[Bug 573975] Re: pxe image fails to boot: "Forbidden directory"

[Alkis Georgopoulos]

As far as I know, this bug consists of three separate bugs, one in
tftpd-hpa (==when installing from the alternate CD tftpd-hpa uses /srv
while when installing from the desktop CD it uses /var/lib/tftpboot),
one in compiz, and a sound problem.

So I'm marking it invalid for LTSP and I'm putting tftp-hpa in the
affects list.

Tim please file separate bug reports for any bugs you see, it makes it
easier for people to handle them in launchpad.

** Also affects: tftp-hpa (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New

** Changed in: ltsp (Ubuntu)
Status: New => Invalid

[Tim Wallace]

Hi Alkis--

I installed from the desktop CD, not the alternate, and tftpd set up for
/srv. I don't know what the contract is between the various Ubuntu
services like tftp and the many (Ubuntu and custom) applications that
might use them. I assumed that it would be the responsibility of the
LTSP packages to verify the configuration of any services such as tftp
that they need and re-configure if necessary. Hence I assumed it was a
bug in LTSP. Similarly, I don't know if compiz is supposed to function
with a wide range of remote clients of possibly limited hardware. So
I'd also file that one under LTSP, myself. Sound...it's working pretty
well on my desktops. Haven't looked into the ltsp client problem yet!

So it's not that I don't try to file separate bug reports...it's just
not always easy to figure out what package is at fault! :)

--Tim

Post by Alkis Georgopoulos
As far as I know, this bug consists of three separate bugs, one in
tftpd-hpa (==when installing from the alternate CD tftpd-hpa uses /srv
while when installing from the desktop CD it uses /var/lib/tftpboot),
one in compiz, and a sound problem.
So I'm marking it invalid for LTSP and I'm putting tftp-hpa in the
affects list.
Tim please file separate bug reports for any bugs you see, it makes it
easier for people to handle them in launchpad.
** Also affects: tftp-hpa (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
** Changed in: ltsp (Ubuntu)
Status: New => Invalid

[Thierry Carrez]

tftpd-hpa installs by default with /var/lib/tftpd-hpa as its directory, but that behavior can be changed by a debconf preseeded value.
I can't see any issue in tftpd-hpa itself... Alkis, could you explain in more details ?

Ccing strgraber, since he worked on making LTSP and tftpd-hpa work
together during the Lucid cycle...

** Changed in: tftp-hpa (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided => Low

** Changed in: tftp-hpa (Ubuntu)
Status: New => Incomplete

[Alkis Georgopoulos]

I did not see the issue myself, but the reporter and another person
(comments #1 and #2) say that for them, /etc/default/tftpd-hpa contained
"/srv/tftp" instead of the expected "/var/lib/tftpboot", and that caused
the message "forbidden directory" to be displayed.

I don't know under which circumstances that happens, so I cannot provide
any feedback - it's up to the reporter to provide any details necessary.
Maybe on same cases the debian/tftpd-hpa.templates file isn't used?

There are also other problems in this bug report (compiz, sound etc) but
I think that the "major" one that's also reflected in the title is
related to tftpd-hpa, that's why I thought it should be moved here.

[Inno]

I explain better.
At work I have a VM with ubuntu 9.10 that is an upgraded from a 9.04.
With 9.04 i had 2 working clients that do not work with 9.10 (they were old and have been replaced now).
One client was not able to boot and the other had sound problems.

Then, for testing purpose, i tried at home a copy of the same VM after upgrading to 10.04.
The result was that no clients (old and newer) were able to boot and I had the "forbidden directory" error.
Searching for the cause, I found the mentioned /etc/default/tftpd-hpa where i see the path to /srv/tftp.

In my 9.10 VM (still in use), that folder do not exist and in my 10.04 test VM, I have both /srv/tftp and /var/lib/tftpboot.
But that is not the cause of the "forbidden directory" error in my case.
I wanted tell about the changed folder because that was not obvious to me (I still have /var/lib/tftpboot) and knowing that, maybe can help...
I do not know the situation on a fresh (not upgraded) 10.04 installation.

How I had say, the cause of my problem was the mentioned TFTP_OPTIONS="--secure" that was missing in my 10.04 after the upgrade.
After adding that option, the "forbidden directory" error had gone and my (newer) clients boot with 10.04

For the old amd K6-2 not booting...I found that upgrading to 64Mb of ram, make it able to boot again (compiz is automatically disabled if it can't be run).
The other (an old notebook) now have not the sound problems that I had with 9.10

[Sam Smith]

Upgraded server from 8.04 LTS to 10.04 LTS on 8/21/2010. Server was
running LTSP with 8.04. Same issue with clients not able to access tftp
directory. The fix suggested by Inno to change the directory and add "
--secure" worked (THANK YOU!):

# /etc/default/tftpd-hpa

TFTP_USERNAME="tftp"
#TFTP_DIRECTORY="/srv/tftp"
TFTP_DIRECTORY="/var/lib/tftpboot"
TFTP_ADDRESS="0.0.0.0:69"
#TFTP_OPTIONS=""
TFTP_OPTIONS="--secure"

Changed the two lines and issued "sudo ltsp-update-kernels" plus "sudo
restart tftpd-hpa".

Since it just happened, I would consider it still a bug in the upgrade
process for systems with LTSP.

[Inno]

I do not changed the directory from "/srv/tftp" to "/var/lib/tftpboot".
I only added the "--secure" option and checked the content and permissions of the new directory (they were all ok).
Maybe, the two directory are equals after the upgrade and the old "/var/lib/tftpboot" can be deleted but I have not do that.

[Thierry Carrez]

*** This bug is a duplicate of bug 531123 ***
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/531123

Looking into it, in Karmic and before, tftpd was started with:
OPTIONS="-l -s /var/lib/tftpboot"
start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --oknodo --exec $DAEMON -- $OPTIONS

And now it runs with:

TFTP_OPTIONS=""
start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --oknodo --exec ${DAEMON} -- --listen --user ${TFTP_USERNAME} --address ${TFTP_ADDRESS} ${TFTP_OPTIONS} ${TFTP_DIRECTORY}

So it lacks the "-s" (or "--secure") by default.

** Changed in: tftp-hpa (Ubuntu)
Importance: Low => Medium

** Changed in: tftp-hpa (Ubuntu)
Status: Incomplete => Confirmed

** This bug has been marked a duplicate of bug 531123
pxe boot with tftpd-hpa failed with error: Forbidden Directory