[Virtual-pkg-base-maintainers] Bug#626479: System broken after small package update (debian unstable, 2011-05-12)

[Eccles, David]

Package: base

I was doing a small update of my Debian unstable system this morning, and
managed to break the system in a way I've never experienced before. At the
end of an aptitude safe-upgrade, it tried to 'rm' something, then complained
that there was no such file or directory (called 'rm'). Then I tried running
other things (cd, ls, cat, etc.), with the same error (failed to run command
`<x>': No such file or directory). I noticed that the browser (iceweasel) was
working and loading other pages, so I tried accessing the file system from
the browser ('file://'), which caused the browser to crash.

I then rebooted the computer, and wasn't able to get much further than the
grub menu. When booting, grub2 is able to start up and display a menu (with
options visible), but init can't start.

I tried using a Debian net install USB stick in rescue mode, with no success
(chroot terminal didn't appear, even though /target existed, and had the
correct files in it). I then booted an ubuntu 11.04 live CD, which is the
environment I'm working in at the moment.

I can access the file system, but can't run any programs when I'm inside it.

What more can I do to diagnose the problem?

[Apologies if I've got the wrong package, not quite sure what to submit this
bug to]

Potentially useful dumps:

-- Attempts to chroot into broken system --
root at ubuntu:/target# chroot /target/root/
chroot: failed to run command `/bin/bash': No such file or directory
root at ubuntu:/target# ls /target/root/bin/*sh
/target/root/bin/ash   /target/root/bin/bsd-csh  /target/root/bin/dash
/target/root/bin/sh
/target/root/bin/bash  /target/root/bin/csh      /target/root/bin/rbash
root at ubuntu:/target# ls /bin/*sh
/bin/bash  /bin/dash  /bin/rbash  /bin/sh  /bin/static-sh
root at ubuntu:/target# chroot /target/root/ /bin/sh
chroot: failed to run command `/bin/sh': No such file or directory
root at ubuntu:/target# /target/root/bin/sh
# 
root at ubuntu:/target# /target/root/bin/sh
# logout
/target/root/bin/sh: logout: not found
# exit
root at ubuntu:/target#

-- From '/var/log/syslog' --
May 12 09:24:19 thaliana crontab[7480]: (bioinf) BEGIN EDIT (bioinf)
May 12 09:24:30 thaliana crontab[7480]: (bioinf) REPLACE (bioinf)
May 12 09:24:30 thaliana crontab[7480]: (bioinf) END EDIT (bioinf)
May 12 09:25:01 thaliana /usr/sbin/cron[1290]: (bioinf) RELOAD
(crontabs/bioinf)
May 12 09:28:15 thaliana console-kit-daemon[2452]: WARNING: Unable to spawn
/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-session.d/pam-foreground-compa
t.ck: Failed to execute child process
"/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-session.d/pam-foreground-compat.ck" (No such file or
directory)
May 12 09:30:20 thaliana console-kit-daemon[2452]: WARNING: Unable to spawn
/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-seat.d/nvidia_helper.ck: Faile
d to execute child process "/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-seat.d/nvidia_helper.ck"
(No such file or directory)
May 12 09:30:20 thaliana console-kit-daemon[2452]: WARNING: Unable to spawn
/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-seat.d/udev-acl.ck: Failed to 
execute child process "/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-seat.d/udev-acl.ck" (No such
file or directory)
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana kernel: [166764.077425] SysRq : SAK
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana kernel: [166764.077787] SAK: killed process 2616
(bash): task_session(p)==tty->session
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana kernel: [166764.077792] SAK: killed process 2121
(login): task_session(p)==tty->session
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana kernel: [166764.077923] SAK: killed process 2121
(login): task_session(p)==tty->session
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana kernel: [166764.077975] SAK: killed process 2616
(bash): task_session(p)==tty->session
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana console-kit-daemon[2452]: WARNING: Unable to spawn
/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-session.d/pam-foreground-compat.ck: Failed to execute
child process "/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-session.d/pam-foreground-compat.ck"
(No such file or directory)
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana init: cannot execute "/sbin/getty"
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana console-kit-daemon[2452]: WARNING: Unable to spawn
/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-seat.d/nvidia_helper.ck: Failed to execute child
process "/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-seat.d/nvidia_helper.ck" (No such file or
directory)
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana console-kit-daemon[2452]: WARNING: Unable to spawn
/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-seat.d/udev-acl.ck: Failed to execute child process
"/usr/lib/ConsoleKit/run-seat.d/udev-acl.ck" (No such file or directory)
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana init: cannot execute "/sbin/getty"
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana init: cannot execute "/sbin/getty"
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana init: cannot execute "/sbin/getty"
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana init: cannot execute "/sbin/getty"
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana init: cannot execute "/sbin/getty"
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana init: cannot execute "/sbin/getty"
May 12 09:30:51 thaliana init: cannot execute "/sbin/getty"

-- tail /var/log/apt/history.log --
Start-Date: 2011-05-12  09:27:41
Upgrade: libc-bin:amd64 (2.13-2, 2.13-3), gir1.2-gstreamer-0.10:amd64
(0.10.32-6+b1, 0.10.33-1), eclipse-jdt:amd64 (3.5.2-9, 3.5.2-10),
eclipse-platform-data:amd64 (3.5.2-9, 3.5.2-10), libsensors4:amd64 (3.3.0-1,
3.3.0-2), gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad:amd64 (0.10.21-4+b1, 0.10.22-1),
libgudev-1.0-0:amd64 (168-1, 168-2), gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly:amd64
(0.10.17-2, 0.10.18-1), eclipse-pde:amd64 (3.5.2-9, 3.5.2-10),
eclipse-rcp:amd64 (3.5.2-9, 3.5.2-10), gstreamer0.10-alsa:amd64 (0.10.32-2,
0.10.33-1), eclipse-plugin-cvs:amd64 (3.5.2-9, 3.5.2-10), mercurial:amd64
(1.8.1-3+b1, 1.8.3-1), python-software-properties:amd64 (0.76.7debian2,
0.76.7debian2+nmu1), libpcap0.8:amd64 (1.1.1-4, 1.1.1-5), luatex:amd64
(0.60.2-1, 0.70.0-1), gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:amd64 (0.10.28-3,
0.10.29-1), libc6-i386:amd64 (2.13-2, 2.13-3), udev:amd64 (167-3, 168-2),
locales:amd64 (2.13-2, 2.13-3), software-properties-gtk:amd64 (0.76.7debian2,
0.76.7debian2+nmu1), postgresql-common:amd64 (114, 115), eclipse:amd64
(3.5.2-9, 3.5.2-10), python-simplejson:amd64 (2.1.5-1, 2.1.6-1),
gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio:amd64 (0.10.28-3, 0.10.29-1), gstreamer0.10-x:amd64
(0.10.32-2, 0.10.33-1), libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0:amd64 (0.10.32-2,
0.10.33-1), libudev0:amd64 (167-3, 168-2), libc6-dev:amd64 (2.13-2, 2.13-3),
postgresql-client-common:amd64 (114, 115), gstreamer0.10-tools:amd64
(0.10.32-6+b1, 0.10.33-1), liblucene2-java:amd64 (2.9.3+ds1-1, 2.9.4+ds1-1),
libequinox-osgi-java:amd64 (3.5.2-9, 3.5.2-10), eclipse-platform:amd64
(3.5.2-9, 3.5.2-10), autotools-dev:amd64 (20110508.1, 20110511.1),
libc-dev-bin:amd64 (2.13-2, 2.13-3), libc6:amd64 (2.13-2, 2.13-3),
libgstreamer0.10-0:amd64 (0.10.32-6+b1, 0.10.33-1), libc6-dev-i386:amd64
(2.13-2, 2.13-3), gstreamer0.10-plugins-base:amd64 (0.10.32-2, 0.10.33-1),
mercurial-common:amd64 (1.8.1-3, 1.8.3-1)
Error: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (100)
End-Date: 2011-05-12  09:27:47