Bug 105695

Summary:	single does not work in first boot after install
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Gene Czarcinski <gczarcinski>
Component:	grub	Assignee:	Jeremy Katz <katzj>
Status:	CLOSED NOTABUG	QA Contact:	Mike McLean <mikem>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	rawhide	CC:	notting
Target Milestone:	---
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Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
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Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2003-09-28 18:17:34 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
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Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description Gene Czarcinski 2003-09-26 16:35:33 UTC

Description of problem:

I did a fresh install of Fedora Core.  When I booted, I edited the grub kernel
line to add "nogui single" and then booted.  As I wathced the boot process, I
could see the message for switching to runlevel 5 and booting continuing.  I
immediately did a ctl-alt-delete to reboot (I did not want the system starting
before I did some things).  I then again edited the grub kernel line to add
"nogui  single" and again booted.  This time (and every time after that I
specify single) the system went into single user mode.



How reproducible:
Yes, but it is a real pain -- it seems to take a fresh install and the first
boot after install to have the problem.

Comment 1 Bill Nottingham 2003-09-26 18:59:19 UTC

There's nothing specific about the first boot that should cause it to ignore
command line parameters - firstboot runs well after it chooses a default
runlevel. Perhaps grub is screwy?

Comment 2 Jeremy Katz 2003-09-26 19:05:00 UTC

Did you maybe hit esc instead of enter after adding command line arguments?

Comment 3 Gene Czarcinski 2003-09-26 19:36:32 UTC

I don't feel like screwing up the system that I first tested on so I will be
trying this on a laptop I want to put fedora on.  It will not be exactly the
same but I believe it will have the problem.

I actual saw this problem some time ago (either the RHL 8 or RHL 9 beta cycle).
 At that time, it seemed to be ignoring "single" every time and going right into
firstboot.  This time when I did the ctl-alt-delete and reboot and single
"worked" the second time is when I got interested.

Any specific information I can get you to respond to NEEDINFO?

I would not be pushing this except that I believe there is a real need sometimes
to get into single user mode the very first time you boot the installed system.

One of the tests I will run is to let the boot process which should have gone
into single user mode but instead when into runlevel 5 and look at /proc/cmdline.

Comment 4 Bill Nottingham 2003-09-26 19:43:46 UTC

The code that determines what run level you go into and whether to start rhgb is
100% independent of firstboot, and does not care how many times you boot the
system. Hence, this sounds like a 'can't happen' thing at first glance.

Comment 5 Gene Czarcinski 2003-09-28 18:17:34 UTC

Oops ... pilot error!

OK, I would swear that I had seen this "problem" with an earlier release but
that was with the same "pilot" so I may have done something stupid like spelled
"single" as "singel" or whatever and never noticed.

I ran three separate fresh installs and inital boots with "nogui single"
specified  -- one on real hardware workstation, one on a laptop and one as a
vmware guest (where I first "noticed" the "problem") ... they all worked this
time so I must assume a pilot error.

I did not mention vmware initially because of the aversion of Red Hat folks to
look at vmware problems and I just "knew" I had seen the problem on real
hardware.  For vmware, I need to get in and fixup the XFree86
support/configuration so that firstboot, etc. work OK right from the start.

Anyway, this bug report is now closed.