Public bug reported: On focal, it appears systemd can run /etc/init.d/grub-common in parallel with /lib/systemd/system/grub-initrd-fallback.service. Both of these invoke grub-editenv for different reasons, apparently resulting in race conditions that generate messages like this:
Jan 08 18:07:15 asr-host systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB... Jan 08 18:07:15 asr-host systemd[1]: Starting GRUB failed boot detection... [..] Jan 08 18:07:15 asr-host grub-common[1822]: * Recording successful boot for GRUB [..] Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host grub-editenv[1886]: /usr/bin/grub-editenv: error: cannot rename the file /boot/grub/grubenv.new to /boot/grub/grubenv. Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: grub-initrd-fallback.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: grub-initrd-fallback.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'. Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: Failed to start GRUB failed boot detection. Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host grub-common[1822]: ...done. Jan 08 18:07:16 asr-host systemd[1]: Started LSB: Record successful boot for GRUB. Google search for "Failed to start GRUB failed boot detection" throws up a few hits, which suggests this isn't necessarily something to weird about the machine I'm running on: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Failed+to+start+GRUB+failed+boot+detection.%22 ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04 Package: grub-common 2.04-1ubuntu26.7 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-59.65-generic 5.4.78 Uname: Linux 5.4.0-59-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14 Architecture: amd64 CasperMD5CheckResult: skip Date: Fri Jan 8 20:19:42 2021 ProcEnviron: TERM=screen.xterm-256color PATH=(custom, no user) LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: grub2 UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-12-23 (15 days ago) ** Affects: grub2 (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Tags: amd64 apport-bug focal -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1910815 Title: race on boot between multiple invocations of grub-editenv To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/1910815/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
