[Bug 1215458] Re: Auto-partitioning with LVM on Advanced Format Disks causes parted_server segfault

[Colin Watson]

OK.  This crash is from the ext2/3/4 filesystem creation code in parted,
and, having looked at it, it's woefully unprepared for sector sizes
larger than 1024 bytes (for that matter, I don't know whether it works
for 1024-byte sectors, but there are definitely problems above that).
This code is deprecated upstream and was removed in parted 3.  However,
we've been unable to upgrade Debian/Ubuntu to this so far because it
would break the installer (http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-
bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=696123).

In my opinion, it is not safe to attempt a fix to this code in parted;
it would require fairly extensive modifications and without upstream
support there's no guarantee I'd get it right.  However, a much easier
change is to use mkfs.ext2 here instead.  We already do that for ext3/4;
ext2 is only involved here because of some weirdness in the LVM setup
code in d-i.  We lose progress bar support, but since we're already
lacking that for the much more common ext3/4 filesystems, I don't think
that's a big deal.

** Bug watch added: Debian Bug tracker #696123
   http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=696123

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1215458

Title:
  Auto-partitioning with LVM on Advanced Format Disks causes
  parted_server segfault

Status in The Dell PowerEdge project:
  In Progress
Status in “partman-basicfilesystems” package in Ubuntu:
  In Progress
Status in “partman-basicfilesystems” source package in Precise:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  When installing Ubuntu Server 13.10 (as well as 13.04, 12.10, and
  12.04.{2,3}) on Advanced Format hard drives with native 4k/4k sectors,
  we encounter a crash in partman_server when electing to auto-partition
  using LVM.  This also happens on the desktop versions.

  Steps to reproduce:

  1) Obtain a 4k/4k Advanced Format drive.
  2) Begin installing Ubuntu Server 13.10.
  3) At the partitioning phase select the "Guided - Use Entire Disk and Configure LVM" option.

  Actual Results:
  Once that is selected, the installer will try to partition the disk, but then it won't move past that point.  If you switch over the Ctrl+Alt+F4 screen you'll see a segfault in parted_server.    I've attached the crash dump from a recent attempt on the 13.10 desktp version. 

  Expected Results:
  Successful auto-partitioning using LVM.

  Notes:
  Manual partitioning and auto-partitioning without LVM works fine.  No crashes and the installer runs to completion.

  If no Advanced Format disk is available, this could possibly be
  replicated using qemu like so:

   qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -monitor stdio -m 1024 -bios
  /usr/share/ovmf/OVMF.fd -cdrom raring-mini-amd64.iso -global ide-
  drive.physical_block_size=4096 -global ide-
  drive.logical_block_size=4096 -drive
  file=t.img,if=ide,index=0,media=disk

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