is changing, the kernel version
shown by $( uname -r ) isn't changing.
Tue, May 6 2008 09:15:47 +1000 [UPGRADE] linux-image-2.6.18-6-686 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1 -> 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch3
Wed, May 14 2008 10:24:42 +1000 [UPGRADE] linux-image-2.6.18-6-686 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch3 -> 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch4
Wed, May 28 2008 07:53:44 +1000 [UPGRADE] linux-image-2.6.18-6-686 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch4 -> 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch5
Wed, Jun 11 2008 15:39:07 +1000 [UPGRADE] linux-image-2.6.18-6-686 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch5 -> 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch6
Mon, Jul 28 2008 11:23:35 +1000 [UPGRADE] linux-image-2.6.18-6-686 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch6 -> 2.6.18.dfsg.1-22
Fri, Aug 22 2008 13:00:20 +1000 [UPGRADE] linux-image-2.6.18-6-686 2.6.18.dfsg.1-22 -> 2.6.18.dfsg.1-22etch2
Tue, Oct 14 2008 07:53:58 +1000 [UPGRADE] linux-image-2.6.18-6-686 2.6.18.dfsg.1-22etch2 -> 2.6.18.dfsg.1-22etch3
Here's what's on the disk right now - we only have three versions on
disk despite there being seven versions shown above.
$ ls -l /boot
total 15612
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 722037 May 10 2007 System.map-2.6.18-4-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 723178 Dec 25 2007 System.map-2.6.18-5-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 723233 Oct 10 06:00 System.map-2.6.18-6-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 70782 Jun 4 2007 config-2.6.18-4-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 70682 Dec 25 2007 config-2.6.18-5-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 70682 Oct 10 01:17 config-2.6.18-6-686
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Jun 1 2007 debian.bmp -> /boot/sarge.bmp
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 14 07:44 grub
-rw------- 1 root root 1218747 Jun 4 2007 initrd.img-2.6.18-4-686
-rw------- 1 root root 1202020 Dec 27 2007 initrd.img-2.6.18-5-686
-rw------- 1 root root 1245836 Oct 14 07:44 initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1261213 May 10 2007 vmlinuz-2.6.18-4-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1260371 Dec 25 2007 vmlinuz-2.6.18-5-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1260089 Oct 10 06:00 vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-686
$ ls -l /lib/modules
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jun 4 2007 2.6.18-4-686
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Dec 27 2007 2.6.18-5-686
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Oct 14 07:44 2.6.18-6-686
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
APT prefers stable
APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-6-686
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)
Versions of packages linux-image-2.6.18-6-686 depends on:
ii coreutils 5.97-5.3 The GNU core utilities
ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.5.11etch2 Debian configuration management sy
ii module-init-tools 3.3-pre4-2 tools for managing Linux kernel mo
ii yaird [linux-initramfs-tool] 0.0.12-18 Yet Another mkInitRD
Versions of packages linux-image-2.6.18-6-686 recommends:
ii libc6-i686 2.3.6.ds1-13etch7 GNU C Library: Shared libraries [i
-- debconf information:
shared/kernel-image/really-run-bootloader: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/elilo-initrd-2.6.18-6-686: true
* linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/already-running-this-2.6.18-6-686:
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/postinst/depmod-error-2.6.18-6-686: false
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/initrd-2.6.18-6-686:
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/postinst/old-initrd-link-2.6.18-6-686: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/bootloader-initrd-2.6.18-6-686: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/abort-install-2.6.18-6-686:
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/lilo-has-ramdisk:
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/overwriting-modules-2.6.18-6-686: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/postinst/bootloader-error-2.6.18-6-686:
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/prerm/would-invalidate-boot-loader-2.6.18-6-686: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/postinst/bootloader-test-error-2.6.18-6-686:
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/postinst/create-kimage-link-2.6.18-6-686: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/postinst/depmod-error-initrd-2.6.18-6-686: false
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/lilo-initrd-2.6.18-6-686: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/postinst/old-dir-initrd-link-2.6.18-6-686: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/failed-to-move-modules-2.6.18-6-686:
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/preinst/abort-overwrite-2.6.18-6-686:
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/prerm/removing-running-kernel-2.6.18-6-686: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/postinst/old-system-map-link-2.6.18-6-686: true
linux-image-2.6.18-6-686/postinst/kimage-is-a-directory:
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