Permanent I/O from kworker and ecryptfs

[Removed by request]

I'm using Ubuntu 16.10 dev and after upgrading from upstart to systemd (231-6) I'm noticing that if the system is on idle (even if only booted to the login screen) there are permanent I/O activities on my hard disk drive. On making a look with inotifywait this happens by permanently accessing files in /home/.ecryptfs/sworddragon/.Private (but no I/O appears at the transparent mountpoint at /home/sworddragon). On making a look with iotop the only I/O activities are comming from kworker (and sometimes jbd2) at this time.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. From a terminal window please run:

apport-collect 1623194

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Removed by request (removed3425744)]

Since this ticket got changed from systemd to linux it seems to be a kernel bug. I wonder what the change from upstart to systemd caused to reveal this issue. Anyways, in this case it could make more sense to forward this to upstream so I have done this: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=156761

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. From a terminal window please run:

apport-collect 1623194

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v4.8 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.8-rc6

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Also, does this issue go away if you boot back into the prior kernel version?

[Removed by request (removed3425744)]

The issue still appears on the linked upstream kernel (4.8.0-040800rc6-generic) and the kernel from xenial (linux-image-4.4.0-36-generic).

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Do you know if there was a prior kernel that did not exhibit this bug?

[Removed by request (removed3425744)]

The issue appeared after changing from upstart to systemd a few days before so I can't tell you if this worked with a prior kernel and systemd. But with upstart I have never seen this behavior before.