Public bug reported: When following the Install CD customization procedure (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization) I fail to get an installable image. Even with no changes in the CD tree, the created image fails to install. The same procedure worked before precise, I had success with natty and lucid. The installation stops at installing base-files and base-passwd (see attached image). If I go back to the installation menu and select Install the base system, then it succeds. Unfortunatelly, debootstrap.log gets deleted by this time, so I created a special debootstrap package with lots of debug messages. It turned out that both packages (base-files and base-passwd) got installed, but still, somehow the dpkg installing them failed. It turned out, that base-passwd has a postinstall script that - during system installation - populates /etc/passwd and /etc/group copying the files from /usr/share/base-passwd
if [ ! -e /etc/passwd ] ; then cp /usr/share/base-passwd/passwd.master /etc/passwd fi if [ ! -e /etc/group ] ; then cp /usr/share/base-passwd/group.master /etc/group fi On the other hand, base-files also has a postinstall script changes the owner of /var/lib/dpkg if [ ! -d /var/lib/dpkg ]; then mkdir -m 755 -p /var/lib/dpkg chown root:root /var/lib/dpkg fi In my log this shows as: + echo + chown: invalid user: `root:root' dpkg: error processing base-files (--install): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 dpkg: base-passwd: dependency problems, but configuring anyway as you requested: base-passwd depends on libc6 (>= 2.8); however: Package libc6 is not installed. Setting up base-passwd (3.5.24) ... install base-files which indicates that the /target/etc/passwd is not yet populated and chown cannot resolv root:root. For some unknown reason, the postinstall script of base-files runs BEFORE the postinstall script of base-passwd in my installation, altough it does no such thing in the standard precise installation. The code fragment that does this installation is: x_core_install base-files base-passwd (in a debootstrap script called precise - a link to a long unchanged script called gutsy) Modifying this script to have the two packages installed separatelly did the trick: x_core_install base-passwd x_core_install base-files Now, I can install my customized distro. I would like your opinion on what could have gone wrong about it: Why the standard Ubuntu precise installs flawlessly while my reconstructed distro doesn't? How is it, that the same procedure used to create a custom distro suddenly went wrong with no apparent change in the components? Ok, there might have been changes, but this area is very poorly documented so I had to trial and error to find out how things work (and I still might be wrong). ** Affects: debootstrap (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1001131 Title: debootstrap fails to install customized Ubuntu To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debootstrap/+bug/1001131/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs