I just built an image with…

$ sudo autopkgtest-build-qemu --boot=bios trixie Misc/sink/autopkgtest-images/trixie.qcow2

… which “All went fine”, but it does not work:

autopkgtest [19:45:47]: starting date and time: 2026-04-21 19:45:47+0200
autopkgtest [19:45:47]: version 5.49
autopkgtest [19:45:47]: host tgb1.mirbsd.org; command line: /usr/bin/autopkgtest -B -o klog -s '/var/cache/pbuilder/result-trixie/isc-kea_3.0.3-1~bpo13+1_amd64.changes' -- qemu --baseimage --ram-size=8192 -d Misc/sink/autopkgtest-images/trixie.qcow2
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: Assuming nothing special needs to be done to set up firmware to boot this machine (boot method: bios)
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: executing open
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: qemu architecture: x86_64
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: qemu command: qemu-system-x86_64
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: find_free_port: trying 10022
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: find_free_port: 10022 is free
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: execute-timeout: qemu-img info --output=json Misc/sink/autopkgtest-images/trixie.qcow2
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: Creating temporary overlay image in /tmp/autopkgtest-qemu.cehefrhs/overlay.img
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: execute-timeout: qemu-img create -f qcow2 -F qcow2 -b /home/tg/Misc/sink/autopkgtest-images/trixie.qcow2 /tmp/autopkgtest-qemu.cehefrhs/overlay.img
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: Forwarding local port 10022 to VM ssh port 22
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: Detected KVM capable AMD host CPU, enabling nested KVM
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: full qemu command-line: ['qemu-system-x86_64', '-m', '8192', '-smp', '1', '-nographic', '-device', 'virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0', '-netdev', 'user,id=net0,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:10022-:22', '-object', 'rng-random,filename=/dev/urandom,id=rng0', '-device', 'virtio-rng-pci,rng=rng0,id=rng-device0', '-monitor', 'unix:/tmp/autopkgtest-qemu.cehefrhs/monitor,server=on,wait=off', '-virtfs', 'local,id=autopkgtest,path=/tmp/autopkgtest-qemu.cehefrhs/shared,security_model=none,mount_tag=autopkgtest', '-device', 'virtio-serial', '-chardev', 'socket,path=/tmp/autopkgtest-qemu.cehefrhs/hvc0,server=on,wait=off,id=hvc0', '-device', 'virtconsole,chardev=hvc0', '-chardev', 'socket,path=/tmp/autopkgtest-qemu.cehefrhs/hvc1,server=on,wait=off,id=hvc1', '-device', 'virtconsole,chardev=hvc1', '-serial', 'unix:/tmp/autopkgtest-qemu.cehefrhs/ttyS0,server=on,wait=off', '-serial', 'unix:/tmp/autopkgtest-qemu.cehefrhs/ttyS1,server=on,wait=off', '-drive', 'index=0,file=/tmp/autopkgtest-qemu.cehefrhs/overlay.img,format=qcow2,cache=unsafe,if=virtio,discard=unmap', '-enable-kvm', '-cpu', 'host']
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: expect: b' login: '
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: expect: found "'login prompt on serial console'"
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: expect: b'ok'
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: expect: found "b'ok'"
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: setup_shell(): there already is a shell on hvc1
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: expect: b'672d125a-bb46-4ea4-ab67-9ab2dc1b0e32[1]'
qemu-system-x86_64: terminating on signal 15 from pid 17665 (/usr/bin/python3)
autopkgtest-virt-qemu: DBG: cleanup...
Unexpected error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/autopkgtest/lib/VirtSubproc.py", line 869, in mainloop
    command()
    ~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/share/autopkgtest/lib/VirtSubproc.py", line 784, in command
    r = f(c, ce)
  File "/usr/share/autopkgtest/lib/VirtSubproc.py", line 352, in cmd_open
    caller.hook_open()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/bin/autopkgtest-virt-qemu", line 639, in hook_open
    setup_baseimage(tty, prompt)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/bin/autopkgtest-virt-qemu", line 310, in setup_baseimage
    VirtSubproc.expect(term, prompt.expected_prompt, 10)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/share/autopkgtest/lib/VirtSubproc.py", line 332, in expect
    block = sock.recv(4096)
  File "/usr/share/autopkgtest/lib/VirtSubproc.py", line 76, in alarm_handler
    raise Timeout(to)
VirtSubproc.Timeout: 10
autopkgtest [19:46:12]: ERROR: testbed failure: unexpected eof from the testbed

It exits with errorlevel 16.

Also present in the backport.

Lowering severity: an image building tool for a single virt server
failing on a system does not mean the package is RC-buggy.

As I wrote, it’s NOT the image building tools that fails (it works),
but the autopkgtest runner itself.

*sigh…*,
//Thorsten

Hello,

Bug #1134551 in autopkgtest reported by you has been fixed in the
Git repository and is awaiting an upload. You can see the commit
message below and you can check the diff of the fix at:

https://salsa.debian.org/ci-team/autopkgtest/-/commit/a6c6678d842de6da62ff5494a2a0fe1553267a60
------------------------------------------------------------------------
virt-qemu: add final newline to baseimage udev rules command

The first command sent by setup_baseimage() was concatenated with the
PS1 export without a trailing newline, so the shell never executed it
and the expect() of the prompt timed out, killing the virt server with
"testbed failure: eof from the virtualisation server".

Closes: #1134551
------------------------------------------------------------------------

(this message was generated automatically)
-- 
Greetings

https://bugs.debian.org/1134551