RHBA-2012:0839 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated dracut packages that fix multiple bugs and add two enhancements are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The dracut packages include an event-driven initramfs generator infrastructure
based on udev. The virtual file system, initramfs, is loaded together with the
kernel at boot time and initializes the system, so it can read and boot from the
root partition.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, if a dracut module did not contain an "install" file, dracut could

not execute the "installkernel" command. Consequently, the dracut fips-aesni
module could not be included in the initramfs image. Now, "installkernel" can be
correctly executed in the described scenario, thus fixing this bug. (BZ#788119)

• Previously, dracut failed to start up a degraded RAID array, resulting in a

non-booting system. With this update, dracut uses the rd_retry kernel
command-line parameter value and after rd_retry/2 seconds attempts to force the
array to start, thus fixing this bug. (BZ#761584)

• During boot-up, dracut called the "udevadm settle" command several times. As a

result, inconsequential messages about the command timeout were sometimes
returned, creating clutter in the console output. This update fixes the bug and
the messages are no longer returned in the described scenario. (BZ#747840)

• Occasionally, dracut attempted to assemble an array before all disks were

available. As a result, dracut started the array in degraded mode or failed
altogether. This bug has been fixed and dracut now forces degraded arrays to
start only after a period of time controlled by the rd_retry kernel command-line
parameter. (BZ#735529)

• The dracut package depended on the vconfig package although vconfig is not

used by dracut. This update removes the dependency on vconfig. (BZ#714039)

• Previously, if a network interface was brought up, dracut waited for two

seconds to detect that the link was up. For certain network cards, two seconds
is not long enough. Consequently, the network was not properly set up and the
system could not boot. Now, dracut waits for ten seconds, thus fixing this bug.
(BZ#794863)

• Dracut did not set the broadcast address for network interfaces it started up,

resulting in a 0.0.0.0 broadcast address. This bug has been fixed and the
default broadcast address is now set properly on startup. (BZ#752584)

• The FILES section of the dracut man page has been amended to fix inaccurate

content. (BZ#703164)

• If the user adds multiple "console=[tty]" parameters on the kernel command

line, the last parameter specifies the primary console. Previously, dracut
failed to initialize this console and instead initialized /dev/tty0
unconditionally. This bug has been fixed and dracut now initializes the correct
console in the described scenario. (BZ#752073)

• When no user name and password were specified in an iSCSI interface, dracut

reused the login information from a previous iSCSI parameter. Consequently, the
authentication failed and the system did not boot up. This update fixes the bug.
(BZ#788618)

This update adds the following enhancements:

• Previously, it was not possible to exclude a kernel driver from the initramfs

image to reduce its size. This update introduces the "--omit-driver" option to
provide this functionality. (BZ#722879)

• The "lsinitrd" command has been enhanced to support initramfs images

compressed by the LZMA algorithm. (BZ#752005)

Users of dracut are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs and add these enhancements.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat
Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 703164 - dracut: dracut(8) files section should be corrected
• BZ - 714039 - remove dependency for vconfig from dracut

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)