Bug#1102160: upgrade-reports: Bookworm to Trixie [amd64][EFI] initramfs unpacking failed invalid magic at start of compressed archive

On Sun, 6 Apr 2025 10:00:45 +0300
=3D?UTF-8?Q?Martin=3D2D=3DC3=3D89ric_Racine?=3D <[email protected]>
wrote:
> On Sat, 05 Apr 2025 22:56:46 +0300 =3D?utf-8?q?Martin-=3DC3=3D89ric_Racin=
e?=3D
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Package: upgrade-reports
> > Severity: important
> > X-Debbugs-Cc: [email protected]
> >
> > After upgrading an amd64 host from Bookworm to Trixie (2025-04-05 EEST)=
, on reboot, the host gets a kernel panic with:
> >
> > initramfs unpacking failed invalid magic at start of compressed archive
>
> I just checked whether I can rescue the host using the Trixie mini.iso
> on a USB stick:
>
> Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) amd64 - netboot mini.iso 20241227
>
> I get the same kernel panic as soon as GRUB loads the kernel.
>
> If I try with the Bookworm mini.iso, the kernel boots just fine and
> gets me to the rescue menu.
>
> Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) amd64 - netboot mini.iso 20230607+deb12u9
>
> However, using the Bookworm rescue mode is a PITA, because it doesn't
> know how to mount brtfs sub-volumes (not even with Debian's default
> @rootfs) so even just chroot'ing myself in using the above recipe
> requires a LOT of command typing inside the rescue mode's shell.

As a further test, I've tried booting the following Trixie USB stick
in BIOS mode via the rescue menu:

Debian GNU/Linux trixie-DI-alpha1 "Trixie" - Official Alpha amd64
NETINST with firmware 20241230-11:26

This succesfully gets me to the rescue process and allows me to chroot
into the host after typing the long commandline series above.

Basically, a/b testing shows that Trixie kernels per-se work fine, but
something fishy is going on with the grub-efi-amd64 in Trixie. The
same host was originally installed with a Bookworm mini.iso on USB and
booted fine via EFI, so the problem really does seem to be the
grub-efi-amd64 in Trixie.

Martin-=C3=89ric