Bug#773386: release-notes: Systemd related updates to "before reboot" and Recovery proceedures

[Niels Thykier]

Package: release-notes
Severity: normal
Tags: jessie

(X-CC to systemd maintainers for input)

The release notes have a "Prepare for recovery"[1] and "Things
to do before rebooting" section[2]. They currently does not cover any
systemd related preparation.

I believe we should consider covering some/all of:

* My system does not boot after upgrading to systemd. How do I figure out
what the problem is and how do I get a shell/some method to fix it?

* Is there someone I can do to check for issues after upgrading but before
rebooting? Like do we have a tool to report:
- There are cycles in your init configuration between the following
services / init.d scripts.
- You have an old init.d script laying around that is likely to break
stuff because of reason X
- etc.


So far, I got following for recovery:

* (When boot fails) Reboot and alter kernel command line to include
"systemd.unit=rescue.target".
* (Before reboot or from rescue shell) Run systemctl enable
debug-shell.service to get a (passwordless) root shell on TTY9
"just in case"
* (Before upgrade) Back up /sbin/init and use it on the kernel cmd line
as last resort [Presumably Jessie-only]


On the "before reboot", I got nothing so far. I am hoping you do.

If you got known issues to be documented in the Release Notes (or
other suggestions for improvements), please file additional bugs.
We got some items covered in [3], but I would not be surprised if I
had missed one or some of the existing ones could be improved.

Thanks,
~Niels

[1] https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html#recovery

[2] https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html#nownownow

[3] https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/amd64/release-notes/ch-information.en.html#systemd-upgrade-default-init-system

(udev/CONFIG_DEVTMPFS): https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/amd64/release-notes/ch-information.en.html#udev-needs-kernel-with-devtmpfs

[Andrei POPESCU]

Post by Niels Thykier
* (Before upgrade) Back up /sbin/init and use it on the kernel cmd line
as last resort [Presumably Jessie-only]

Isn't this already covered by the sysvinit package in Jessie (ships
/lib/sysvinit/init)?

Kind regards,
Andrei

[Niels Thykier]

Post by Andrei POPESCU

Post by Niels Thykier
* (Before upgrade) Back up /sbin/init and use it on the kernel cmd line
as last resort [Presumably Jessie-only]

Isn't this already covered by the sysvinit package in Jessie (ships
/lib/sysvinit/init)?
Kind regards,
Andrei

Ah, true - I had not seen that one.

Thanks,
~Niels

[Niels Thykier]

Control: tags -1 help

Post by Niels Thykier
Package: release-notes
Severity: normal
Tags: jessie
(X-CC to systemd maintainers for input)
The release notes have a "Prepare for recovery"[1] and "Things
to do before rebooting" section[2]. They currently does not cover any
systemd related preparation.
* My system does not boot after upgrading to systemd. How do I figure out
what the problem is and how do I get a shell/some method to fix it?

This seems to have partly forked into #774233, so please follow up with
relevant information to that.

Post by Niels Thykier
* Is there someone I can do to check for issues after upgrading but before
- There are cycles in your init configuration between the following
services / init.d scripts.
- You have an old init.d script laying around that is likely to break
stuff because of reason X
- etc.

Still hoping for more information here. I would strongly prefer that we
could have users test their box before hitting reboot.

Post by Niels Thykier
* (When boot fails) Reboot and alter kernel command line to include
"systemd.unit=rescue.target".

Covered in #774233

Post by Niels Thykier
* (Before reboot or from rescue shell) Run systemctl enable
debug-shell.service to get a (passwordless) root shell on TTY9
"just in case"

Should possibly be included in #774233 as well, but I forgot it in my draft.

Post by Niels Thykier
* (Before upgrade) Back up /sbin/init and use it on the kernel cmd line
as last resort [Presumably Jessie-only]

As Andrei pointed out, the sysvinit package handles this.

Post by Niels Thykier
On the "before reboot", I got nothing so far. I am hoping you do.
If you got known issues to be documented in the Release Notes (or
other suggestions for improvements), please file additional bugs.
We got some items covered in [3], but I would not be surprised if I
had missed one or some of the existing ones could be improved.
Thanks,
~Niels
[...]

Such extra bugs are still welcome!

~Niels

[Debian Bug Tracking System]

Post by Niels Thykier
tags -1 help

Bug #773386 [release-notes] release-notes: Systemd related updates to "before reboot" and Recovery proceedures
Added tag(s) help.
--
773386: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=773386
Debian Bug Tracking System
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