Bug#475783: busybox: mounting loopback device fails in initrd (using live-initramfs)
Package: busybox
Version: 1:1.9.2-2
Severity: important
I'm using live-initramfs for booting my live-cd system (using kernel
2.6.23). My old setup with busybox 1:1.1.3-5 used to work fine.
Nowadays using busybox version 1:1.9.2-2 with different versions of
klibc-utils, initramfs-tools and live-initramfs fails at the stage
of mounting the loopback device (being a squashfs file behind).
I tested several different software versions in all possible
combinations (no setup changes except for the initrds).
The results:
Working
=======
ii busybox 1:1.1.3-5 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.91c tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.7-4 small statically-linked utilities built with klibc
ii live-initramfs 1.110.7-2~grml.03 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.1.3-5 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.91c tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.9-2 small utilities built with klibc for early boot
ii live-initramfs 1.110.7-2~grml.03 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.1.3-5 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.92 tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.9-2 small utilities built with klibc for early boot
ii live-initramfs 1.110.7-2~grml.03 Debian Live initramfs hook
Impossible combinations
=======================
JFTR: All available combinations of initramfs-tools 0.92 with
klibc-utils 1.5.7-4 (being 4 possible variants) can't be tested
because initramfs-tools 0.92 depends on klibc-utils (>= 1.5.9-1).
Broken
======
ii busybox 1:1.1.3-5 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.92 tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.9-2 small utilities built with klibc for early boot
ii live-initramfs 1.128.1-1 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.1.3-5 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.91c tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.9-2 small utilities built with klibc for early boot
ii live-initramfs 1.128.1-1 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.1.3-5 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.91c tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.7-4 small statically-linked utilities built with klibc
ii live-initramfs 1.128.1-1 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.9.2-2 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.92 tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.9-2 small utilities built with klibc for early boot
ii live-initramfs 1.110.7-2~grml.03 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.9.2-2 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.92 tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.9-2 small utilities built with klibc for early boot
ii live-initramfs 1.128.1-1 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.9.2-2 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.91c tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.7-4 small statically-linked utilities built with klibc
ii live-initramfs 1.110.7-2~grml.03 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.9.2-2 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.91c tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.7-4 small statically-linked utilities built with klibc
ii live-initramfs 1.128.1-1 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.9.2-2 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.91c tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.9-2 small utilities built with klibc for early boot
ii live-initramfs 1.110.7-2~grml.03 Debian Live initramfs hook
ii busybox 1:1.9.2-2 Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems
ii initramfs-tools 0.91c tools for generating an initramfs
ii klibc-utils 1.5.9-2 small utilities built with klibc for early boot
ii live-initramfs 1.128.1-1 Debian Live initramfs hook
JFTR: live-initramfs 1.110.7-2~grml.03 is corresponding with the
original Debian version live-initramfs 1.110.7-1 except for 3
minimal patches which don't affect the relevant code at all.
See http://hg.grml.org/live-initramfs-grml/file/14e9cddbeb4a/debian/patches/
as reference.
Conclusion: it only works when using the old busybox version *and*
the old live-initramfs version. The klibc-utils and initramfs-tools
versions don't seem to matter. As soon as I *either* upgrade busybox
*or* live-initramfs then booting fails.
I'm not yet sure why using the most recent software versions doesn't
work - because according to Daniel "panthera" Baumann it *should* be
working fine. Could this really be a kernel issue - why does it work
with older busybox and live-initramfs versions then?
Please let me know if you need any further information or if you
have any further ideas what I could do to track down this issue.
I didn't check the code changes in busybox and live-initramfs yet,
so maybe someone of you has an idea what might have caused that
breakage.
regards,
-mika-
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