--- Begin Message ---
- To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>
- Subject: initramfs-tools: incorrectly tries to use external disk as root FS instead of internal disk
- From: Laurent Bonnaud <Laurent.Bonnaud@inpg.fr>
- Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:45:49 +0100
- Message-id: <20061110164549.21993.92903.reportbug@irancy.lis.inpg.fr>
Package: initramfs-tools
Version: 0.85a
Severity: important
Hi,
this system usually boots from an internal SATA disk (/dev/sda). I
recently added an external IEEE1394 disk and when I tried to reboot
the system, it failed. /dev/sda had become the external disk and the
internal disk had become /dev/sdb therefore the initramfs did not find
the correct root FS.
I could change grub and the fstab to use /dev/sdb instead of /dev/sda,
but I do not want to because I would like to be able to boot my system
even if the external disk is unplugged.
I could boot my system with the external disk unplugged and plug it
later, but this would not allow me to perform remote reboots.
Ubuntu solves this problem by using root=UUID=<something> instead of
root=/dev/<something> on the kernel command line.
A simpler fix would be to change the loading order of kernel modules.
According to the list below, the 1394 modules are loaded before the
sata modules. This order could probably be reversed without harming
anybody.
I have another system (amd64 architecture) with an external IEEE1394
disk and I have no problem because curiously the modules are loaded in
a different order:
$ lsmod
[...]
sbp2 28680 1
sd_mod 25856 6
usbhid 45088 0
via82cxxx 13444 0 [permanent]
ohci1394 38216 1
ieee1394 361976 3 eth1394,sbp2,ohci1394
sata_promise 18052 0
skge 43536 0
sata_via 16004 2
libata 106784 2 sata_promise,sata_via
scsi_mod 152880 4 sr_mod,sbp2,sd_mod,libata
generic 10756 0 [permanent]
ide_core 147584 5 ide_generic,ide_cd,ide_disk,via82cxxx,generic
uhci_hcd 28432 0
ehci_hcd 36104 0
thermal 20240 0
processor 38248 2 powernow_k8,thermal
fan 9864 0
Do you know why ? This other system boots on /dev/md0, which avoids
the problem altogether.
I did not flag this bug as "grave" because there is a simple
work-around (unplug the external disk), but an unbootable system at
least deserves to be "important".
-- Package-specific info:
-- /proc/cmdline
root=/dev/sda1 ro
-- /proc/filesystems
cramfs
ext3
-- lsmod
Module Size Used by
sbp2 20840 1
radeon 99744 2
drm 61332 3 radeon
binfmt_misc 10984 1
acpi_cpufreq 7108 0
speedstep_lib 4580 0
freq_table 4576 1 acpi_cpufreq
rfcomm 34616 0
l2cap 21696 5 rfcomm
bluetooth 45732 4 rfcomm,l2cap
ipt_ULOG 7780 1
nfsd 197840 17
exportfs 5600 1 nfsd
xt_tcpudp 3136 1
autofs4 19748 0
button 6672 0
ac 5188 0
battery 9636 0
iptable_filter 3104 1
ip_tables 12964 1 iptable_filter
x_tables 13316 3 ipt_ULOG,xt_tcpudp,ip_tables
ipv6 226016 62
nfs 202828 12
lockd 54344 3 nfsd,nfs
nfs_acl 3584 2 nfsd,nfs
sunrpc 138780 13 nfsd,nfs,lockd,nfs_acl
deflate 3840 0
zlib_deflate 18200 1 deflate
twofish 43136 0
serpent 19008 0
aes 28160 0
blowfish 9440 0
des 17536 0
sha256 11104 0
sha1 2656 0
crypto_null 2656 0
af_key 32016 2
ide_generic 1408 0 [permanent]
snd_intel8x0 30332 2
snd_ac97_codec 83104 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_ac97_bus 2400 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss 38368 0
snd_pcm 68676 3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_mixer_oss 15200 3 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 3844 0
snd_seq_oss 28768 0
snd_seq_midi 8192 0
snd_rawmidi 22560 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 7008 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 45680 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 20996 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 7820 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
intel_agp 21148 0
agpgart 29896 2 drm,intel_agp
i82875p_edac 6276 0
serio_raw 6660 0
eth1394 18212 0
tsdev 7520 0
evdev 9088 1
edac_mc 20624 1 i82875p_edac
snd 47012 10 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore 9248 3 snd
psmouse 35016 0
i2c_i801 7404 0
pcspkr 3072 0
i2c_core 19680 1 i2c_i801
rtc 12372 0
shpchp 33024 0
pci_hotplug 28704 1 shpchp
floppy 53156 0
snd_page_alloc 9640 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
ext3 119048 2
jbd 52456 1 ext3
mbcache 8356 1 ext3
dm_mirror 19152 0
dm_snapshot 15520 0
dm_mod 50232 2 dm_mirror,dm_snapshot
sd_mod 19040 4
ide_cd 36064 0
cdrom 32544 1 ide_cd
usbhid 37152 0
ata_piix 13576 2
piix 9444 0 [permanent]
libata 89332 1 ata_piix
scsi_mod 124168 3 sbp2,sd_mod,libata
uhci_hcd 21032 0
ehci_hcd 28136 0
usbcore 112676 4 usbhid,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
generic 5028 0 [permanent]
ide_core 110504 4 ide_generic,ide_cd,piix,generic
e1000 108288 0
ohci1394 30800 1
ieee1394 86904 3 sbp2,eth1394,ohci1394
thermal 13608 0
processor 28840 2 acpi_cpufreq,thermal
fan 4804 0
-- kernel-img.conf
do_symlinks = no
relative_links = yes
do_bootloader = no
do_bootfloppy = no
do_initrd = yes
link_in_boot = no
postinst_hook = /usr/sbin/update-grub
postrm_hook = /usr/sbin/update-grub
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (100, 'unstable'), (99, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-2-686
Locale: LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Versions of packages initramfs-tools depends on:
ii busybox 1:1.1.3-3 Tiny utilities for small and embed
ii cpio 2.6-17 GNU cpio -- a program to manage ar
ii klibc-utils 1.4.30-1 small statically-linked utilities
ii module-init-tools 3.2.2-3 tools for managing Linux kernel mo
ii udev 0.100-2.2 /dev/ and hotplug management daemo
initramfs-tools recommends no packages.
-- no debconf information
--- End Message ---