resolvconf 1.63ubuntu12 failed to install/upgrade -- "lsattr: Inappropriate ioctl for device While reading flags on /etc/resolv.conf"

VarLogDistupgradeTermlog:

Setting up resolvconf (1.63ubuntu12) ...
lsattr: Inappropriate ioctl for device While reading flags on /etc/resolv.conf
dpkg: error processing resolvconf (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 20

Are you using reiserfs by any chance? or any non-ext filesystem?

root@castiana:~/Desktop/test/mnt# ls
root@castiana:~/Desktop/test/mnt# touch bla
root@castiana:~/Desktop/test/mnt# lsattr bla
lsattr: Inappropriate ioctl for device While reading flags on bla
root@castiana:~/Desktop/test/mnt# grep reiserfs /proc/mounts
/dev/loop0 /home/stgraber/Desktop/test/mnt reiserfs rw,relatime 0 0
root@castiana:~/Desktop/test/mnt# ls
bla
root@castiana:~/Desktop/test/mnt# lsattr bla
lsattr: Inappropriate ioctl for device While reading flags on bla
root@castiana:~/Desktop/test/mnt# echo $?
1

From their manpage lsattr/chattr are designed for ext filesystems, there isn't any guarantee that they'll work on something else.

Based on that, it should be safe to ignore that specific error as chattr wouldn't have worked on such a system either and so resolv.conf can't possibly be immutable.

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Stéphane, can you please follow through on this? This seems to be a regression from the version in precise, for a non-obvious reason - the subshell created by use of echo_first_arg $(lsattr ...) doesn't trigger the set -e handling. But I think we should address that explicitly here rather than relying on the side effect of a subshell.

And worse, I managed to botch the syntax of db_input here, which is why we're getting the strange exit code (exit 20) - that much at least I've fixed now, and pushed to Ubuntu trunk, but the lsattr still needs to be handled correctly so that we don't wind up on this code path on !ext.

Scott, out of curiosity, what filesystem are you using in these cloud images such that lsattr is not supported?

Steve: Does the db_input issue explain #995778?

On Mon, May 07, 2012 at 06:25:57AM -0000, Thomas Hood wrote:
> Steve: Does the db_input issue explain #995778?

No. 995778 looks like a broken system - and the submitter has noticed this
himself now.

Hello fer, or anyone else affected,

Accepted resolvconf into precise-proposed. The package will build now and be available in a few hours. Please test and give feedback here. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

This bug was fixed in the package resolvconf - 1.65ubuntu2

---------------
resolvconf (1.65ubuntu2) quantal; urgency=low

  [ Stéphane Graber ]
  * In is_immutable_file, if lsattr doesn't return anything on stdout,
    return 1 and hide stderr. This fixes lsattr failing on non-ext
    filesystems. (LP: #994539)

  [ Steve Langasek ]
  * Fix syntax of db_input command, which is part of why we're seeing
    failures in bug #994539.
 -- Stephane Graber <email address hidden> Mon, 07 May 2012 16:01:08 -0700

Fix worked fine

Need to get 53.5 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://espelhos.edugraf.ufsc.br/ubuntu/ precise-proposed/main resolvconf all 1.63ubuntu13 [53.5 kB]
Fetched 53.5 kB in 2s (21.6 kB/s)
Setting up resolvconf (1.63ubuntu12) ...
lsattr: Inappropriate ioctl for device While reading flags on /etc/resolv.conf
dpkg: error processing resolvconf (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 20
Errors were encountered while processing:
 resolvconf
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

root@mycomputer:/etc/apt# cd /var/cache/apt/archives/
root@mycomputer:/var/cache/apt/archives# ls -lha resolvconf_1.63ubuntu1*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 53K May 3 09:34 resolvconf_1.63ubuntu12_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 53K May 7 21:03 resolvconf_1.63ubuntu13_all.deb
root@mycomputer:/var/cache/apt/archives# dpkg -i resolvconf_1.63ubuntu13_all.deb
(Reading database ... 613053 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace resolvconf 1.63ubuntu12 (using resolvconf_1.63ubuntu13_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement resolvconf ...
Setting up resolvconf (1.63ubuntu13) ...
resolvconf start/running
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for resolvconf ...

root@mycomputer:/# dpkg -s resolvconf; date
Package: resolvconf
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: net
Installed-Size: 237
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <email address hidden>
Architecture: all
Version: 1.63ubuntu13
Depends: lsb-base, debconf (>= 0.5) | debconf-2.0, upstart-job
Pre-Depends: initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.10)
Breaks: dhcp3-client (<< 4.1.1-P1-15+squeeze1), dnscache-run
Enhances: bind9, dhcpcd, dnsmasq, ifupdown, isc-dhcp-client, libc6, network-manager, nscd, pdnsd, ppp, pump, totd, udhcpc
Conffiles:
 /etc/network/if-up.d/000resolvconf a2f1e5660e827944e6b8956b6a23eafa
 /etc/network/if-down.d/resolvconf ff6457564bdc53d244529166804a076f
 /etc/dhcp/dhclient-enter-hooks.d/resolvconf e33c0fb778b7a0994e3a7e6a83b4034f
 /etc/resolvconf/interface-order 33e6b76aa10b1cbe72c6c050df536560
 /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/base d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
 /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/head 5aee5a60350035d958401da5c0432be3
 /etc/resolvconf/update.d/dnscache 981435dcc6f7b53a9fa7a0bdfbdaf5e0
 /etc/resolvconf/update.d/libc 9d46e648e13f96e1d67f2fec9ec20a58
 /etc/init/resolvconf.conf 355033f68372631d1b72b039347ec3a0
 /etc/ppp/ip-up.d/000resolvconf 9b176005cabc49225a6f44761e40bab2
 /etc/ppp/ip-down.d/000resolvconf 125638dbca92100af3f8a289d85c5d85
Description: name server information handler
 Resolvconf is a framework for keeping up to date the system's
 information about name servers. It sets itself up as the intermediary
 between programs that supply this information (such as ifup and
 ifdown, DHCP clients, the PPP daemon and local name servers) and
 programs that use this information (such as DNS caches and resolver
 libraries).
 .
 This package may require some manual configuration. Please
 read the README file for detailed instructions.
Homepage: http://alioth.debian.org/projects/res...

Fix is still good with ubuntu14.

This bug was fixed in the package resolvconf - 1.63ubuntu14

---------------
resolvconf (1.63ubuntu14) precise-proposed; urgency=low

  * Call db_go after the db_input command so that the debconf error
    message is actually shown to the user.

resolvconf (1.63ubuntu13) precise-proposed; urgency=low

  [ Stéphane Graber ]
  * In is_immutable_file, if lsattr doesn't return anything on stdout,
    return 1 and hide stderr. This fixes lsattr failing on non-ext
    filesystems. (LP: #994539)

  [ Steve Langasek ]
  * Fix syntax of db_input command, which is part of why we're seeing
    failures in bug #994539.

resolvconf (1.63ubuntu12) precise-proposed; urgency=low

  * Instead of throwing an error that aborts the upgrade when
    /etc/resolv.conf is immutable, pop a debconf error message to let the
    user know what's happening, then clear the immutable flag and continue
    with the installation. LP: #989585.
 -- Stephane Graber <email address hidden> Mon, 14 May 2012 12:31:58 -0400