[Bug 1910815] [NEW] race on boot between multiple invocations of grub-editenv

[Steve Dodd]

Public bug reported:

On focal, it appears systemd can run /etc/init.d/grub-common in parallel
with /lib/systemd/system/grub-initrd-fallback.service. Both of these
invoke grub-editenv for different reasons, apparently resulting in race
conditions that generate messages like this:

Jan 08 18:07:15 asr-host systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB...
Jan 08 18:07:15 asr-host systemd[1]: Starting GRUB failed boot detection...
[..]
Jan 08 18:07:15 asr-host grub-common[1822]:  * Recording successful boot for GRUB
[..]
Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host grub-editenv[1886]: /usr/bin/grub-editenv: error: cannot rename the file /boot/grub/grubenv.new to /boot/grub/grubenv.
Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: grub-initrd-fallback.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: grub-initrd-fallback.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: Failed to start GRUB failed boot detection.
Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host grub-common[1822]:    ...done.
Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: Started LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB.

Google search for "Failed to start GRUB failed boot detection" throws up
a few hits, which suggests this isn't necessarily something to weird
about the machine I'm running on:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Failed+to+start+GRUB+failed+boot+detection.%22

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: grub-common 2.04-1ubuntu26.7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-59.65-generic 5.4.78
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-59-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
Date: Fri Jan  8 20:19:42 2021
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=screen.xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: grub2
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-12-23 (15 days ago)

** Affects: grub2 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug focal

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1910815

Title:
  race on boot between multiple invocations of grub-editenv

Status in grub2 package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  On focal, it appears systemd can run /etc/init.d/grub-common in
  parallel with /lib/systemd/system/grub-initrd-fallback.service. Both
  of these invoke grub-editenv for different reasons, apparently
  resulting in race conditions that generate messages like this:

  Jan 08 18:07:15 asr-host systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB...
  Jan 08 18:07:15 asr-host systemd[1]: Starting GRUB failed boot detection...
  [..]
  Jan 08 18:07:15 asr-host grub-common[1822]:  * Recording successful boot for GRUB
  [..]
  Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host grub-editenv[1886]: /usr/bin/grub-editenv: error: cannot rename the file /boot/grub/grubenv.new to /boot/grub/grubenv.
  Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: grub-initrd-fallback.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
  Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: grub-initrd-fallback.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
  Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: Failed to start GRUB failed boot detection.
  Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host grub-common[1822]:    ...done.
  Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: Started LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB.

  Google search for "Failed to start GRUB failed boot detection" throws
  up a few hits, which suggests this isn't necessarily something to
  weird about the machine I'm running on:

  https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Failed+to+start+GRUB+failed+boot+detection.%22

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: grub-common 2.04-1ubuntu26.7
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-59.65-generic 5.4.78
  Uname: Linux 5.4.0-59-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  Date: Fri Jan  8 20:19:42 2021
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=screen.xterm-256color
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: grub2
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-12-23 (15 days ago)

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