[Vmdebootstrap-devel] Bug#850205: automatic serial console configuration for jessie and above

[Antoine Beaupré]

Package: vmdebootstrap
Version: 1.7-1
Severity: wishlist

I see that in #800910 the --serial-console flag has been basically
disabled for platforms other than wheezy. That's fine to resolve the
bug described there (although I agree the fix should be sysvinit
specific), but it actually removes an interesting feature for newer
platforms.

I think vmdebootstrap should remove the --serial-console flag or make
it work in newer releases. In systemd, the way to configure the serial
console is to pass the serial port on the kernel commandline, as such:

    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="console=ttyS0"

Then systemd automatically picks it up and configures a getty on the
right port. More details here:

https://wiki.debian.org/systemd#Virtual_and_serial_console_changes

I am not sure how to do it myself in the vmdebootstrap
environment. Maybe it is trivial to add grub flags, but I didn't find
an easy way to do this. I feel hesitant in making a script that
will just overwrite the kernel commandline directly, as vmdebootstrap
may already deal with this file in its own ways...

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 8.6
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'proposed-updates'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.7.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=fr_CA.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_CA.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages vmdebootstrap depends on:
ii  debootstrap         1.0.67
ii  kpartx              0.5.0-6+deb8u2
ii  libjs-sphinxdoc     1.4.6-1~bpo8+1
ii  parted              3.2-7
ii  python-cliapp       1.20150829-1~bpo8+1
ii  python-distro-info  0.14
ii  python2.7           2.7.9-2+deb8u1
pn  python:any          <none>
ii  qemu-utils          1:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u6

Versions of packages vmdebootstrap recommends:
ii  dosfstools        3.0.27-1
ii  extlinux          3:6.03+dfsg-5+deb8u1
ii  grub2-common      2.02~beta2-22+deb8u1
ii  python-guestfs    1:1.28.1-1
ii  qemu-system       1:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u6
ii  qemu-user-static  1:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u6
ii  squashfs-tools    1:4.2+20130409-2

Versions of packages vmdebootstrap suggests:
pn  cmdtest       <none>
ii  mbr           1.1.11-5+b1
ii  pandoc        1.12.4.2~dfsg-1+b14
pn  u-boot:armhf  <none>

-- no debconf information