[Bug 1671991] Re: systemctl rescue leaves system inaccessible unless run from within active desktop session

[Nathan Dorfman]

Debian stretch has the opposite issue: there, rescue only works if no
desktop session is active. Otherwise, whether systemctl is run from
within that session or not, the console is left completely unusable; not
even Ctrl+Alt+Del works.

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=858162 exists for
that, but the Xenial issue is completely different: the console never
becomes unresponsive. Instead, the system is stuck in some intermediate
state where the normal getty is stlil alive, but login is not allowed,
and the actual rescue prompt is never reached.

** Bug watch added: Debian Bug tracker #858162
   http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=858162

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Title:
  systemctl rescue leaves system inaccessible unless run from within
  active desktop session

Status in systemd package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I don't think it's just me, as I'm able to reproduce this on 2
  physical systems as well as a vanilla qemu/kvm instance, immediately
  after fresh installs from both ubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso and
  ubuntu-16.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso

  
  When I run 'sudo init 1' or 'sudo telinit 1' from any virtual console, the system never gets to single-user mode. Instead, I am presented with a non-functioning login prompt and no way to actually interact with the machine except Ctrl-Alt-Del, which luckily still works.

  The login prompts look normal, but only appear on two virtual
  consoles: tty1 always, plus the one I was using (if it wasn't tty1).
  All others are blank. Typing my username results in the message
  "System is going down," instead of a password prompt. After a couple
  of minutes, it will clear the screen and draw a fresh prompt, with the
  same results; otherwise, nothing changes until I give the three-
  fingered salute to reboot. I've attached a screenshot from the VM.

  This happens regardless of whether I first log out of my desktop, stop
  the lightdm service entirely, or neither. The truly bizarre part is
  that if I enter the command from inside a gnome-terminal running on
  the desktop, it works as expected. It's a little unbelievable, but
  seems to be reliably reproduceable.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: init 1.29ubuntu3
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-36.36~16.04.1-generic 4.8.11
  Uname: Linux 4.8.0-36-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Fri Mar 10 22:10:34 2017
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-03-11 (0 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170215.2)
  SourcePackage: init-system-helpers
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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