Bug#785526: firmware-linux-nonfree: initramfs trigger only rebuilds initdisk of latest kernel

[Ben Hutchings]

On Sun, 17 May 2015 16:02:08 +0200 Ralf Jung  wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> >> when the package firmware-linux-nonfree is installed, it triggers the hook 
> >> of the initramdisk
> >> package. I conclude that some firmware may be needed by the initramfs 
> >> (which makes sense to me),
> >> and hence it is important to keep the initramfs up-to-date as firmware is 
> >> updated.
> >>
> >> However, only the initramdisk of the latest installed kernel is actually 
> >> rebuilt:
> > [...]
> > 
> > This is controlled by initramfs-tools and it is intentional.  I don't
> > know what the reasoning is, though.
> 
> Interesting, and thanks for reassining.
> In my case, of course, this is all but helpful - I do have a bunch of
> vanilla upstream kernels installed from some recent regression test,
> including some which are way newer than the current Debian kernel (hence
> the weird version number). I am however actually using the latest Debian
> kernel. (I don't reboot that often, but when I do, I simply pick the
> right kernel manually.) Hence the hook doesn't even bother to update the
> initramfs for the kernel I am actually using.

update-initramfs.conf(5) documents how to change this behaviour.

I will consider changing the default, but this would have to be done
only if we also create backups by default.

Ben.
 
-- 
Ben Hutchings
Quantity is no substitute for quality, but it's the only one we've got.

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Bug#785526: firmware-linux-nonfree: initramfs trigger only rebuilds initdisk of latest kernel

[Ralf Jung]

Package: firmware-linux-nonfree
Version: 0.44
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

when the package firmware-linux-nonfree is installed, it triggers the hook of 
the initramdisk
package. I conclude that some firmware may be needed by the initramfs (which 
makes sense to me),
and hence it is important to keep the initramfs up-to-date as firmware is 
updated.

However, only the initramdisk of the latest installed kernel is actually 
rebuilt:

$ sudo aptitude reinstall firmware-linux-nonfree
The following packages will be REINSTALLED:
  firmware-linux-nonfree 
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not 
upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1,616 kB of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used.
(Reading database ... 435647 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../firmware-linux-nonfree_0.44_all.deb ...
Unpacking firmware-linux-nonfree (0.44) over (0.44) ...
Setting up firmware-linux-nonfree (0.44) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.120) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.1.0-rc2+xhci+

For now I manually called update-initramfs -k all -u to make sure all kernels
boot with the latest firmware. That's obviously not a long-term solution. I am
not entirely sure what's going on, but I only see two alternatives:

* It doesn't matter that other kernels still use old firmware. But then, why
  is one kernel's initramfs updated? In this case, the trigger should probably
  not be triggered anymore.
* It *does* matter that all krnels get the latest firmware. In this case, the 
bug
  is probably in the initramfs-package, as the trigger should really re-build 
all
  the firmwares.

Of coruse, I may also be entirely misunderstanding things here - if that's the 
case,
feel free to just close this report.

Kind regards,
Ralf

-- System Information:
Debian Release: stretch/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (100, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_DE.utf8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

firmware-linux-nonfree depends on no packages.

firmware-linux-nonfree recommends no packages.

Versions of packages firmware-linux-nonfree suggests:
ii  initramfs-tools  0.120

-- no debconf information


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Processed: Re: Bug#785526: firmware-linux-nonfree: initramfs trigger only rebuilds initdisk of latest kernel

[Debian Bug Tracking System]

Processing control commands:

 reassign -1 initramfs-tools
Bug #785526 [firmware-linux-nonfree] firmware-linux-nonfree: initramfs trigger 
only rebuilds initdisk of latest kernel
Bug reassigned from package 'firmware-linux-nonfree' to 'initramfs-tools'.
No longer marked as found in versions firmware-nonfree/0.44.
Ignoring request to alter fixed versions of bug #785526 to the same values 
previously set

-- 
785526: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=785526
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact ow...@bugs.debian.org with problems


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Bug#785526: firmware-linux-nonfree: initramfs trigger only rebuilds initdisk of latest kernel

[Ben Hutchings]

Control: reassign -1 initramfs-tools

On Sun, 2015-05-17 at 14:50 +0200, Ralf Jung wrote:
 Package: firmware-linux-nonfree
 Version: 0.44
 Severity: normal
 
 Dear Maintainer,
 
 when the package firmware-linux-nonfree is installed, it triggers the hook of 
 the initramdisk
 package. I conclude that some firmware may be needed by the initramfs (which 
 makes sense to me),
 and hence it is important to keep the initramfs up-to-date as firmware is 
 updated.
 
 However, only the initramdisk of the latest installed kernel is actually 
 rebuilt:
[...]

This is controlled by initramfs-tools and it is intentional.  I don't
know what the reasoning is, though.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
compatible: Gracefully accepts erroneous data from any source


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Bug#785526: firmware-linux-nonfree: initramfs trigger only rebuilds initdisk of latest kernel

[Ralf Jung]

Hi,

 when the package firmware-linux-nonfree is installed, it triggers the hook 
 of the initramdisk
 package. I conclude that some firmware may be needed by the initramfs (which 
 makes sense to me),
 and hence it is important to keep the initramfs up-to-date as firmware is 
 updated.

 However, only the initramdisk of the latest installed kernel is actually 
 rebuilt:
 [...]
 
 This is controlled by initramfs-tools and it is intentional.  I don't
 know what the reasoning is, though.

Interesting, and thanks for reassining.
In my case, of course, this is all but helpful - I do have a bunch of
vanilla upstream kernels installed from some recent regression test,
including some which are way newer than the current Debian kernel (hence
the weird version number). I am however actually using the latest Debian
kernel. (I don't reboot that often, but when I do, I simply pick the
right kernel manually.) Hence the hook doesn't even bother to update the
initramfs for the kernel I am actually using.

Kind regards.
Ralf


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