FS#19805 - Installer applies filesystem changes without user permission

Attached to Project: Release Engineering
Opened by Mihai Militaru (akephalos) - Tuesday, 15 June 2010, 13:39 GMT
Last edited by Dieter Plaetinck (Dieter_be) - Thursday, 09 December 2010, 09:29 GMT
Task Type Bug Report
Category AIF
Status Closed
Assigned To Dieter Plaetinck (Dieter_be)
Architecture All
Severity Critical
Priority Normal
Reported Version 2010.05
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 4
Private No

Details

Using the installer to edit the partitions will apply the format changes even if the user chooses "Cancel" instead of "OK". An user is trapped into formatting the partitions without intention (in case of a mistake, mistype, keyboard malfunctioning, etc), possibly leading to severe loss of data. Only in case of a warning (for example no separate /boot partition) the user has the chance to realize what's going to happen and stop the operation, cancelling again or pressing Ctrl+C.

To reproduce:
- boot from the Arch installation ISO - I tried the dual boot cd - both architectures and the x86_64 image.
- run through the setup steps until reaching "Prepare Hard Drives"
- (optionally) Manually Partition Hard Drives
- enter "Manually Configure block devices, filesystems and mountpoints"
- choose a mount method (I tried both "dev" and "label")
- configure your future partitions with new filesystem types, make sure you have a separate /boot partition and a swap one. These changes _will apply_ so take care
(I used more configurations, eg: /boot 50m ext2, swap 1000m, / 1000m ext4, /home 2000m xfs)
- at this point you change your mind, and press Alt+C or select and activate the "Cancel" button

Now the message window appears, the labelling, formatting and mounting operations begin.
This task depends upon

Closed by  Dieter Plaetinck (Dieter_be)
Thursday, 09 December 2010, 09:29 GMT
Reason for closing:  Fixed
Comment by Mihai Militaru (akephalos) - Tuesday, 15 June 2010, 14:02 GMT
It was suggested to me to check the filesystem UUIDs and creation date, I did it and can confirm that the formatting actually happen.
Comment by Robert Ransom (rransom) - Wednesday, 11 August 2010, 01:02 GMT
I've added a warning about this bug to the Beginners' Guide.
Comment by Mihai Militaru (akephalos) - Wednesday, 11 August 2010, 01:38 GMT
@rransom: I edited the warning specifying what release this problem is found in, and to press Ctrl+C to get over this, instead of rebooting. I hope this is fine for you.
Comment by Robert Ransom (rransom) - Wednesday, 11 August 2010, 03:40 GMT
> I edited the warning specifying what release this problem is found in,

I removed that change, partly because it was not worded well, and partly because the Beginners' Guide is intended to describe the setup process with current installation media. Thanks for suggesting Ctrl-C as a way to leave the installer, though; I didn't know whether that would work.
Comment by Dieter Plaetinck (Dieter_be) - Wednesday, 11 August 2010, 10:22 GMT
this should be easy to patch.
Comment by Mr. K. (KitchM) - Tuesday, 30 November 2010, 20:23 GMT
I would agree. I hope it is fixed soon. The boot CD should allow a user to do a non-destructive OS-only install, and while that is implied, it is not clearly defined. So perhaps it already exists, but the user wouldn't know. Automatic safeguards are a simple and useful necessity.
Comment by Dieter Plaetinck (Dieter_be) - Thursday, 09 December 2010, 09:28 GMT
This issue is now fixed in aif-git:
http://projects.archlinux.org/aif.git/commit/?id=c9b9f86c9debc4564b354cbdc29daa9ccaa71169

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