Bug#754340: Unable to run fsck manually when instructed to do so

[Michael Biebl]

Am 13.07.2014 22:17, schrieb Bas Wijnen:
> On Sat, Jul 12, 2014 at 12:59:04AM +0200, Michael Biebl wrote:
>> Am 12.07.2014 00:34, schrieb Bas Wijnen:
>>> When fsck failed with this message before, I could do:
>>> mount / -o remount,ro
>>> fsck /
>>>
>>> Now, and I'm guessing this is a change on the part of systemd, that
>>> first command (remount read-only) fails with the message that the file
>>> system is busy.  Having no bootable computer and thus no internet, I was
>>> unable to figure out what was keeping it busy, and how I was supposed to
>>> stop it.  This is the information that I think should be part of the
>>> "please run fsck manually"-message, because that won't work without it.
>>
>> I think there is no general answer to that.
>> There most likely simply was a process keeping your (root) fs busy.
>> So I would have tried stopping one service after another.
> 
> I didn't start any processes.  The problem happened in fsck, at which
> point no process should be allowed to write to the file system (except
> fsck itself).  After failing, it gave me a rescue shell with which I
> cannot remount the fs read-only.  I think whatever is keeping it busy
> must have been started just before spawning that shell?  Or is it the
> shell itself?
> 
> I'd be fine with stopping all services, but I'm not familiar with how to
> do that either.  If this is the solution, please add that instruction to
> the message.  But would services which prevent the disk from being
> remounted read-only be started before fsck is finished?  The rescue
> shell is part of fsck, I think(?), so nothing should have been started
> after it failed.
> 

Since we don't know what kept your fs busy, I'm at a loss how we are
supposed to write instructions/documentation.

Could you boot into single user mode (via the "single" kernel command
line option) and test if you can remount / ro.

This rescue mode should be similar / the same what you get when fsck fails.

If your fs is busy, start with dumping the ps output and the systemctl
output, so we can which processes / services are running.


-- 
Why is it that all of the instruments seeking intelligent life in the
universe are pointed away from Earth?

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