Bug 2349658 - anaconda text mode installer fails to run on fallback
Summary: anaconda text mode installer fails to run on fallback
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED CURRENTRELEASE
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: anaconda
Version: 42
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: anaconda-maint
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard: AcceptedBlocker
: 2348382 (view as bug list)
Depends On:
Blocks: PPCTracker F42BetaBlocker
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2025-03-03 21:01 UTC by Peter Robinson
Modified: 2025-03-25 09:25 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2025-03-10 20:15:49 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)


Links
System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Github rhinstaller anaconda pull 6127 0 None Merged Fix inst.text mode issues 2025-03-05 18:46:32 UTC
Red Hat Issue Tracker RHEL-77162 0 None None None 2025-03-05 18:46:32 UTC

Description Peter Robinson 2025-03-03 21:01:15 UTC
When installing via a serial console the installer detects that there's no graphical and prompts to fall back to text mode and then crashes.

Fedora-Everything-netinst-aarch64-42-20250303.n.0.iso

The output from the main TMUX console is:

Starting installer, one moment...                                                           00:00:56 [23/23]
                .fc42 for Fedora 42 (pre-release) started.                                  00:00:56 [22/23]
 * installation log files are stored in /tmp during the installation                                        
 * shell is available on TTY2 and in second TMUX pane (ctrl+b, then press 2)
 * when reporting a bug add logs from /tmp as separate text/plain attachments                         
                                                                                                            
Wayland startup failed, falling back to text mode.                                                          
================================================================================
================================================================================
Wayland was unable to start on your machine. Would you like to start an RDP
session to connect to this computer from another computer and perform a
graphical installation or continue with a text mode installation?                                
                                                                                                            
1) Use graphical mode via Remote Desktop Protocol                                                           
2) Use text mode                                                                                            
                           
Please make a selection from the above ['c' to continue, 'q' to quit, 'r' to
refresh]: 2                                                                                                 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/anaconda", line 472, in <module>
    display.setup_display(anaconda, opts)                                                                   
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                                                        
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.13/site-packages/pyanaconda/display.py", line 411, in setup_display
    anaconda.initialize_interface()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.13/site-packages/pyanaconda/anaconda.py", line 230, in initialize_interface
    self._intf = GraphicalUserInterface(None, self.payload,
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                        gui_lock=self.gui_initialized,
                                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                        fullscreen=False)
                                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.13/site-packages/pyanaconda/ui/gui/__init__.py", line 530, in __init__
    self.mainWindow = MainWindow(fullscreen=fullscreen, decorated=False)
                      ~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.13/site-packages/pyanaconda/ui/gui/__init__.py", line 290, in __init__
    super().__init__()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.13/site-packages/gi/overrides/Gtk.py", line 505, in __init__
    raise RuntimeError(
        "Gtk couldn't be initialized. "
        "Use Gtk.init_check() if you want to handle this case.")
RuntimeError: Gtk couldn't be initialized. Use Gtk.init_check() if you want to handle this case.
<sys>:0: DeprecationWarning: builtin type swigvarlink has no __module__ attribute

Pane is dead (status 1, Sun Feb 16 00:00:56 2025)
[anaconda]1:main* 2:shell  3:log  4:storage-log  5:program-log  6:packaging->Switch tab: Alt+Tab | Help: F1

Comment 1 Fedora Blocker Bugs Application 2025-03-03 21:02:24 UTC
Proposed as a Blocker for 42-beta by Fedora user pbrobinson using the blocker tracking app because:

 Need to be able to install a system, works with F-41.

Comment 2 Adam Williamson 2025-03-04 16:40:17 UTC
openQA serial tests aren't failing - but I wonder if this only fails if you really don't have a display? the openQA VMs do *have* a display, so maybe the GTK init succeeds and this is hidden.

I guess I could try tweaking those tests to disable the graphics device in the VM...

Comment 3 Lukas Brabec 2025-03-05 10:29:32 UTC
(In reply to Adam Williamson from comment #2)
> openQA serial tests aren't failing - but I wonder if this only fails if you
> really don't have a display?

It seems so. Just tested Fedora-Everything-netinst-aarch64-42-20250305.n.0 in QEMU VM:

display + serial + inst.text: installation works as expected using serial console
only serial: prompts to text fallback and crashes
serial + inst.text: installation works as expected using serial console

Comment 4 Adam Williamson 2025-03-05 18:44:22 UTC
Hah. So I could not see how this could possibly be failing, then I tried to reproduce it and couldn't...then I realized it's already fixed: https://issues.redhat.com/browse/RHEL-77162

but the fix is not in F42, because F42 is rather behind. F42 is on anaconda 42.24. 42.27 is in updates-testing, and contains this fix. We should get a *new* new build soon with fixes for the other blockers, which should also fix this.

Comment 5 Fedora Update System 2025-03-05 18:45:06 UTC
FEDORA-2025-5235a700a8 (anaconda-42.27.1-1.fc42 and anaconda-webui-25-1.fc42) has been submitted as an update to Fedora 42.
https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-5235a700a8

Comment 6 Adam Williamson 2025-03-05 18:55:07 UTC
+3 in https://pagure.io/fedora-qa/blocker-review/issue/1776 , marking accepted.

Comment 7 Lukas Brabec 2025-03-07 15:19:21 UTC
With Fedora-Everything-netinst-aarch64-42_Beta-1.2.iso text installation works in QEMU VM with no display + serial console.

Comment 8 Kamil Páral 2025-03-10 20:15:49 UTC
Anaconda updates are pushed stable, it seems this one can be closed.

Comment 9 Peter Robinson 2025-03-11 18:19:44 UTC
I've retested this and beta 1.2 installer works on the platform that had issues in the past.

Comment 10 Katerina Koukiou 2025-03-25 09:25:42 UTC
*** Bug 2348382 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***


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