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Tasklist

FS#75645 - [linux] 5.19 fails to load a font and a keymap from /etc/vconsole.conf during sysinit

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by Krzysztof Szpunar (szpunarek) - Thursday, 18 August 2022, 17:09 GMT
Last edited by Jelle van der Waa (jelly) - Thursday, 14 September 2023, 17:51 GMT
Task Type Bug Report
Category Kernel
Status Closed
Assigned To Tobias Powalowski (tpowa)
Jan Alexander Steffens (heftig)
David Runge (dvzrv)
Architecture All
Severity Low
Priority Normal
Reported Version
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 0%
Votes 2
Private No

Details

Description: [systemd-251.4] fails to load a font and a keymap from /etc/vconsole.conf during sysinit

Additional info:

After downgrading to systemd-251.3 and systemd-libs-251.3 everything works fine.

When systemd-251.4 is installed font and keymap is loaded properly
after running /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-vconsole-setup from the bash prompt.
This task depends upon

Closed by  Jelle van der Waa (jelly)
Thursday, 14 September 2023, 17:51 GMT
Reason for closing:  Deferred
Additional comments about closing:  Old kernel, please retry with the latest
Comment by Toolybird (Toolybird) - Friday, 19 August 2022, 03:26 GMT
Related  FS#75644  ?
Comment by Maxim (mxfm) - Saturday, 20 August 2022, 04:44 GMT
It seems something changed in 5.19.1/2 related to loading fonts. I have a different case - previously the font was changed as early as switching from grub (when monitor blinks after grub), in new kernel version the font is changed almost before entering user name and password (so, FONT= variable is still applied, but almost at the end of the boot). In my setup i915 driver was set to load in initramfs already before recent changes, so I cannot apply workaround mentioned in  FS#75644 .
Comment by Krzysztof Szpunar (szpunarek) - Saturday, 20 August 2022, 11:43 GMT
I'm sure it is not a kernel bug but a systemd bug.
My system is up to date after pacman -Syu.
The problem disappears after downgrading systemd to 251.3 version.
Comment by Krzysztof Szpunar (szpunarek) - Saturday, 20 August 2022, 15:19 GMT
It may be the kernel bug.
When system is starting it loads font and keymap from /etc/vconsole.conf. (big font appears on the screen)
But when graphics driver is loaded (nouveau) the big font is removed and that ugly small font appears on the screen again :(
Comment by Toolybird (Toolybird) - Wednesday, 24 August 2022, 07:45 GMT
Re-titling to kernel as I don't see anything in the diff between systemd-251.{3,4} that could cause this. Here's [1] a related forum thread.

[1] https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=279022
Comment by Krzysztof Szpunar (szpunarek) - Saturday, 27 August 2022, 13:23 GMT
It is a very strange bug.
2 hours ago I upgraded my system with pacman -Syu.
After rebooting terminus font was loaded properly.
After next rebooting the problem occured again.
Any ideas?
Comment by Maxim (mxfm) - Saturday, 27 August 2022, 20:44 GMT
@szpunarek do you setup console font both in initramfs and on mounted system? I do both and it seems that in my case during early boot terminus font is applied (i can see custom font during boot between early kernel and blinking monitor - switching it to higher resolution). But when monitor resolution is increased my custom font is lost. Then during late boot the font is reapplied - probably because systemd starts relevant setup-vconsole service. So, observable behavior in my case suggests that it is kernel bug - in particular, the code which sets resolution/framebuffer does not apply specified font.
Comment by Krzysztof Szpunar (szpunarek) - Saturday, 03 September 2022, 18:23 GMT
@mxfm, I setup console font only on mounted system (/etc/vconsole.conf).
I think you are right: "the code which sets resolution/framebuffer does not apply specified font"
Comment by Krzysztof Szpunar (szpunarek) - Saturday, 15 October 2022, 08:59 GMT
It seems that the problem is solved in 6.0.1 kernel.
After upgrading the font is loaded properly during sysinit.
Comment by Toolybird (Toolybird) - Sunday, 16 October 2022, 20:01 GMT
Dupe  FS#76218 
Comment by Krzysztof Szpunar (szpunarek) - Saturday, 22 October 2022, 15:17 GMT
Maybe a solution would be loading console font _after_ graphics driver (eg. nouveau) is loaded?
Comment by Krzysztof Szpunar (szpunarek) - Saturday, 29 October 2022, 17:09 GMT
systemd starts services in parallel. The problem appears when the console font is loaded _before_ the kernel loads graphics driver.
(the kernel resets consolefont settings)
When the font is applied _after_ graph driver everything works OK.
Does anybody know how to force systemd to load the consolefont after graphics driver?
Comment by Krzysztof Szpunar (szpunarek) - Tuesday, 01 November 2022, 11:43 GMT
Well, I have 2 solutions to the problem:

1. In grub.cfg: remove this line: "set gfxpayload=..."

2. In /etc/mkinitcpio.conf: add nouveau to the MODULES array:
MODULES=(nouveau)
... and rebuild initcpios via command:
mkinitcpio -p linux

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