[Bug 980917] Re: Failed to create pty - disabling logging for job

[James Hunt]

@Adam: the point here is that Upstart is signalling an error, albeit a
soft one. However, in all cases it will be a transitory error since at
some point in the boot /dev/pts _will_ be mounted.

For i386/amd64 Ubuntu images, Ubuntu currently uses an initramfs which
is responsible for setting up /dev/pts. In the case of ARM where you
have no initramfs, /dev/pts will not be mounted when Upstart starts.
Currently the problem will 'correct itself' once mountall has finished
since it will mount /dev/pts if not already mounted. So, currently if
you have no initramfs you will get one message / job that Upstart
started before /dev/pts is available.

The full solution to this problem involves a bit of redesign since the
mountall model doesn't work well if you have no initramfs -- unless you
disable job logging. A pragmatic fix would be to have Upstart mount /dev
and /dev/pts itself and if that fails continue to display the message
with the addition of the job name so it is clear which jobs will not
have their output logged.



** Changed in: upstart (Ubuntu)
     Assignee: (unassigned) => James Hunt (jamesodhunt)

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/980917

Title:
  Failed to create pty - disabling logging for job

Status in “upstart” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  I believe this bug is in Upstart due to similar bug that was recently
  fixed:

  - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/upstart/+bug/936667

  I am booting Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (x86) as a domU under Xen.  After the
  previous bug was fixed, I still received the errors but the system now
  boots which is an improvement.  During the boot process I see a few
  combinations of this error:

  ====
  init: Failed to create pty - disabling logging for job
  init: Temporary process spawn error: No such file or directory
  ====

  After those two stop, I see a few more of these errors:

  ====
  init: Failed to create pty - disabling logging for job
  ====

  The above error also prints if I type "poweroff" or "shutdown"

  This system's ultimate destiny is to operate using a custom-compiled
  Linux kernel that does not exist on the filesystem.  Both the Ubuntu-
  supplied Linux kernel and the custom-compiled Linux kernel are
  afflicted by this bug.

  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

  -Tim

  //edit: added more details, edited for clarity.

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