Why is 'reorder_uefi: False' being ignored in Ubuntu autoinstall cloud-config?

Question

I have a cloud-config file /tftp/user-data which contains the following:

#cloud-config
autoinstall:
...content removed...
storage:
  grub:
    reorder_uefi: False
  layout:
    name: direct

However, every time this runs, it re-orders UEFI boot order and puts the PXE boot interface at the top, so it stays in a constant boot loop and never boots into the installed OS unless I interrupt, go into the System Settings and change the boot order back once it has rebooted after installation. I guess this is curtin doing it (like it does with MAAS, where it makes sense) but I can't work out why this is being ignored, or how I can stop it.

I'm using the boot files from Ubuntu 20.04.3 - am I doing something wrong in the cloud-config file?

Answer 1

It looks like the layout option does not work with custom grub settings. The installer code appears to only use the grub configuration when layout is not used. You can try submitting a bug report at https://bugs.launchpad.net/subiquity if you think that is the wrong behavior.

Testing - using Ubuntu 20.04.3 (subiquity 21.08.2).

Using this configuration in user-data

#cloud-config
autoinstall:
...
  storage:
    layout:
      name: direct
    grub:
      reorder_uefi: False

generated this line in /var/log/installer/subiquity-curtin-install.conf without the reorder_uefi option.

grub: {probe_additional_os: true, terminal: unmodified}

Using this configuration in user-data

#cloud-config
autoinstall:
...
  storage:
    grub:
      reorder_uefi: False
    config:
    - {ptable: gpt, path: /dev/sda, preserve: false, name: '', grub_device: false,
      type: disk, id: disk-sda}
    - {device: disk-sda, size: 536870912, wipe: superblock, flag: boot, number: 1,
      preserve: false, grub_device: true, type: partition, id: partition-sda1}
    - {fstype: fat32, volume: partition-sda1, preserve: false, type: format, id: format-2}
    - {device: disk-sda, size: 1073741824, wipe: superblock, flag: linux, number: 2,
      preserve: false, grub_device: false, type: partition, id: partition-sda2}
    - {fstype: ext4, volume: partition-sda2, preserve: false, type: format, id: format-0}
    - {device: disk-sda, size: -1, flag: linux, number: 3, preserve: false,
      grub_device: false, type: partition, id: partition-sda3}
    - name: vg-0
      devices: [partition-sda3]
      preserve: false
      type: lvm_volgroup
      id: lvm-volgroup-vg-0
    - {name: lv-root, volgroup: lvm-volgroup-vg-0, size: 100%, preserve: false,
      type: lvm_partition, id: lvm-partition-lv-root}
    - {fstype: ext4, volume: lvm-partition-lv-root, preserve: false, type: format,
      id: format-1}
    - {device: format-1, path: /, type: mount, id: mount-2}
    - {device: format-0, path: /boot, type: mount, id: mount-1}
    - {device: format-2, path: /boot/efi, type: mount, id: mount-3}

generated this line in /var/log/installer/subiquity-curtin-install.conf.

grub: {probe_additional_os: true, reorder_uefi: false, terminal: unmodified}

how it works

As part of the install, the server live-installer (subiquity) will generate a config for curtin(/var/log/installer/subiquity-curtin-install.conf) and run curtin. It is curtin that actually performs the disk partitioning (and many other steps). Part of the curtin config is the storage section. This is very similar to the storage section provided in the autoinstall file, but subiquity adds some additional features beyond what curtin supports. The layout option is one of these features. When layout is used, subiquity programmatically generates the curtin storage config and ignores the other user provided settings.