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Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs

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  Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Tyler Riddle <cardboardaardvark@gmail.com> - 2025-04-10 22:30 +0200
    Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Nicholas D Steeves <sten@debian.org> - 2025-04-11 03:30 +0200
      Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Cyril Brulebois <kibi@debian.org> - 2025-04-11 06:30 +0200
        Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2025-04-21 18:50 +0200
          Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Cyril Brulebois <kibi@debian.org> - 2025-04-21 20:00 +0200
            Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Tyler Riddle <cardboardaardvark@gmail.com> - 2025-04-21 20:10 +0200
            Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2025-04-21 21:10 +0200
          Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Holger Wansing <hwansing@mailbox.org> - 2025-04-21 21:10 +0200
            Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Cyril Brulebois <kibi@debian.org> - 2025-04-22 12:30 +0200
              Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Tyler Riddle <cardboardaardvark@gmail.com> - 2025-04-22 19:40 +0200
                Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Nicholas D Steeves <sten@debian.org> - 2025-04-22 22:00 +0200
            Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Nicholas D Steeves <sten@debian.org> - 2025-04-22 23:00 +0200
      Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2025-04-17 13:00 +0200
        Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Nicholas D Steeves <sten@debian.org> - 2025-04-18 03:50 +0200
          Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2025-04-18 17:50 +0200
            Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Nicholas D Steeves <sten@debian.org> - 2025-04-23 00:00 +0200
      Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Tyler Riddle <cardboardaardvark@gmail.com> - 2025-04-18 01:30 +0200
        Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2025-04-18 15:50 +0200
          Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Tyler Riddle <cardboardaardvark@gmail.com> - 2025-04-18 20:40 +0200
    Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> - 2025-04-19 14:30 +0200
    Bug#1102604: debian-installer: Rescue mode can not execute shell when root filesystem is btrfs Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> - 2025-04-23 07:40 +0200
      Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Nicholas D Steeves <sten@debian.org> - 2025-05-10 19:10 +0200
        Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> - 2025-05-10 19:30 +0200
          Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Nicholas D Steeves <sten@debian.org> - 2025-05-10 23:00 +0200
          Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Cyril Brulebois <kibi@debian.org> - 2025-05-11 02:00 +0200
            Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> - 2025-05-12 08:10 +0200
              Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Cyril Brulebois <kibi@debian.org> - 2025-05-12 19:00 +0200
              Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2025-05-12 19:40 +0200
              Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Nicholas D Steeves <sten@debian.org> - 2025-05-13 22:30 +0200
    Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Cyril Brulebois <kibi@debian.org> - 2025-05-13 14:50 +0200
    Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2025-05-21 12:50 +0200
    Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2025-05-21 13:30 +0200
    Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2025-05-29 12:20 +0200
    Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2025-05-29 12:20 +0200

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#1243234

On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 12:20:22 +0200 Cyril Brulebois <kibi@debian.org> wrote:
> Holger Wansing <hwansing@mailbox.org> (2025-04-21):
> > The latter would be at least consistent with the behaviour of rescue
> > mode for "usual filesystems" (presenting the user a list of
> > possibilities, which partition to mount as root filesystem).
> >
> > Would it be possible, to ask the user for input, if the automatic
> > tries mentioned in [1] above all fail?
>
> Possible yes, desirable unsure.
>
> Others might disagree, but I consider d-i's rescue mode a possibly helpful
> tool to unstuck a system that was created via d-i (e.g. some packages
> broke badly, all initramfses are corrupted, the system no longer boots,
> rescue mode makes it possible to detect+mount things, deploy a fix, a
> revert, a workaround, yay), and absolutely not a general purpose sysadmin
> tool (grml and friends would be equipped much better for such things).

Yet it notoriously fails at doing even just that: d-i creates brtfs
filesystems with a default @rootfs subvolume, but the rescue mode
currently doesn't attempt to mount the same volume if a btrfs
partition is found.

Martin-Éric

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#1245514 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

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Control: retitle -1 rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

For anyone who missed https://bugs.debian.org/1103476, rescue-mode
finally supports the default installation.  I assume that the daily
builds of debian-installer have picked up the fixed version by now.

Cheers,
Nicholas

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#1245518 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

la 10.5.2025 klo 20.06 Nicholas D Steeves (sten@debian.org) kirjoitti:
> For anyone who missed https://bugs.debian.org/1103476, rescue-mode
> finally supports the default installation.  I assume that the daily
> builds of debian-installer have picked up the fixed version by now.

Thanks for the info.

Could this updated rescue be backported to Bookworm? It happens to be
the last Debian release that ships d-i for i386.

Thanks!
Martin-Éric

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#1245538 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

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Hello Martin-Éric,

Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> writes:

> la 10.5.2025 klo 20.06 Nicholas D Steeves (sten@debian.org) kirjoitti:
>> For anyone who missed https://bugs.debian.org/1103476, rescue-mode
>> finally supports the default installation.  I assume that the daily
>> builds of debian-installer have picked up the fixed version by now.
>
> Thanks for the info.

You're welcome!

> Could this updated rescue be backported to Bookworm? It happens to be
> the last Debian release that ships d-i for i386.

I'm not sure what the policy is for bookworm at this point, but this has
been a desired basic feature for many years, so I'm optimistic about it,
in time :)

Have you familiarised yourself with some of the emerging pitfalls for
32bit systems?  I'm only aware of https://bugs.debian.org/1032967 and I
wonder if someone has taken the time to gather them together into one
place?  It seems like a good fit for the upstream wiki, or for ours, if
they refuse.

Regards,
Nicholas

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#1245553 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

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Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> (2025-05-10):
> la 10.5.2025 klo 20.06 Nicholas D Steeves (sten@debian.org) kirjoitti:
> > For anyone who missed https://bugs.debian.org/1103476, rescue-mode
> > finally supports the default installation.  I assume that the daily
> > builds of debian-installer have picked up the fixed version by now.
> 
> Thanks for the info.
> 
> Could this updated rescue be backported to Bookworm? It happens to be
> the last Debian release that ships d-i for i386.

Mayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyybe.

Definitely not for the upcoming point release. Please send a reminder if
and when you notice a date has been picked up for the next one.


Cheers,
-- 
Cyril Brulebois (kibi@debian.org)            <https://debamax.com/>
D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

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#1245662 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

su 11.5.2025 klo 2.53 Cyril Brulebois (kibi@debian.org) kirjoitti:
>
> Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> (2025-05-10):
> > la 10.5.2025 klo 20.06 Nicholas D Steeves (sten@debian.org) kirjoitti:
> > > For anyone who missed https://bugs.debian.org/1103476, rescue-mode
> > > finally supports the default installation.  I assume that the daily
> > > builds of debian-installer have picked up the fixed version by now.
> >
> > Thanks for the info.
> >
> > Could this updated rescue be backported to Bookworm? It happens to be
> > the last Debian release that ships d-i for i386.
>
> Mayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyybe.
>
> Definitely not for the upcoming point release.

Why not?

Btw, there's another compelling reason for backporting this: The
GRUB-EFI version that ships with Trixie currently barfs on common ASUS
motherboards. This makes Bookworm d-i the only usable way to rescue
those EFI hosts but, without that resuce mode backport, it requires a
lot of manual typing of mount commands just to get around the
subvolume issue.

Martin-Éric

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#1245728 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

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Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> (2025-05-12):
> Why not?

I suggest you familiarize yourself with very long-lived standard
practices regarding point releases instead of demanding immediate
actions, instead of antagonizing people who said they might deal with
your request.


Cheers,
-- 
Cyril Brulebois (kibi@debian.org)            <https://debamax.com/>
D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

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#1245734 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

On 12/05/2025 at 08:03, Martin-Éric Racine wrote:
> su 11.5.2025 klo 2.53 Cyril Brulebois (kibi@debian.org) kirjoitti:
>>
>> Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> (2025-05-10):
>>>
>>> Could this updated rescue be backported to Bookworm? It happens to be
>>> the last Debian release that ships d-i for i386.
>>
>> Mayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyybe.
>>
>> Definitely not for the upcoming point release.
> 
> Why not?

One reason might be that the point release is scheduled for Saturday.
<https://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2025/05/msg00032.html>

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#1246334 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

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Hello Martin-Éric,

First off, when I wrote "this has been a desired basic feature for many
years, so I'm optimistic about it, in time" I didn't realise that the
"in time" bit would be ignored.  "In time" means "not right now", and
I'm surprised that "I'm optimistic" was interpreted as "push harder and
you'll get what you want".  To be explicit, what I meant is: Not now.
I'm optimistic that we can get this later, but really, not now.

Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> writes:

> Why not?

In addition to what others have explained:

Unless it's security-related, stable updates are minimal, and always
occur after testing updates.  Consequently, there needs to be a trixie
D-I and rescue-mode first.  Maybe that will be alpha2, maybe that will
be the cycle after.  Bookworm D-I and rescue-mode changes can maybe
happen after that, and that's when you were asked to ping us.  In other
words: not now.

> Btw, there's another compelling reason for backporting this: The
> GRUB-EFI version that ships with Trixie currently barfs on common ASUS
> motherboards. This makes Bookworm d-i the only usable way to rescue
> those EFI hosts but, without that resuce mode backport, it requires a
> lot of manual typing of mount commands just to get around the
> subvolume issue.

I hope you will consider reanalysing your conclusion vis à vis the facts
you presented:

Given

 1. A trixie (testing) issue at what sounds like RC severity that makes
 the default installation unusable for a number of popular systems (ASUS
 motherboards) that has no workaround in trixie.
 2. A bookworm bug of normal severity for a non-default installation
 that has a workaround in bookworm, but that is inconvenient.

Do you really think that an inconvenience is more significant than what
you've presented as a release critical bug that affects the default
installation?


Kind regards,
Nicholas

P.S. For the record, I'm Debian's btrfs-progs maintainer, I believe in
btrfs and want to see it succeed, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience in
bookworm's rescue-mode.

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#1245813 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

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Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> (2025-05-13):
> Could this be at least queued in for the next one?

No, it wouldn't make any sense:
 - Because it wouldn't meet the bare minimum of p-u requirements.
 - Because the release team has better things to do at the moment.
 - Because the d-i release manager told you what your next step
   would be, in <20250510235255.oeyioolsi3iteopi@mraw.org>.

Again, you're being a pain to people you're demanding stuff from.

This is very much counterproductive. It's become quite obvious how a
flat “no” to the mere idea of that backport would have been much easier,
and I'm sure people will remember next time you “ask” for something.


-- 
Cyril Brulebois (kibi@debian.org)            <https://debamax.com/>
D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

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#1247302 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

On 18/05/2025 at 13:51, Martin-Éric Racine wrote:
> 
> I just tested DI Trixie RC1. Starting from this release, it apparently
> uses something else than GRUB-EFI to boot into EFI mode, and this
> successfully got me into the rescue mode.

AFAIK, Trixie D-I RC1 ISO images still use GRUB for EFI boot. The 
embedded EFI partition only contains shim and grub. What makes you say 
that something else is used ? Another boot menu than GRUB's UEFI 
Installer menu is displayed ?

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#1247307 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

On 21/05/2025 at 12:33, Martin-Éric Racine wrote:
> 
> The EFI menu in RC1 indeed doesn't look like a typical GRUB menu
> anymore (it looks like an isolinux menu with fancy fonts), and it
> succesfully boots me into the rescue mode.

Here it looks very much like the usual GRUB menu with the new background 
picture for Trixie. Can you please attach a screenshot (resized to less 
than 400kB) or upload it to a pastebin and post the URL ?

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#1248247 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

On Thu, May 29, 2025 at 12:54:13PM +0300, Martin-Éric Racine wrote:
>to 29.5.2025 klo 12.28 Steve McIntyre (steve@einval.com) kirjoitti:
>>
>> The same background image (the Trixie artwork) is used by both GRUB
>> and isolinux on the installer images.
>
>I don't mean the background image. I mean the layout. Previous DI had
>an obvious GRUB menu in UEFI mode. This one looks like an ISOLINUX
>boot screen at first glance.

Nod. I added grub theming to remove the typical grub style way back in
2012, and then included the "UEFI installer menu" text so we can tell
whether we're in BIOS (isolinux) or UEFI (GRUB) easily.

>> Checking back in the history of this bug, I should respond for
>> clarity. We *always* use GRUB for UEFI boot in d-i on x86
>> machines. That has been a constant since very early on in the Jessie
>> release cycle.
>>
>> >whereas the same GRUB on disk doesn't (but systemd-boot does).
>>
>> which suggests there is a config issue or similar causing problems there.
>>
>> How exactly do things fail for you on the installed system please? If
>> you haven't done so already, please open a new bug with all the
>> details.
>
>See #1102160.

ACK, thanks. I'll take a look at that shortly.

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve@einval.com
'There is some grim amusement in watching Pence try to run the typical
 "politician in the middle of a natural disaster" playbook, however
 incompetently, while Trump scribbles all over it in crayon and eats some
 of the pages.'   -- Russ Allbery

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#1248248 — Bug#1102604: rescue-mode: Provide rootfs subvolume selection menu

Hi Martin-Eric,

On Thu, May 29, 2025 at 11:32:02AM +0300, Martin-Éric Racine wrote:
>ke 21.5.2025 klo 14.20 Pascal Hambourg (pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org) kirjoitti:
>>
>> On 21/05/2025 at 12:33, Martin-Éric Racine wrote:
>> >
>> > The EFI menu in RC1 indeed doesn't look like a typical GRUB menu
>> > anymore (it looks like an isolinux menu with fancy fonts), and it
>> > succesfully boots me into the rescue mode.
>>
>> Here it looks very much like the usual GRUB menu with the new background
>> picture for Trixie. Can you please attach a screenshot (resized to less
>> than 400kB) or upload it to a pastebin and post the URL ?
>
>Hmm. OK, it does say "c GRUB command line" at the bottom, but the
>screen content looks like isolinux, and it boots me into UEFI just
>fine

The same background image (the Trixie artwork) is used by both GRUB
and isolinux on the installer images.

Checking back in the history of this bug, I should respond for
clarity. We *always* use GRUB for UEFI boot in d-i on x86
machines. That has been a constant since very early on in the Jessie
release cycle.

>whereas the same GRUB on disk doesn't (but systemd-boot does).

which suggests there is a config issue or similar causing problems there.

How exactly do things fail for you on the installed system please? If
you haven't done so already, please open a new bug with all the
details.

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve@einval.com
"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."
   -- Bertrand Russell

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