[Bug 1059827] Re: Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

[Phillip Susi]

That's the problem; the partition starts at sector 63 so that doesn't
leave enough room for grub and the btrfs module.
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Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[Alberto Jovito]

Ok I reinstall, format the root / partition with the ext4 file system.
If you still have not found the solution, the installer should warn
about.this. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub-
installer/+bug/1270729
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Title:
Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[D3m0n1q_733rz]

There is no need to reformat with Ext4. If you wish to use BtrFS for the Boot partition, it's recommended. Just tell the partitioner to start at the 1MB boundary instead of the first sector. To reiterate, you need an empty 1MB at the beginning of your drive to write to. I would call this an error with the partitioner/Ubuntu Installer instead of Grub2.
To do this properly, start GParted and format it using this method.
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Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[Phillip Susi]

It's not an error with the partitioner or installer since it does start
the partition at 1 MiB. The problem is when you have an old disk that
you partitioned with say, Windows XP, which started the partition at
sector 63.
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Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[Alberto Jovito]

The installer should detect that the partition starts at sector 63 and
display a warning.

My netbook comes with Windows 7 preinstalled.
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[D3m0n1q_733rz]

Actually, Phillip, BtrFS requires 2MB for a Grub2 installation. So, while you are correct that it does start at 1MB, the partitioner does have an error in not including that the rules for BtrFS are different. The normal 1MB is a part of the normal MBR rules. Since Grub2 requires some extra installation space for the BtrFS partition information, GParted should warn when BtrFS is used and a partition is started less than 2MB from the beginning of the drive. For everything else, 1MB works fine.
So, this would be a problem with the partitioner not realizing the rules are different and the installer not seeing that the partitioner made a mistake and that Grub2 can not be properly installed inside of the 1MB space for a BtrFS partition.

Ext4 and other partitions that are not BtrFS have no problem with the
1MB start point.
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Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[Phillip Susi]

No, it doesn't need anywhere near 1, let alone 2 MB. It is something
like 45k.
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[D3m0n1q_733rz]

Sorry, I was talking about an MBR system, not a UEFI. Core.img is too
large to fit into the first 64 sectors (starting from 0). And, so, the
next best place to start would be the 127 - 128 boundary. Also known as
the 2MB boundary.
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[Phillip Susi]

You're not making sense. 2 MB is 4096 sectors. The default start
location for the last several years has been sector 2048, or 1 MB, which
leaves plenty of room for the core to fit.
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[Alberto Jovito]

I think the installer should be added to this bug. What is the name of
the package that will install ubuntu? Or partition tool?

I do not know well the technical details of the problem but I agree with
"cryo-rebirth" .. the installer or partitioner should warn when a
partition BtrFS is used and is started partition at sector 63.

Sorry for my bad english...

** Also affects: grub
Importance: Undecided
Status: New

** Project changed: grub => installation-report
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Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

** Changed in: installation-report (Ubuntu)
Status: New => Confirmed
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[Alberto Jovito]

** Project changed: installation-report => installation-report (Ubuntu)
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[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

** Changed in: installation-report (Ubuntu)
Status: New => Confirmed
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[Alberto Jovito]

** Also affects: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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[Alberto Jovito]

** No longer affects: installation-report (Ubuntu)
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[D3m0n1q_733rz]

Sorry, I did get a little confused over the sectors thing. The 63rd LBA sector is the starting point for the 0MB boundary of partitions usually. I wasn't thinking straight. I'm used to using the MB settings for partitioning instead. Anyhow, the normal Grub2 install for any partition that's not BtrFS can fit into the MBR area with no problem normally. However, a larger area is required if you're going to use a BtrFS partition since the data on how to read such a partition in Grub2 makes the boot program a bit larger than the MBR size. Recall that I said Core.img is particularly large. I'll have to check on my installation to see where I had to start it at later. But it is a problem that should be addressed or at least warned about in the installation.
As for the installation report, it should mention that Grub2 failed to install properly and should return to the partitioning step to address the issue. Highlighting the issue may also be beneficial to users. However, with newer hard drives, they utilize 4K sector sizes to increase capacity. This should be taken into account in case the 512b emulation ceases. It's known as Advanced Format and can be a pain in the rear if you're not already familiar with it. This will make 256 sectors equal to 1 MB instead.
Anyhow, I'll be sure to check on how I've managed to install BtrFS and where my partitions start and end so that I can toss together a sort of guideline for failsafes.
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Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[Phillip Susi]

** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
Status: New => Triaged

** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided => Wishlist
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[Chris Bainbridge]

I hit this bug in a different way with 14.04:

Use fdisk to create a new mbr and single partition on a USB-connected drive
mkfs.btrfs the partition
Run installer and select the partition as root, and drive device as grub target

After grub fails the installer exits. fdisk reports the partition starts
at 2048. gdisk reports that the drive has a valid MBR and valid GPT main
header but corrupt GPT backup. At no point did I format the drive as GPT
- I wonder if ubiquity automatically adds a GPT header causing the
subsequent grub install with btrfs to fail?
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Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[Phillip Susi]

Your issue is unrelated to this bug Chris. You must have used GPT on
the disk in the past, and used fdisk to write a new MBR, leaving parts
of the GPT behind.
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Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[Ubuntu QA Website]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1059827

** Tags added: iso-testing
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[amadeus]

** Changed in: grub2 (Ubuntu)
Status: Triaged => Fix Released
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[Phillip Susi]

Please don't mark bugs as fixed unless you actually fixed it.


** Changed in: grub2 (Ubuntu)
Status: Fix Released => Triaged
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Non trivial grub2 installs no longer fit in small embed areas

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[Javier Segura]

I finally upgraded my 12.04LTS server to 14.04LTS last week, and I
really regret having done this. I am suprised this bug is considered as
unimportant, when it completelly spoils the booting system. Nothing
seems to work.
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[Arie Skliarouk]

@Javier: Take a bigger drive, format it with first partition starting at
sector 2048 and transfer partitions content. Then you will have enough
space to fit GRUB bootloader into.
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[Javier Segura]

@Arie: thank you, but I hoped that a software issue could be resolved without the need of
additional hardware (I don't have a bigger drive right now). But I can survive: I can boot
from a live USB with Super Grub2. Anyway, I think that such gross errors should not
take place in an upgrade. This makes me wonder whether Ubuntu is a good choice, particularly
when this type of bugs are not considered as important.
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[Arie Skliarouk]

@Javier: I don't think it is a bug per se. And definitely not ubuntu
related. GRUB2 is complex piece of sotfware that keeps developing. I
don't quite understand how they managed to put ext2 mounting and
kernel+initrd loading into mere 31744 bytes back then. You aren't
complaining you can't install today's ubuntu onto i386 processor, aren't
you?
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[Javier Segura]

No, I am complaining about the fact that I had a perfectly working
ubuntu server which stopped booting after upgrading. That is a bad thing
for an operating system. This should not happen.
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[Phillip Susi]

** No longer affects: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
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[Matti Viljanen]

This still seems to exit. I am trying to install Ubuntu Server 18.10 on
a Intel C202 based server, and although the installer sees and activates
the MDADM it finds, installing the boot loader simply fails.
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