Public bug reported: After running 'update-initramfs -u -k $(uname -r)', Linux will not boot. With 'quiet splash' set in grub, it appears to freeze after the 'Loading ramdisk...' message, and if booted in recovery mode, I see the following kernel panic:
Freeing unused kernel memory: 948k Freeing unused kernel memory: 104K x86/mm: Chcked W+X mappings: passed, no W+X pages found. Failed to execute /init (error -2) Kernel panic - not syncing: No working init found. Try passing init= optin to kernel. See Linux Documentation/admin-guide/init.rst for guidance. CPU: 6 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 4.13.0-16-generic #19-Ubuntu Hardware name: Dell Inc. OptiPlex 990/0D6H9T, BIOS A07 09/10/2011 Call Trace: dump_stack+0x63/0x8b ? rest_init+0xb0/0xc0 panic+0xe4/0x23d ? putname+0x4b/0x50 ? rest_init+0xc0/0xc0 kernel_init+0xeb/0xfc ret_from_fork0x25/0x30 Kernel Offset: 0x1fc00000 from 0xffffffff8a000000 (relocation range: 0xffffffff80000000-0xffffffffbfffffff) ---[ end Kernel panic - no syncing: No working init found. Try passing init= option to kernel. See Linux Documentation/admin-guide/init.rst for guidance. (full screenshot at https://photos.app.goo.gl/XLNKOM3cDNHsfyFt2). Examining the initrd files, here is a good one, as installed by the Ubuntu 17.10 installer: # file /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic: ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with no CRC) # ls -la /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 50764087 Nov 3 21:02 /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic and here is the file after 'update-initramfs -u -k 4.13.0-16-generic': # file /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic: gzip compressed data, last modified: Thu Nov 2 10:51:42 2017, from Unix root@jturner-home:/boot# ls -la /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 50895514 Nov 3 21:01 /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic Good and bad initrds can be downloaded from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1reMWj1TohrQ4K5EbBMJPhw4xXUdBi0K9?usp=sharing After downloading initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic-broken, the panic can be replicated in qemu with: kvm -m 1G -kernel /boot/vmlinuz-4.13.0-16-generic -initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.13.0-16-generic-broken (tip obtained from https://lists.debian.org/debian- kernel/2016/02/msg00323.html) I've experienced this problem with Ubuntu 17.04 and 17.10 on two separate PCs (both Dell OptiPlex 990s). Ubuntu boots fine initially, until one day I update the kernel or something, and a .deb postinst script calls update-initramfs and trashes that kernel's initrd file. If I run 'update-initramfs -u -k all', all my old initrd files are toast. The "good" initrd format "ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with no CRC)" is strange. I'm not getting many google hits on it. None of my other Ubuntu/Debian servers use that format in their initrds. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10 Package: initramfs-tools 0.125ubuntu12 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-16.19-generic 4.13.4 Uname: Linux 4.13.0-16-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.1 Architecture: amd64 Date: Fri Nov 3 21:33:12 2017 InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-08-05 (90 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release amd64 (20170412) PackageArchitecture: all SourcePackage: initramfs-tools UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to artful on 2017-10-24 (10 days ago) ** Affects: initramfs-tools (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Tags: amd64 apport-bug artful -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1729836 Title: update-initramfs generating unbootable initrd files To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/initramfs-tools/+bug/1729836/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
