On Mon, 24 Jul 2023 22:05:04 + Azat Khusainov
wrote:
> Package: cloud.debian.org
> Severity: important
> X-Debbugs-Cc: xycain...@gmail.com
>
> Dear Maintainer,
>
> I've tried to run "genericcloud" arm64 image on QEMU with "device
virtconsole" argument and direct kernel boot with "console=hvc0" kernel
parameter.
> When "hvc0" is the only console argument in kernel parameters - debian
doesn't boot.
> But when i configure additional console argument like this:
"console=ttyAMA0 console=hvc0" - it boots normally.
> In this case "/sys/class/tty/console/active" contains both consoles
"ttyAMA0 hvc0".
> However "serial-getty" doesn't start at hvc0 as expected. Systemd has to
spawn getty on hvc0 when it's present.
> I've tried to boot VM using GRUB with 'GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="console=hvc0"'
option.
> It runs - but ttyAMA0 activates anyway and
"/sys/class/tty/console/active" again contains both consoles "ttyAMA0
hvc0".
> I've tested debian-12-genericcloud-arm64 and debian-11-genericcloud-arm64
images with same result.
> Noteworthy i've tried another distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE
"cloud" arm64 images) and they all work with "hvc0" configured as the only
console, "/sys/class/tty/console/active" contains only "hvc0" and
serial-getty automatically started on hvc0.
>
>
Debian's initramfs is missing the virtio_console module, and so systemd
doesn't see hvc0 when its getty-generator runs early in the boot process.
You can verify the absence of virtio_console in your initramfs by
running "lsinitramfs
`readlink -f /boot/initrd.img` | grep virtio_console". A simple way to fix
this is to add "virtio_console" to /etc/initramfs-tools/modules and then
run "update-initramfs -u"
After you reboot, systemd's getty generator will be able to find hvc0 and
will automatically start serial-getty@hvc0
Could debian please consider automatically adding virtio_console to the
initramfs for the cloud images? Or better yet, build the kernel with
CONFIG_VIRTIO_CONSOLE set to 'y' instead of 'm' ?
