Bug#574414: grub-pc: installation does not return to aptitude

[Ross Boylan]

Package: grub-pc
Version: 1.98-1
Severity: normal

*** Please type your report below this line ***
May warrant higher severity.  The package is was stuck
half-configured, and aptitude installation flow is broken.  Either
because of repeated tries, or because of waiting several minutes,
installation eventually succeeded.

After upgrading to the latest grub-pc (from an earlier version, not
grub 1) I got a dialogue saying the my version of grub.cfg differed
from that of the package and asking what I wanted to do.  I selected
3-way compare.  I got a relatively small curses window showing a few
code fragments.  I hit OK on the window.  The screen then showed
Setting up grub-pc (1.98-1) ...
Installation finished. No error reported.

and it just sat there.  Hitting return produced a blank line.

I hit ctl-C and the screen returned to aptitude, which said there was
an error.  It automatically tried again, with the same result, i.e., a
hang up after Installation finished.

aptitude showed grub-pc was C, i.e., half-configured.  I speculate
that it was fully configured, but the installer scripts have a problem
exiting.  I tried to install again.  There was no dialogue about the
different versions of grub.cfg, but the hang up after the
"Installation finished" message continued.

I tried again while filing this bug.  Behavior appeared the same, but
after several minutes more messages appeared:
Setting up grub-pc (1.98-1) ...
Installation finished. No error reported.
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found background image: moreblue-orbit-grub.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-trunk-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-trunk-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-3-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-3-amd64
done
Press return to continue.

Pressing return works, i.e., returns you to aptitude.  Package status
is now installed.

So maybe the problem is just that something takes a really long time,
at least in my environment?  I did not wait several minutes with my
previous failures.

The environment is a kvm virtual machine running squeeze.  amd64 host
and guest.  I was operating over ssh in a terminal/curses based
interface.  kvm is built direct from upstream latest source,
qemu-kvm-0.12.2.tar.gz.  Host is running lenny mostly, but using the
Debianized 2.6.32 kernel.

-- Package-specific info:

*********************** BEGIN /proc/mounts
/dev/disk/by-uuid/5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215 / ext3 rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered 0 0
*********************** END /proc/mounts

*********************** BEGIN /boot/grub/device.map
(hd0)	/dev/hda
*********************** END /boot/grub/device.map

*********************** BEGIN /boot/grub/grub.cfg
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
  set saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then
    saved_entry=${chosen}
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod vbe
  if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
    # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
    # understand terminal_output
    terminal gfxterm
  fi
fi
set locale_dir=/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
set timeout=5
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215
insmod png
if background_image /usr/share/images/desktop-base/moreblue-orbit-grub.png ; then
  set color_normal=black/black
  set color_highlight=magenta/black
else
  set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
  set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-trunk-amd64" {
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215
	echo	Loading Linux 2.6.32-trunk-amd64 ...
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-trunk-amd64 root=UUID=5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215 ro clock=pit quiet
	echo	Loading initial ramdisk ...
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-trunk-amd64
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-trunk-amd64 (recovery mode)" {
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215
	echo	Loading Linux 2.6.32-trunk-amd64 ...
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-trunk-amd64 root=UUID=5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215 ro single clock=pit
	echo	Loading initial ramdisk ...
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-trunk-amd64
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-3-amd64" {
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215
	echo	Loading Linux 2.6.32-3-amd64 ...
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-3-amd64 root=UUID=5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215 ro clock=pit quiet
	echo	Loading initial ramdisk ...
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-3-amd64
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-3-amd64 (recovery mode)" {
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215
	echo	Loading Linux 2.6.32-3-amd64 ...
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-3-amd64 root=UUID=5214601b-a9c6-496a-95cf-99962f6bb215 ro single clock=pit
	echo	Loading initial ramdisk ...
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-3-amd64
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
*********************** END /boot/grub/grub.cfg

-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-trunk-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages grub-pc depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]         1.5.28     Debian configuration management sy
ii  grub-common                   1.98-1     GRand Unified Bootloader, version 
ii  libc6                         2.10.2-6   Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  ucf                           3.0025     Update Configuration File: preserv

grub-pc recommends no packages.

Versions of packages grub-pc suggests:
ii  desktop-base                  5.0.5      common files for the Debian Deskto

-- debconf information:
  grub-pc/kopt_extracted: false
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline:
* grub-pc/install_devices: (hd0)
  grub-pc/postrm_purge_boot_grub: false
* grub2/linux_cmdline: clock=pit
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline_default: quiet
* grub2/linux_cmdline_default: quiet
  grub-pc/chainload_from_menu.lst: true