umount doesn't understand relative mount point names (leading "/" missing)

[Jarno Suni]

I am using Xubuntu 8.04.

$ ls /media
cdrom cdrom0 disk
$ cd /
$ umount media/disk/
/sbin/umount.hal: media/disk is not recognized by hal

I would expect it to unmount. Anyway, this works:
$ umount /media/disk/

As for my problems in ejecting an USB disk, see Bug #224628.

Sorry for misleading summary for those who have commented. Maybe you can make a new bug report about your issue.

[Alexi Helligar (alexih)]

I am using Ubuntu 8.04. This problem occurs for me when a disk volume is improperly disconnected during a session. When the disk is reconnected, oftentimes, two icons for the volume will appear on the desktop. The second volume can be unmounted normally, but the original "orphaned" icon always appears on the desktop until the next reboot.

The attached screenshot shows the problem. Here we have two "VM" volumes displayed on the desktop and in the filesystem tree. One volume works fine, the other is orphaned. When attempting to unmount the orphaned volume, the error message referenced in this thread appears.

It looks to me like there should be a way to unmount or clear these orphaned volumes without having to reboot, but currently there is no solution that I know of. Help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Alexi Helligar (alexih)]

Okay, on further investigation, I have found that I can remove the "orphaned" volume by first unmounting the active volume, then running the "mount" command. The list generated showed the device name and mount point for the orphaned volume. I then ran the "sudo umount <device_name> && rm -r <mount_point>". This removed the orphaned volume and mount point.

It still would be nice to have an more graceful way to clean up orphaned volumes in the GUI.

Cheers.

[Patrick Kilgore (patrick-kilgore)]

hank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately we can't fix it, because your description didn't include enough information.

Please include the information requested at [WWW] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingHardwareDetection as separate attachments.

[Hawk (rthawkcom)]

He is right. I'm getting the same problem. If anyone owns a Blackberry (basically a USB drive) and uses the computer to charge it, repeated plugging and unplugging will eventually lead to having multiple copies of "BLACKBERRY" building up on the desktop GUI. Some will unmount. Others will give the error "/sbin/unmount.hal: /media/BLACKBERRY is not recognized by hal" After this happens, you will no longer be able to access files on your Blackberry.

Screenshot of the error attached:

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

I couldn't report this bug against linux-source-2.6.24 package; launchpad claims it is a binary package.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Thanks for reporting this bug and any supporting documentation. Since this bug has enough information provided for a developer to begin work, I'm going to mark it as confirmed and let them handle it from here. Thanks for taking the time to make Ubuntu better!

I am suggesting this be marked as wishlist, since the expected behavior is not the default in any version of Linux that I know of. The leading "/" is always required from top-level directories. Perhaps defining an alias or function could be done to automatically add this when necessary, but it must also be removed when necessary. For example,
     media/cdrom
fails, but so does
     /USER/Documents
if USER is a subdirectory. /home/USER/Documents is the correct directory. Using the leading "/" for non top-level directories fails.

For those with issues other than reading the directories with/without the leading "/", please file a new bug report. Thanks for helping.

[dino99 (9d9)]

no recent acivity; closing.

http://www.iloveubuntu.net/may-9th-2013-sees-end-life-ubuntu-804-hardy-heron-server-ubuntu-1004-lucid-lynx-desktop-and-ubuntu