e2fsck not checking filesystem despite tune2fs output saying it should

[Noel J. Bergman]

Binary package hint: plymouth

I've been getting a notice that my file system needs to be checked AFTER EVERY REBOOT lately. Finally, I decided to check the file system:

$ tune2fs -l /dev/sda5
tune2fs 1.41.11 (14-Mar-2010)
tune2fs: Permission denied while trying to open /dev/sda5
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.
noel@lucid:~$ tune2fs -l /dev/sda6
tune2fs 1.41.11 (14-Mar-2010)
tune2fs: Permission denied while trying to open /dev/sda6
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.
noel@lucid:~$ sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda6
Scan right index finger on UPEK TouchStrip

tune2fs 1.41.11 (14-Mar-2010)
Filesystem volume name: Ubuntu 10.04
Last mounted on: <not available>
Filesystem magic number: 0xEF53
Filesystem revision #: 1 (dynamic)
Filesystem features: has_journal ext_attr resize_inode dir_index filetype sparse_super large_file
Filesystem flags: signed_directory_hash
Default mount options: (none)
Filesystem state: clean
Errors behavior: Continue
Filesystem OS type: Linux
Inode count: 786864
Block count: 3146724
Reserved block count: 157336
Free blocks: 1955654
Free inodes: 586724
First block: 0
Block size: 4096
Fragment size: 4096
Reserved GDT blocks: 768
Blocks per group: 32768
Fragments per group: 32768
Inodes per group: 8112
Inode blocks per group: 507
Filesystem created: Sat Jun 20 20:05:05 2009
Last mount time: Thu Mar 25 20:49:43 2010
Last write time: Thu Mar 25 20:55:43 2010
Mount count: 33
Maximum mount count: 30
Last checked: Mon Dec 7 20:52:08 2009
Check interval: 15552000 (6 months)
Next check after: Sat Jun 5 21:52:08 2010
Reserved blocks uid: 0 (user root)
Reserved blocks gid: 0 (group root)
First inode: 11
Inode size: 256
Required extra isize: 28
Desired extra isize: 28
Journal inode: 8
Default directory hash: half_md4
Journal backup: inode blocks

Notice these lines:

    Last mount time: Thu Mar 25 20:49:43 2010
    Mount count: 33
    Maximum mount count: 30
    Last checked: Mon Dec 7 20:52:08 2009

fsck does not appear to be run at all, even when plymouth alleges to be doing so.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: plymouth 0.8.1-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-17.26-generic 2.6.32.10+drm33.1
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-17-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Mar 27 16:18:03 2010
InstallationMedia: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/installer/media-info'
MachineType: LENOVO 64577WU
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=ae69c138-346e-459a-857a-fc78e1bf34e9 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=C
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 VGA16 VGA
SourcePackage: plymouth
dmi.bios.date: 05/11/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 7LETC6WW (2.26 )
dmi.board.name: 64577WU
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr7LETC6WW(2.26):bd05/11/2009:svnLENOVO:pn64577WU:pvrThinkPadT61p:rvnLENOVO:rn64577WU:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 64577WU
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T61p
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

"plymouth" alleges nothing, these messages come from mountall. Reassigning.

[Noel J. Bergman (noeljb)]

@Steve, thanks for the re-assign and clarification. :-)

[Noel J. Bergman (noeljb)]

As of this morning, getting "mountall cannot connect to plymouth" message.

[323232 (323232)]

see also 554079: same message every boot + freeze when a real fsck takes place

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

Could you attach your /etc/fstab file?

[Noel J. Bergman (noeljb)]

Also attaching boot.log and mountall --debug output

[Noel J. Bergman (noeljb)]

Attaching mountall --debug and tune2fs output. Interestingly, the latter has:

Last mount time: Tue Apr 6 23:32:24 2010
Last write time: Tue Apr 6 23:40:31 2010
Mount count: 34
Maximum mount count: 30
Last checked: Mon Dec 7 20:52:08 2009

The mount count has barely incremented, and I assure you that the file system has been mounted many times since April 6, both as the booted partition and mounted from another partition when I do a backup.

mountall: 2.13
plymouth: 0.8.2-2

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

This confirms that fsck is being run - and is not checking the filesystem

[Theodore Ts'o (tytso)]

Um, is the "ro" option getting passed to the kernel so that the root file system is mounted read-only? Fsck will only check a mounted file system if it is the root file system and it is mounted read-only, and the logs seems to imply / was checked pretty late in the game, and it was reported as "mounted".

[Noel J. Bergman (noeljb)]

It worked after a reboot today, as noted by tune2fs:

Last mount time: Sat May 8 23:31:59 2010
Last write time: Sat May 8 23:22:59 2010
Mount count: 1
Maximum mount count: 34
Last checked: Sat May 8 23:22:59 2010