Ubuntu
gnu-fdisk package

Bug #1390819
Comment #2

Comment 2 for bug 1390819

Revision history for this message

Evan Langlois (uudruid74) wrote on 2015-04-10: Re: [Bug 1390819] Re: fdisk/cfdisk crashes and wrong data

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you.

Here is blkid from util-linux 2.20.1 (libblkid 2.20.0, 19-Oct-2011)

ekl@Taro ~ $ blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="Elementary" UUID="7f117018-5bf9-4294-b268-a84176c057cc"
TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="GParted-live" TYPE="udf"
/dev/sda3: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="EFI" UUID="5D94-05DA" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sda4: LABEL="/home" UUID="e57eb743-b91c-401c-8a45-92bcec9f8ba2"
TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="Sabayon" UUID="09c2e3c2-28dd-4f36-80ae-8df05f18ae4b"
TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda6: LABEL="GuestSwap" UUID="cbbde82c-9fed-4af5-9c9c-69e2cef89032"
TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda7: LABEL="/media" UUID="8761ae41-8541-4e5a-8c3d-e35a063ad9b1"
TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda8: LABEL="HostSwap" UUID="46196490-44bc-45aa-9ebb-246b62387374"
TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda9: LABEL="Funtoo" UUID="7c3903a5-4a80-4c75-b616-cc8a6176e2dc"
TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda10: LABEL="TestSystem" UUID="20837010-382a-4bf7-81be-9a8b20503797"
TYPE="ext4"

ekl@Taro ~ $ parted
WARNING: You are not superuser. Watch out for permissions.
GNU Parted 2.3
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print
Model: ATA HGST HTS541075A9 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt

Now the above is the correct information that the kernel sees. Below you
will notice that the Funtoo partition and TestSystem are being shown with
the wrong partition numbers. Partitions 9 and 10 are "swapped". This is
going to lead to some problems. I've given the version numbers of each
tool in the output.

GNU cfdisk 1.2.5

                              ATA HGST HTS541075A9
        Disk: /dev/sda Disk type: gpt Size: 750156374015B, 750156MB
             Heads: 255 Sectors per track: 63 Cylinders: 91201

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.8
Disk /dev/sda: 1465149168 sectors, 698.6 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 7783E637-93FE-4C66-A370-04DC6F474E95
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1465149134
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 4446 sectors (2.2 MiB)

Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
   1 2048 122882047 58.6 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
   2 409610240 410019839 200.0 MiB 0700 GNU Parted
   3 1449801990 1450042964 117.7 MiB EF00 EFI System
   4 410019840 426403839 7.8 GiB 8300 Home
   5 1450043392 1465147391 7.2 GiB 8300 Sabayon
   6 426403840 430499839 2.0 GiB 8200 GuestSwap
   7 434595840 1449801727 484.1 GiB 8300 Storage
   8 430499840 434595839 2.0 GiB 8200 HostSwap
   9 122882048 245762047 58.6 GiB 8300 TestSystem
  10 245762048 409610239 78.1 GiB 8300 Funtoo

As you can see there is some subtle bug that both programs seem to share.

-- Evan

On Wed, Mar 18, 2015 at 1:35 PM Roderick Smith <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Please post example output; it's unclear to me what you mean by "showing
> opposite labels for my 9th and 10th partitions (GPT)." Also, be aware
> that the versions of fdisk and cfdisk delivered with Ubuntu through
> version 14.04 don't support GPT, although 14.10's fdisk and cfdisk add
> GPT support. Identifying the version of what you're running is
> critically important in this case.
>
> Furthermore, GPT fdisk (gdisk, cgdisk, and sgdisk) all share most of
> their code with each other, but almost none with the util-linux programs
> (fdisk, cfdisk, and sfdisk). If you're seeing what seems to be an
> inconsistency between fdisk and cfdisk and a similar inconsistency
> between gdisk and cgdisk, the most likely explanation that occurs to me
> is that your partitions are out of order -- both fdisk and gdisk display
> partitions by their sequence number (/dev/sda1 followed by /dev/sda2
> followed by /dev/sda3, and so on), whereas both cfdisk and cgdisk
> display partitions by their on-disk order (the partition that occupies
> the lowest-numbered sectors first, then the partition occupying the next
> sequence of sectors, and so on). The two sequences need not be the same;
> it's easy to generate a partition table in which /dev/sda10 comes before
> /dev/sda9 in terms of on-disk extents. GParted is like cfdisk and cgdisk
> in this respect. I don't recall what parted does, offhand.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1390819
>
> Title:
> fdisk/cfdisk crashes and wrong data
>
> Status in gnu-fdisk package in Ubuntu:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> This is an odd bug. cfdisk and fdisk are both showing opposite labels
> for my 9th and 10th partitions (GPT). The same bug is present in
> gdisk/cgdisk (likely shares the same code). blkid, the linux kernel,
> and parted/gparted show the correct partition table (or rather the
> kernel matches what I configured into gparted, so that defines
> "correct").
>
> Also, if you select "Info" when "Free Space" is highlighted in cfdisk,
> the program will crash.
>
> Partitioning disks and having it done in a manner that is
> deterministic and reliable is extremely important. It looks like the
> linux-tools packages are totally outdated and dangerous on new systems
> (don't support GPT), the gdisk/cgdisk packages only support GPT and
> are buggy, the gnu-fdisk packages share the bugs and instabilities of
> gdisk.
>
> Only parted/gparted is reliable. Please make note of this and either
> get someone to fix/upgrade gnu-fdisk or just cancel fdisk completely
> in support of parted.
>
> Thanks
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnu-fdisk/+bug/
> 1390819/+subscriptions
>

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you.

Here is blkid from util-linux 2.20.1 (libblkid 2.20.0, 19-Oct-2011)

ekl@Taro ~ $ parted
WARNING: You are not superuser.  Watch out for permissions.
GNU Parted 2.3
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print
Model: ATA HGST HTS541075A9 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name              Flags
 1      1049kB  62.9GB  62.9GB  ext4            Linux filesystem
 9      62.9GB  126GB   62.9GB  ext4            TestSystem
10      126GB   210GB   83.9GB  ext4            Funtoo
 2      210GB   210GB   210MB                   GNU Parted        msftdata
 4      210GB   218GB   8389MB  ext4            Home
 6      218GB   220GB   2097MB  linux-swap(v1)  GuestSwap
 8      220GB   223GB   2097MB  linux-swap(v1)  HostSwap
 7      223GB   742GB   520GB   ext4            Storage
 3      742GB   742GB   123MB   fat16           EFI System        boot
 5      742GB   750GB   7733MB  ext4            Sabayon

Now the above is the correct information that the kernel sees.  Below you
will notice that the Funtoo partition and TestSystem are being shown with
the wrong partition numbers.  Partitions 9 and 10 are "swapped".  This is
going to lead to some problems.  I've given the version numbers of each
tool in the output.

GNU cfdisk 1.2.5

ATA HGST HTS541075A9
        Disk: /dev/sda   Disk type: gpt    Size: 750156374015B, 750156MB
             Heads: 255   Sectors per track: 63   Cylinders: 91201

Number   Flags      Part Type   Filesystem        Label
 Size
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Primary     Free space
 1.03MB
      1                Primary     ext4              Linux filesys
 62915MB
      9                Primary     ext4              TestSystem
62915MB
     10                Primary     ext4              Funtoo
83890MB
      2                Primary                       GNU Parted
210MB
      4                Primary     ext4              Home
 8389MB
      6                Primary     linux-swap(v1)    GuestSwap
2097MB
      8                Primary     linux-swap(v1)    HostSwap
 2097MB
      7                Primary     ext4              Storage
519785MB
                       Primary     Free space
 0.13MB
      3     Bootable   Primary     fat16             EFI System
123MB
                       Primary     Free space
 0.22MB
      5                Primary     ext4              Sabayon
7733MB
                       Primary     Free space
 0.89MB

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048       122882047   58.6 GiB    8300  Linux filesystem
   2       409610240       410019839   200.0 MiB   0700  GNU Parted
   3      1449801990      1450042964   117.7 MiB   EF00  EFI System
   4       410019840       426403839   7.8 GiB     8300  Home
   5      1450043392      1465147391   7.2 GiB     8300  Sabayon
   6       426403840       430499839   2.0 GiB     8200  GuestSwap
   7       434595840      1449801727   484.1 GiB   8300  Storage
   8       430499840       434595839   2.0 GiB     8200  HostSwap
   9       122882048       245762047   58.6 GiB    8300  TestSystem
  10       245762048       409610239   78.1 GiB    8300  Funtoo

As you can see there is some subtle bug that both programs seem to share.

-- Evan

On Wed, Mar 18, 2015 at 1:35 PM Roderick Smith <rod.smith@canonical.com>
wrote:

> Please post example output; it's unclear to me what you mean by "showing
> opposite labels for my 9th and 10th partitions (GPT)." Also, be aware
> that the versions of fdisk and cfdisk delivered with Ubuntu through
> version 14.04 don't support GPT, although 14.10's fdisk and cfdisk add
> GPT support. Identifying the version of what you're running is
> critically important in this case.
>
> Furthermore, GPT fdisk (gdisk, cgdisk, and sgdisk) all share most of
> their code with each other, but almost none with the util-linux programs
> (fdisk, cfdisk, and sfdisk). If you're seeing what seems to be an
> inconsistency between fdisk and cfdisk and a similar inconsistency
> between gdisk and cgdisk, the most likely explanation that occurs to me
> is that your partitions are out of order -- both fdisk and gdisk display
> partitions by their sequence number (/dev/sda1 followed by /dev/sda2
> followed by /dev/sda3, and so on), whereas both cfdisk and cgdisk
> display partitions by their on-disk order (the partition that occupies
> the lowest-numbered sectors first, then the partition occupying the next
> sequence of sectors, and so on). The two sequences need not be the same;
> it's easy to generate a partition table in which /dev/sda10 comes before
> /dev/sda9 in terms of on-disk extents. GParted is like cfdisk and cgdisk
> in this respect. I don't recall what parted does, offhand.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1390819
>
> Title:
>   fdisk/cfdisk crashes and wrong data
>
> Status in gnu-fdisk package in Ubuntu:
>   New
>
> Bug description:
>   This is an odd bug.  cfdisk and fdisk are both showing opposite labels
>   for my 9th and 10th partitions (GPT).  The same bug is present in
>   gdisk/cgdisk (likely shares the same code).  blkid, the linux kernel,
>   and parted/gparted show the correct partition table (or rather the
>   kernel matches what I configured into gparted, so that defines
>   "correct").
>
>   Also, if you select "Info" when "Free Space" is highlighted in cfdisk,
>   the program will crash.
>
>   Partitioning disks and having it done in a manner that is
>   deterministic and reliable is extremely important.  It looks like the
>   linux-tools packages are totally outdated and dangerous on new systems
>   (don't support GPT), the gdisk/cgdisk packages only support GPT and
>   are buggy, the gnu-fdisk packages share the bugs and instabilities of
>   gdisk.
>
>   Only parted/gparted is reliable.  Please make note of this and either
>   get someone to fix/upgrade gnu-fdisk or just cancel fdisk completely
>   in support of parted.
>
>   Thanks
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnu-fdisk/+bug/
> 1390819/+subscriptions
>

Ubuntugnu-fdisk package

Comment 2 for bug 1390819

Ubuntu
gnu-fdisk package