Comment 35 for bug 430272

Ernst: true, but that woule be a separate bug, I think.

For how to recover when recovery mode doesn't work:

1. in grub, use recovery mode, but edit the kernel command line and replace "ro single" with "rw break=init"
2. You will be dropped to the (initramfs) prompts, regular root is mounter at /root.
3. Do chroot /root /usr/bin/*sh (bash and /bin/sh hung for me, pehaps that was the bug? I used zsh instead, try dash as well)
4. Set network connection (ifconfig eth0 10.0.0.18; route add default gw 10.0.0.1; echo nameserver 10.0.0.1 > /etc/resolv.conf)
5. aptitude update && aptitude upgrade
6. reboot