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Maniphest T385

GRUB update reports local changes after fresh install
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Description

Steps to reproduce:

  • Install PureOS on Librem 15v3 using new ISO
  • Do not modify /etc/default/grub
  • apt update; apt upgrade
  • (Update needs to include a GRUB update)

What should happen:

  • GRUB (and other packages) update

What happens instead:

Seems to trigger dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc (or similar) and I am prompted to review changes as follows (the message states that this is because there have been local modifications, which I have not (knowingly) performed):

-GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR='PureOS'
+GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`

-GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y

I opted to keep the local version, and was asked where I wanted GRUB installed:

  • /dev/nvme0n1 (my boot drive)
  • /dev/nvme0n1p1 (marked /boot, I'm guessing a partition on the boot drive)
  • /dev/sda (second drive)
  • /dev/dm-0 (looks like an encrypted partition)

I picked /dev/nvme0n1 because this matches my memory of what I picked when installing. Reboot was successful.

My understanding is that this prompt should not have occurred, as I hadn't modified the grub file myself.

Event Timeline

d3vid created this task.Apr 13 2018, 03:28
d3vid renamed this task from GRUB reports local changes after fresh install to GRUB update reports local changes after fresh install.Apr 13 2018, 03:49
d3vid updated the task description. (Show Details)
mak added a comment.Apr 13 2018, 05:00

The config file change is harmless (I wonder why it's even shown), but the Debconf prompt should never have happened - this means the installer hasn't configured debconf for the GRUB package for some reason.

d3vid added a comment.Apr 13 2018, 06:13

Ok, so if the same changes ever pop up again I'll accept them (change GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR and drop GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK).

Running sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc manually prompts for:

  • "Linux command line" extracted from /etc/default/grub (left it blank)
  • "Linux parameters" for default menu option but not recovery mode (left it as quiet cryptdevice=...)
  • location to install GRUB (left it at /dev/nvme0n1)

and results in...

Installing for i386-pc platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
Generating grub configuration file ...
Warning: Setting GRUB_TIMEOUT to a non-zero value when GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is set is no longer supported.
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-2-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-2-amd64
Found memtest86+ image: /memtest86+.bin
Found memtest86+ multiboot image: /memtest86+_multiboot.bin
done

Not sure if this is helpful? In any case, feel free to adjust the priority as appropriate.

mak added a comment.EditedApr 13 2018, 07:26

The priority on this is fine, this is a high-priority bug. After getting the debconf prompt once though, you will never see it again.
As for the config file prompt, that is a thing we can ignore for now (it's a minor annoyance regular users won't even see because PackageKit will do the right thing. It's also very tricky to resolve, we likely need to incorporate some changes in the Grub package itself).

The debconf issue is a bug in Calamares, that I will either have to work around or address differently. Thanks for finding this issue though, it's a rare but important find that doesn't appear during regular testing (and only after testing for a longer period of time).

mak closed this task as Resolved.Apr 25 2018, 18:23

This should be addressed in the latest images, I am not sure though if the solution covers all cases (I could only do limited testing).
So, please reopen the issue in case this happens again!