[Pkg-zfsonlinux-devel] Bug#1036642: zfsutils-linux: Fix description in man page for periodic scrubs (Debian's own implementation not explained & OpenZFS unit files missing)

[Felix Stupp]

Package: zfsutils-linux
Version: 2.1.11-1
Severity: normal


Dear maintainer,

in the man page zpool-scrub(8), the OpenZFS maintainers explain how an
admin can setup automatic periodic scrubs on machines using systemd.
The explanation refers to the unit files which they want to be included
in each OpenZFS Installation. See the files
`zfs-scrub-{weekly,monthly}@.{service,timer}.in in:
https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/tree/master/etc/systemd/system

1. The Debian installation of OpenZFS do not include those both files,
making the explanation in the man page not helpful. Either should those
be included in future ZFS installations (which I would prefer, as it
gives the people the most options) or this section of the man page
should be changed.

2. In the Debian Wiki, there is an explanation about a Debian specific
implementation of auto scrub, which automatically scrubs all pools (with
an opt-out), see https://wiki.debian.org/ZFS#Auto_Scrub_of_all_pools .
I think the existance of this mechanism should also be explained in this
man page, otherwise admins, especially ones, which might know ZFS
already from other plattforms might run into the problem of multiple
auto scrub timers running.

(I'm not personally a fan of the opt-out as, on my PC, most pools are on
external drives, which I currently work with & scrub manually, so I have
it permanently disabled on my system by changing the cron file, and opt
in for internal pools by using a systemd timer with Persistent=True. I
can understand why its implemented in the first place, so at least a
hint in that man page would be nice. I found out about this by accident
as I don't really use the Debian Wiki as long as man pages & general
documentation on the Internet are good enough.)

If you have any further questions, just ask.
Thanks for reading & fixing this & in general thanks for packaging ZFS
for Debian.

Felix Stupp


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 12.0
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (550, 'testing'), (500, 'testing-security'), (500, 'stable-security'), (400, 'stable-updates'), (400, 'stable'), (350, 'oldstable-updates'), (350, 'oldstable'), (110, 'unstable'), (102, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 6.1.0-9-amd64 (SMP w/12 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages zfsutils-linux depends on:
ii  init-system-helpers  1.65.2
ii  libblkid1            2.38.1-5+b1
ii  libc6                2.36-9
ii  libnvpair3linux      2.1.11-1
ii  libuuid1             2.38.1-5+b1
ii  libuutil3linux       2.1.11-1
ii  libzfs4linux         2.1.11-1
ii  libzpool5linux       2.1.11-1
ii  python3              3.11.2-1+b1

Versions of packages zfsutils-linux recommends:
ii  zfs-dkms [zfs-modules]  2.1.11-1
ii  zfs-zed                 2.1.11-1

Versions of packages zfsutils-linux suggests:
ii  nfs-kernel-server           1:2.6.2-4
pn  samba-common-bin            <none>
pn  zfs-initramfs | zfs-dracut  <none>

-- Configuration Files:
/etc/cron.d/zfsutils-linux changed [not included]
/etc/sudoers.d/zfs [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/etc/sudoers.d/zfs'

-- no debconf information
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