Name the upstream cause of the Debian 13 BIOS hang: Debian bug #1111240

The known-gaps entry, decision log, sample comment and builder comment
blamed the host; the cause is trixie's GRUB config ("terminal_output
gfxterm serial" with a serial console and no video device), reported
and reproduced upstream and still open. UEFI remains the default for the
reason recorded; bookworm images are noted as unaffected.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-10 19:13:51 +00:00
co-authored by Claude Fable 5.1
parent 9a393b1df8
commit c4f59bd153
5 changed files with 39 additions and 11 deletions
+10 -6
View File
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ ssh virt@nas1.home.lan ip link show br0
| `images.<key>.url` | yes per entry | | http(s) URL of a cloud image (qcow2 or raw) |
| `images.<key>.sha256` | | | expected digest; verified after download, a change triggers a re-download |
| `images.<key>.format` | | `qcow2` | `qcow2` or `raw` |
| `images.<key>.firmware` | | `uefi` | `uefi` (OVMF, secure boot off) or `bios` (SeaBIOS) for images without an EFI system partition; Debian 13's BIOS path does not boot, see *Known gaps* |
| `images.<key>.firmware` | | `uefi` | `uefi` (OVMF, secure boot off) or `bios` (SeaBIOS) for images without an EFI system partition; Debian 13 hangs in GRUB under BIOS on a headless VM, see *Known gaps* |
| `machineTypes.<key>` | ≥ 1 | | `{vcpus, memoryMiB}` size profile |
| `hosts[].name` | yes | | the `placement.zone` value that selects this host; unique |
| `hosts[].address` | yes | | SSH endpoint, `host:port` |
@@ -233,11 +233,15 @@ The provider logs through controller-runtime's logger, named `kvm`, with
- **IP discovery needs either guest traffic or the agent.** A VM on a
bridge with no DHCP never gets an address and stays `Provisioning`
forever; check `virsh console`.
- **Debian 13 cloud images do not boot via BIOS on the tested host**
(Ryzen 8845HS, libvirt 11.6, QEMU 10.1): GRUB prints "Booting" and
the kernel never reaches the console, with or without a seed, with
host-passthrough and host-model CPUs alike. The same image boots
under UEFI, which is why `firmware` defaults to `uefi`. Images that
- **Debian 13 cloud images hang in GRUB under BIOS on a headless VM**
([Debian bug #1111240](https://bugs.debian.org/1111240), open, in
`grub2`): trixie's image ships `terminal_output gfxterm serial` in its
GRUB config, and with a serial console but no video device (exactly
the domain this provider defines) GRUB prints "Booting" and never
hands over to the kernel. Not host-specific; reproduced by the Debian
cloud team. The same image boots under UEFI with the serial console
intact, which is why `firmware` defaults to `uefi`. Debian 12
(bookworm) images are unaffected and boot either way. Images that
need `firmware: bios` are the exception, not the rule.
## Testing