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Tasklist

FS#32638 - [systemd] will not boot after deleted partition

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by jeff story (jeff story) - Tuesday, 13 November 2012, 23:38 GMT
Last edited by Dave Reisner (falconindy) - Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 22:28 GMT
Task Type Bug Report
Category Upstream Bugs
Status Closed
Assigned To Dave Reisner (falconindy)
Tom Gundersen (tomegun)
Architecture All
Severity Low
Priority Normal
Reported Version
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 0
Private No

Details

Description:
Deleted an extra media partition using gparted. Gparted pop up notification stated kernel does not know partition has been deleted and recommended reboot. Followed recommendation and rebooted.

System would not reboot, 3 attempts. Had to remove deleted partition entry from /etc/fstab before reboot was possible.

Additional info:
Perhaps systemd should be modified to show partition mount error from missing partition, but continue to startup system when required partitions are present so errors may be corrected.

* package version(s) gparted 0.14.0-1 systemd 195-2

* config and/or log files etc.


Steps to reproduce:
Delete unnecessary partition thats mounted in fstab, attempt to reboot prior to editing fstab to reflect changes.
This task depends upon

Closed by  Dave Reisner (falconindy)
Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 22:28 GMT
Reason for closing:  Not a bug
Additional comments about closing:  Working as intended. Fstab is critical config.
Comment by Dave Reisner (falconindy) - Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 16:19 GMT
What's the bug here? systemd times out waiting for a partition that doesn't show up because your config is wrong.
Comment by jeff story (jeff story) - Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 21:06 GMT
OK .... I'm not gonna debate with someone who's undoubtedly far beyond my Linux abilities.

I'm just a Linux user trying to point out an obvious show stopping problem that never occurred prior to implementing systemd.

Simple version: delete a partition in systemd and shut down, be prepared to boot into another OS to fix the problem that is a bug in systemd.

You want to say this is acceptable because I screwed up config .... thats fine for you and other "experts" but not for the other 50% of Linux "users" who WILL have issues with this.
Comment by Dave Reisner (falconindy) - Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 21:11 GMT
Why does this require booting into another OS to repair? You have a multitude of options (init=/bin/bash, break=postmount, systemd.unit=emergency), including the rescue shell that systemd drops you into when it times out. For the record, even initscripts has this behavior -- it's just quicker to give up and drop you into the rescue shell because it has no ability to wait on a device that may or may not show up. There's already been concern voiced upstream that the failing device should be shown. Beyond that, I'm not really sure what to tell you.
Comment by jeff story (jeff story) - Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 21:22 GMT
Additional info: Possibly a communication issue going on here?

I booted into my old Arch Linux install on same HDD, no problems, to fix (edit fstab) in the new Arch install using systemd.

The missing partition did not stop old Arch from booting, even though the same deleted partition entry was in its fstab.
Comment by jeff story (jeff story) - Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 21:30 GMT
My system did not give me a rescue shell that was usable in any normal way .... at least that would allow any input. Any input resulted in the same (cant remember error) showing up in the shell with no response to the input.
Comment by KaiSforza (KaiSforza) - Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 21:56 GMT
While I do think that systemd should be able to skip certain drives (have a non-essential flag for /home, or something), this doesn't seem to be an arch bug at all. It's a systemd bug, if it's a bug at all.

I've honestly had this happen to me before. I installed on a flash drive, didn't mount the swap partition, generated the fstab, and tried to boot. Of course it wouldn't boot. It's a simple matter of not having a broken system.
Comment by Dave Reisner (falconindy) - Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 22:27 GMT
The "required" partitions you mention are the ones you put in /etc/fstab. If you don't consider them essential then don't add them to the list of essential partitions or mark them with nofail. There's nothing to do here. If you don't like this behavior then I encourage you to file an upstream bug report.

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