Non-skippable filesystem check at boot time

[Peter Würtz]

In the past, whenever a filesystem check was forced at boot time the user was notified by a message on the splash screen and had the option to cancel the check by pressing "C".

At some point this situation regressed into the current state where:

1) There is no notification any more. The boot process won't complete for apparently no reason, showing an empty splash or simply black screen. You have to manually step through the consoles and find the one where the actual boot messages appear to find out that there is a fs check running.

2) There is no way of cancelling a fs check any more. This is most intolerable for a productive system since it renders you whole machine useless in a time where you need it to get some work done or if you want to start it for a presentation.

If Ubuntu enforces fs checks on boot a skip-option is an absolute requirement for users with large drives. For me, checking a 1TB drive takes 30 minutes! This wouldn't be much of an issue if Ubuntu let me choose when to check it, but it forces me to wait half an hour for a system I might be needing right now.

These long fsck times aren't uncommon, other users are reporting this as well:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1815997
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1436446

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: upstart 1.13.2-0ubuntu13.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-22.22-generic 3.19.8-ckt1
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-22-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1.1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Jul 2 09:01:24 2015
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-07-15 (351 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
ProcKernelCmdline: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.19.0-22-generic root=UUID=d4590e7b-385b-4c87-bdf1-bcf43bf33b5a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: upstart
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UpstartBugCategory: System
UpstartRunningSystemJobs:
 Error: command ['initctl', '--system', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: initctl: Name "com.ubuntu.Upstart" does not exist
UpstartRunningSystemVersion: Error: command ['initctl', '--system', 'version'] failed with exit code 1: initctl: Name "com.ubuntu.Upstart" does not exist

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

well, you've filed this bug against upstart, but your report shows you're running 15.04, which doesn't use upstart - it uses systemd.

This is quite possibly a regression in the experience due to missing integration between systemd and plymouth. Reassigning the bug.

[Peter Würtz (pwuertz)]

I don't remember at which Ubuntu version the regression appeared, but I am pretty sure it was before 15.04. But anyways it probably needs to be fixed between systemd and plymouth now.