Hello, could this be reopened please? I believe this could be caused by
a race condition between grub-initrd-fallback.service and
grub2-common.service which both call grub-editenv. They seem run at the
same second and there is no lock between them.
I've seen both services fail on different servers. Here's one instance where
grub2-common fails on Ubuntu 25.10:
# systemctl status grub-initrd-fallback.service grub2-common.service
○ grub-initrd-fallback.service - GRUB failed boot detection
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/grub-initrd-fallback.service;
enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Fri 2025-11-14 16:03:03 UTC; 3 days ago
Invocation: b72e67abe1a24e6381b6e90741297042
Process: 1486 ExecStart=/usr/bin/grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset
initrdfail (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1546 ExecStart=/usr/bin/grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset
prev_entry (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 1546 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Mem peak: 2.2M
CPU: 17ms
Nov 14 16:03:03 localhost systemd[1]: Starting grub-initrd-fallback.service -
GRUB failed boot detection...
Nov 14 16:03:03 localhost systemd[1]: grub-initrd-fallback.service: Deactivated
successfully.
Nov 14 16:03:03 localhost systemd[1]: Finished grub-initrd-fallback.service -
GRUB failed boot detection.
× grub2-common.service - Record successful boot for GRUB
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/grub2-common.service; enabled;
preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2025-11-14 16:03:03 UTC; 3
days ago
Invocation: da29d1c42b1e4d50a27b8061f82273f2
Process: 1487 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ] || rm -f
/boot/grub/grubenv; mkdir -p /boot/grub (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1547 ExecStart=grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset recordfail
(code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 1547 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Mem peak: 2.3M
CPU: 19ms
Nov 14 16:03:03 localhost systemd[1]: Starting grub2-common.service - Record
successful boot for GRUB...
Nov 14 16:03:03 localhost grub-editenv[1547]: grub-editenv: error: invalid
environment block.
Nov 14 16:03:03 localhost systemd[1]: grub2-common.service: Main process
exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 14 16:03:03 localhost systemd[1]: grub2-common.service: Failed with result
'exit-code'.
Nov 14 16:03:03 localhost systemd[1]: Failed to start grub2-common.service -
Record successful boot for GRUB.
#
# journalctl -u grub-initrd-fallback.service -u grub2-common.service -o
short-iso-precise
2025-11-14T16:03:03.307633+00:00 localhost systemd[1]: Starting
grub-initrd-fallback.service - GRUB failed boot detection...
2025-11-14T16:03:03.318421+00:00 localhost systemd[1]: Starting
grub2-common.service - Record successful boot for GRUB...
2025-11-14T16:03:03.549363+00:00 localhost grub-editenv[1547]: grub-editenv:
error: invalid environment block.
2025-11-14T16:03:03.557221+00:00 localhost systemd[1]:
grub-initrd-fallback.service: Deactivated successfully.
2025-11-14T16:03:03.557494+00:00 localhost systemd[1]: Finished
grub-initrd-fallback.service - GRUB failed boot detection.
2025-11-14T16:03:03.578089+00:00 localhost systemd[1]: grub2-common.service:
Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
2025-11-14T16:03:03.578279+00:00 localhost systemd[1]: grub2-common.service:
Failed with result 'exit-code'.
2025-11-14T16:03:03.578568+00:00 localhost systemd[1]: Failed to start
grub2-common.service - Record successful boot for GRUB.
It's easy to make grub-editenv fail by running several instances at once:
# for i in {1..5}; do /usr/bin/grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset
prev_entry& done
[1] 69641
[2] 69642
[3] 69643
[4] 69644
[5] 69645
# /usr/bin/grub-editenv: error: invalid environment block.
/usr/bin/grub-editenv: error: invalid environment block.
/usr/bin/grub-editenv: error: invalid environment block.
[1] Done /usr/bin/grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset
prev_entry
[2] Done /usr/bin/grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset
prev_entry
[3] Exit 1 /usr/bin/grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset
prev_entry
[4]- Exit 1 /usr/bin/grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset
prev_entry
[5]+ Exit 1 /usr/bin/grub-editenv /boot/grub/grubenv unset
prev_entry
#
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1919121
Title:
/usr/bin/grub-editenv: error: invalid environment block.
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