Activity log for bug #1379902

Date Who What changed Old value New value Message
2014-10-10 18:59:01 Jason Gerard DeRose bug added bug
2014-10-10 19:06:50 Jason Gerard DeRose description mkfs.ext4 (and friends) behave differently on Utopic vs Trusty when an existing filesystem is present on the partition you're formatting. On Utopic, mkfs.ext4 will prompt you to confirm overwriting of the existing filesystem, which makes it difficult to use non-interactively compared to how it worked on Trusty. You can work-around this using the -F option, but from the man page, this option seems rather too broad in terms of the "dangerous" behaviors it allows: -F Force mke2fs to create a filesystem, even if the specified device is not a partition on a block special device, or if other parameters do not make sense. In order to force mke2fs to create a filesystem even if the filesystem appears to be in use or is mounted (a truly dangerous thing to do), this option must be specified twice. To me it seems mkfs.ext4 (and friends) really needs something like the `apt-get -y` option: only allow for this specific scenario to be used non-interactively, without all the overly permissive possibilities triggered by -F. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10 Package: e2fsprogs 1.42.10-1.1ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-21.28-generic 3.16.4 Uname: Linux 3.16.0-21-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu5 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Fri Oct 10 12:51:00 2014 EcryptfsInUse: Yes SourcePackage: e2fsprogs UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-09-25 (14 days ago) mkfs.ext4 (and friends) behave differently on Utopic vs Trusty when an existing filesystem is present on the partition you're formatting. On Utopic, mkfs.ext4 will prompt you to confirm overwriting of the existing filesystem, which makes it difficult to use non-interactively compared to how it worked on Trusty. You can work-around this using the -F option, but from the man page, this option seems rather too broad in terms of the "dangerous" behaviors it allows: """ -F Force mke2fs to create a filesystem, even if the specified device is not a partition on a block special device, or if other parameters do not make sense. In order to force mke2fs to create a filesystem even if the filesystem appears to be in use or is mounted (a truly dangerous thing to do), this option must be specified twice. """ To me it seems mkfs.ext4 (and friends) really need something like the `apt-get -y` option: only allow for this specific scenario to be used non-interactively, without all the overly permissive possibilities triggered by -F. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10 Package: e2fsprogs 1.42.10-1.1ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-21.28-generic 3.16.4 Uname: Linux 3.16.0-21-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu5 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Fri Oct 10 12:51:00 2014 EcryptfsInUse: Yes SourcePackage: e2fsprogs UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-09-25 (14 days ago)
2014-10-10 19:24:06 Jason Gerard DeRose description mkfs.ext4 (and friends) behave differently on Utopic vs Trusty when an existing filesystem is present on the partition you're formatting. On Utopic, mkfs.ext4 will prompt you to confirm overwriting of the existing filesystem, which makes it difficult to use non-interactively compared to how it worked on Trusty. You can work-around this using the -F option, but from the man page, this option seems rather too broad in terms of the "dangerous" behaviors it allows: """ -F Force mke2fs to create a filesystem, even if the specified device is not a partition on a block special device, or if other parameters do not make sense. In order to force mke2fs to create a filesystem even if the filesystem appears to be in use or is mounted (a truly dangerous thing to do), this option must be specified twice. """ To me it seems mkfs.ext4 (and friends) really need something like the `apt-get -y` option: only allow for this specific scenario to be used non-interactively, without all the overly permissive possibilities triggered by -F. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10 Package: e2fsprogs 1.42.10-1.1ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-21.28-generic 3.16.4 Uname: Linux 3.16.0-21-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu5 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Fri Oct 10 12:51:00 2014 EcryptfsInUse: Yes SourcePackage: e2fsprogs UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-09-25 (14 days ago) mkfs.ext4 (and friends) behave differently on Utopic vs Trusty when an existing filesystem is present on the partition you're formatting. On Utopic, mkfs.ext4 will prompt you to confirm overwriting of the existing filesystem, which makes it difficult to use non-interactively compared to how it worked on Trusty. You can work-around this using the -F option, but from the man page, this option seems rather too broad in terms of the "dangerous" behaviors it allows: """ -F Force mke2fs to create a filesystem, even if the specified device is not a partition on a block special device, or if other parameters do not make sense. In order to force mke2fs to create a filesystem even if the filesystem appears to be in use or is mounted (a truly dangerous thing to do), this option must be specified twice. """ To me it seems mkfs.ext4 (and friends) really need something like the `apt-get -y` option: only allow for this specific scenario to be used non-interactively, without all the overly permissive possibilities triggered by -F. This behavior change caused problems for the System76 imaging system. I imagine it could likewise cause problems for Ubiquity, assuming it doesn't already have a work-around. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10 Package: e2fsprogs 1.42.10-1.1ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-21.28-generic 3.16.4 Uname: Linux 3.16.0-21-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu5 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Fri Oct 10 12:51:00 2014 EcryptfsInUse: Yes SourcePackage: e2fsprogs UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-09-25 (14 days ago)
2014-10-10 19:28:03 Jason Gerard DeRose description mkfs.ext4 (and friends) behave differently on Utopic vs Trusty when an existing filesystem is present on the partition you're formatting. On Utopic, mkfs.ext4 will prompt you to confirm overwriting of the existing filesystem, which makes it difficult to use non-interactively compared to how it worked on Trusty. You can work-around this using the -F option, but from the man page, this option seems rather too broad in terms of the "dangerous" behaviors it allows: """ -F Force mke2fs to create a filesystem, even if the specified device is not a partition on a block special device, or if other parameters do not make sense. In order to force mke2fs to create a filesystem even if the filesystem appears to be in use or is mounted (a truly dangerous thing to do), this option must be specified twice. """ To me it seems mkfs.ext4 (and friends) really need something like the `apt-get -y` option: only allow for this specific scenario to be used non-interactively, without all the overly permissive possibilities triggered by -F. This behavior change caused problems for the System76 imaging system. I imagine it could likewise cause problems for Ubiquity, assuming it doesn't already have a work-around. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10 Package: e2fsprogs 1.42.10-1.1ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-21.28-generic 3.16.4 Uname: Linux 3.16.0-21-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu5 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Fri Oct 10 12:51:00 2014 EcryptfsInUse: Yes SourcePackage: e2fsprogs UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-09-25 (14 days ago) mkfs.ext4 (and friends) behave differently on Utopic vs Trusty when an existing filesystem is present on the partition you're formatting. On Utopic, mkfs.ext4 will prompt you to confirm overwriting of the existing filesystem, which makes it difficult to use non-interactively compared to how it worked on Trusty. You can work-around this using the -F option, but from the man page, this option seems rather too broad in terms of the "dangerous" behaviors it allows: """ -F Force mke2fs to create a filesystem, even if the specified device is not a partition on a block special device, or if other parameters do not make sense. In order to force mke2fs to create a filesystem even if the filesystem appears to be in use or is mounted (a truly dangerous thing to do), this option must be specified twice. """ To me, it seems mkfs.ext4 (and friends) really need something like the `apt-get -y` option: only allow for this specific scenario to be used non-interactively, without all the overly permissive possibilities triggered by -F. This behavior change caused problems for the System76 imaging system. I imagine it could likewise cause problems for Ubiquity, assuming it doesn't already have a work-around. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10 Package: e2fsprogs 1.42.10-1.1ubuntu1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-21.28-generic 3.16.4 Uname: Linux 3.16.0-21-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu5 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Fri Oct 10 12:51:00 2014 EcryptfsInUse: Yes SourcePackage: e2fsprogs UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-09-25 (14 days ago)
2014-10-10 19:47:20 Jason Gerard DeRose summary mkfs.ext4 and friends need a safer option for non-interactive use when existing filesystem is present mkfs.ext4 [Utopic+] needs a safer option for non-interactive use when existing filesystem is present