[Bug 2002230] [NEW] Set MODULES=dep by default in new installations?

[Aaron Rainbolt]

Public bug reported:

Multiple users have recently been reporting strange "out of memory"
errors during early boot. Most notably, the Kubuntu Focus NX system
seems to be unable to boot when the proprietary NVIDIA drivers are
installed for an external NVIDIA GPU. These errors seem to be the result
of an overloaded initramfs file. I currently don't know why overly large
initramfs files cause an out-of-memory error, but they do.

In all cases I have seen, the problem was resolved by editing
/etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf, changing the line "MODULES=most" to
"MODULES=dep", then regenerating the system's initramfs files. This
results in no more out-of-memory errors, and in at least one case, it
may have contributed to faster bootup speeds. I have not yet encountered
a system that doesn't work when this setting is changed.

It might be too late in the Lunar cycle to experiment with this, but in
my opinion, it might be a good idea to eventually start testing the
effects of this setting on many systems by enabling it by default in new
daily images and seeing what happens on our testers' systems. This may
enable Ubuntu to work on more hardware, and increase boot speeds, which
I think are both good things.

Obviously, this comes with the risk of causing some systems to become
unbootable, as the failure to include the correct modules could cause
problems. Since we are close to the Feature Freeze for Lunar, I think we
should probably not try it this cycle, as I would expect it to take more
than three months to properly test. But perhaps for 23.10, we can enable
this close to the beginning of the cycle and see what happens?

EDIT: The Kubuntu Focus team has already set the MODULES=dep option for
the Kubuntu Focus NX systems by default, and also changed the
compression algorithm used by default. The system's boot speeds
increased, and there were no more out-of-memory errors after installing
the NVIDIA drivers.

** Affects: initramfs-tools (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Wishlist
         Status: New

** Description changed:

  Multiple users have recently been reporting strange "out of memory"
  errors during early boot. Most notably, the Kubuntu Focus NX system
  seems to be unable to boot when the proprietary NVIDIA drivers are
  installed for an external NVIDIA GPU. These errors seem to be the result
  of an overloaded initramfs file. I currently don't know why overly large
  initramfs files cause an out-of-memory error, but they do.
  
  In all cases I have seen, the problem was resolved by editing
  /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf, changing the line "MODULES=most" to
  "MODULES=dep", then regenerating the system's initramfs files. This
  results in no more out-of-memory errors, and in at least one case, it
  may have contributed to faster bootup speeds. I have not yet encountered
  a system that doesn't work when this setting is changed.
  
  It might be too late in the Lunar cycle to experiment with this, but in
  my opinion, it might be a good idea to eventually start testing the
  effects of this setting on many systems by enabling it by default in new
  daily images and seeing what happens on our testers' systems. This may
  enable Ubuntu to work on more hardware, and increase boot speeds, which
  I think are both good things.
  
  Obviously, this comes with the risk of causing some systems to become
  unbootable, as the failure to include the correct modules could cause
  problems. Since we are close to the Feature Freeze for Lunar, I think we
  should probably not try it this cycle, as I would expect it to take more
  than three months to properly test. But perhaps for 23.10, we can enable
  this close to the beginning of the cycle and see what happens?
+ 
+ EDIT: The Kubuntu Focus team has already set the MODULES=dep option for
+ the Kubuntu Focus NX systems by default, and also changed the
+ compression algorithm used by default. The system's boot speeds
+ increased, and there were no more out-of-memory errors after installing
+ the NVIDIA drivers.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2002230

Title:
  Set MODULES=dep by default in new installations?

Status in initramfs-tools package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Multiple users have recently been reporting strange "out of memory"
  errors during early boot. Most notably, the Kubuntu Focus NX system
  seems to be unable to boot when the proprietary NVIDIA drivers are
  installed for an external NVIDIA GPU. These errors seem to be the
  result of an overloaded initramfs file. I currently don't know why
  overly large initramfs files cause an out-of-memory error, but they
  do.

  In all cases I have seen, the problem was resolved by editing
  /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf, changing the line "MODULES=most"
  to "MODULES=dep", then regenerating the system's initramfs files. This
  results in no more out-of-memory errors, and in at least one case, it
  may have contributed to faster bootup speeds. I have not yet
  encountered a system that doesn't work when this setting is changed.

  It might be too late in the Lunar cycle to experiment with this, but
  in my opinion, it might be a good idea to eventually start testing the
  effects of this setting on many systems by enabling it by default in
  new daily images and seeing what happens on our testers' systems. This
  may enable Ubuntu to work on more hardware, and increase boot speeds,
  which I think are both good things.

  Obviously, this comes with the risk of causing some systems to become
  unbootable, as the failure to include the correct modules could cause
  problems. Since we are close to the Feature Freeze for Lunar, I think
  we should probably not try it this cycle, as I would expect it to take
  more than three months to properly test. But perhaps for 23.10, we can
  enable this close to the beginning of the cycle and see what happens?

  EDIT: The Kubuntu Focus team has already set the MODULES=dep option
  for the Kubuntu Focus NX systems by default, and also changed the
  compression algorithm used by default. The system's boot speeds
  increased, and there were no more out-of-memory errors after
  installing the NVIDIA drivers.

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