libata transition renders fstab(5) entries useless, resulting in lost /home and all other disks

[alfredo]

Lost /home and all other mounted disks after upgrade by gutsy

After struggling with gutsy for 2 weeks now to get the b$%#@%$# to install, and being giving crap advice about authenticating the CD, which nobody knew how to fix (I kept fiddling with the authentication until I fixed it myself).

It finally finished, with a 'Restart' icon in the launch bar.

I clicked the Restart icon to reboot - then tried to log in ...
***ALL ACCOUNTS***, except root, HAD LOST THEIR HOME DIRECTORY.

After cursing long and without repetition, I got a root console (Alt-F1) logon and checked my hard drives. Out of my two hard drives, one with 4 partitions, the other 2, only one partition was working.

It finally dawned on me what someone (at Ubuntu?) in his twisted logic had done... my two disks were no longer hda and hdc.

Some one (at Ubuntu?) had replaced my two hard disk names with sda and sdc, thus rendering my /etc/fstab useless. I didn't ask for that, and I do not condone that action now.

Try the same logic in a car repair shop:
You upgrade your car's engine from a tired smoky one, to a new one from Mr Ubuntu.
The mechanic says (after the job's done, of course!):
"Oh, by the way, we did something to your car so that you, and anybody else, won't be able
to drive it on the roads any more, and we won't tell you why we did it! See if you can find out
what it was......"

Moderator: Please feel free to tone down or erase this posting so that nobody's feelings are hurt....but don't tell me why you did it...
.......
Please include, if possible:
The source package you found the bug in, for help see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage .
  -- I don't know.
1) The release of Ubuntu you are using, via 'lsb_release -rd' or System -> About Ubuntu.
  -- Ubuntu 7.10 - the Gutsy Gibbon
2) The version of the package you are using, via 'apt-cache policy packagename' or by checking in Synaptic.
  -- not applicable
3) What you expected to happen
  -- that users would be able to log on and do their work
4) What happened instead
  -- that nobody could log on

This bug is not a security vulnerability -- but it's the sort of thing to turn the Mum and Dad users back to Microsoft.....

[Ian Weisser (ian-weisser)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

[alfredo (alacis)]

Yes, IT'S STILL AN ISSUE!

You can't crap on people's work and expect them to take it lying down!

They have spend hours on fixing up fstab, and when you do a system upgrade, you fuck up their entire disk mapping.

What do you want people to think? That what you've done is push shit into people's mouths, and then to have them thank you for it?

I'm all for open stuff, don't get me wrong.... But don't pull down someone's work and expect gratitude.

[alfredo (alacis)]

Of course, I'm expecting that this Pompeian vomitorium overflow is still occurring.

Have we done anything to fix this? Like asking people what they want?

Like.......
"Your /etc/fstab appears to be non standard.
Would you like to keep your disk mapping, or do you want it to be blown away so that people cannot log on?"

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi alfredo,

While I understand your frustrations, let me kindly remind you to please be mindful of the Code of Conduct, http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct . I'm reassigning this to update-manager for now. If you could comment if this is still an issue when upgrading to say the latest Jaunty release though that would be great.

For anyone else following along, as noted in the bug title, the reason devices are showing up as /dev/sd* rather than /dev/hd* is because the kernel is now using the libata subsystem which makes all ATA devices appear with the /dev/sd* syntax. Thanks.

[alfredo (alacis)]

The problem is /not/ the change.

The problem is that /THERE/ /WAS/ /NO/ /WARNING/ !

The should have been some notice, at the beginning of the install, such as:

"WARNING. WARNING.
After the system is upgraded you will need to remap your drives from /hdX to /sdX.
This is due to a change in a driver in the Linux kernel.
For instructions on how to remap your drives, refer to http://..........
We apologise for any inconvenience."

Either that, or AUTOMATE the process so the mums and dads of this world are not left flummoxed.

Also, in the first post I purposefully did not use fuck and shit and so on. But IanW's question "is this still an issue" seemed completely insensitive -- as though he/she had not understood the issue in the first place. That's when I went completely ape & lost it.

I apologise to IanW - I'm sure you have a lot on your list.

Although this PC is now running Jaunty, it was via an install - not an upgrade, so I do not know .... wait for it...

is this still an issue?

If the drives are being mapped from /hdX to /sdX, AND NOTHING HAS BEEN FIXED IN THE UPGRADE SCRIPTS, then I may be going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing a very likely "yes".

[xteejx (xteejx)]

This bug report is being closed. You have failed to abide by the Code of Conduct, continued to swear and harass those helping you. In future, please bear in mind the majority of those that help you do not get paid to do this, so please be more courteous in future.
Note: If you break these rules again, the Launchpad staff WILL be notified and your account removed permanently.