Bug 362585

Summary: Yast Module for Adjusting ext2/ext3 File System Checks
Product: [openSUSE] openSUSE 10.3 Reporter: Philippe Landau <lists>
Component: YaST2Assignee: Michael Loeffler <michl>
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX QA Contact: Jiri Srain <jsrain>
Severity: Enhancement    
Priority: P5 - None CC: carlosflange, lists
Version: Final   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: openSUSE 11.0   
Whiteboard:
Found By: --- Services Priority:
Business Priority: Blocker: ---
Marketing QA Status: --- IT Deployment: ---

Description Philippe Landau 2008-02-17 13:02:00 UTC 
Currently, ext3 data structure integrity is checked and repaired 
at boot if the partition has not been checked since x startups.
The check is forced and the user usually not notified 
while fsck is running, which can delay startup for 10 minutes or more.

Perhaps a method could be devised to warn in advance that a disk check is getting near, and then do it at your convenience. Or when the time comes to have the possibility of saying "tomorrow, please". (Carlos F. Lange)

Also, a new Yast module could enable scheduling data structure cleanups and defragmentation in the GUI, like triggering checks of all disks at once upon next reboot (touch /forcefsck) and help setting our own preferences regarding intervals. It could also offer unmounting and checking partitions at the spot.


Carlos F. Lange wrote:
> I read somewhere that the kernel people had a power failure, 
> and it forced an fsck of their filesystem, 
> with all those things they have. 
> It took hours, if I remember correctly. 
> The comment was that a recovery from backup would have been faster.

Current options:
> In the mean time, in terminal, enter:
> su - (becoming root)
> mount (listing mounted devices like for example /dev/sda1)
> tune2fs -c 1 /dev/sda1 (to trigger a check at next reboot)
> then after reboot, again as root:
> tune2fs -c 0 /dev/sda1 (to disable the check based on times mounted)
> tune2fs -i 1m /dev/sda1 (to trigger a check every month).
>
> A GUI based control panel could enable triggering
> checks of all disks at once and help setting our own preferences.
> Could this be implemented in OpenSuse 11.0 ?
>
> tune2fs -i 1 /dev/sda1 (to trigger a check in 1 day)
> tune2fs -i 0 /dev/sda1 (to disable check based on time)
> Please enable either time or reboot times based checks
> to make sure your data is checked regularly in case
> you forget to trigger checks manually.
Comment 1 Carlos Lange 2008-02-17 22:14:58 UTC 
To be fair, the comment above about the kernel people was written by Carlos Robinson.

My comment about warning of an impending file system check and offering the option to opt-out would be better handled at boot time, as suggest in bug 344271.

I would suggest to Phillipe to rename this report to:
Yast Module for Adjusting ext2/ext3 File System Checks
because the suggestion is not really about repairing the file system and it only applies to ext2/ext3 (unless there another tools like tune2fs for other file systems).

More specifically, I would like to see a Yast module that allows us to set the interval or count between checks for each partition, since smaller partitions may be handled different from larger partitions. The help text on the left should warn against disabling check completely and the values could be preset to the current 2 months or 500 count standard.
Comment 2 Carlos Lange 2008-02-19 08:18:20 UTC 
Changed title in agreement with the reporter.

An off-line discussion brought to light the need to add a clarification about the check and repair process to the left hand help panel. Specifically, explain that the checks are made during the boot process and that in case of error that cannot be fixed automatically, there is a repair tool that the user should use.
Comment 3 Stefan Hundhammer 2008-03-03 11:28:39 UTC 
This feature request seems to cover several things. Some of them might have to be implemented on the file system / kernel (or kernel module) level, some others (front-end for tune2fs) could be done in an existing YaST2 module (yast2-storage), some others would have to go to the base system where fsck is handled.

Michl, please decide and move to FATE if appropriate.
Comment 4 Michael Loeffler 2008-04-07 15:45:05 UTC 
It's covered through Fate #302118: switch off paranoid ext3 fsck, the outcome is that file system check is off per default but can be enabled by checking a check box.
Comment 5 Carlos Lange 2008-04-07 17:21:33 UTC 
Fate 302118 is restricted access, but it sounds good from your description.

Can you tell us, Michael, if it is a Yast2 module and if the suggested clarification (last sentences in comments #1 and #2 above) is being added to the left-hand help panel?
Comment 6 Michael Loeffler 2010-11-19 12:09:03 UTC 
won't fix