Ubuntu 9.04 with file issues Cross posted by intent- we're supposed to compare notes on such problems - I hope.

Jack quiet_celt at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 3 14:33:13 CDT 2010


--- On Fri, 9/3/10, Hal Duston hal wrote:

> From: Hal Duston 
> Subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.04 with file issues Cross posted by intent- we're supposed to compare notes on such problems - I hope.
> To: kclug at kclug.org
> Date: Friday, September 3, 2010, 8:31 AM
> On Fri, Sep 03, 2010 at 07:32:39AM
> -0700, Jack wrote:
> > Dude, you're insane.
> > 
> > "Fsck -y" is like having unprotected sex with the
> entire adult
> > entertainment industry.
> > 
> > Please, anyone paying attention to this thread do not
> run "fsck -y".
> > That is just flat out dangerous, and could really
> screw up your fs.
> > Seriously, why did they ever add that option?  ...
> 
> Something to do with not wanting to press "y" 10,000 times,
> I expect.

Lol, well if you have 10,000 multiply linked inodes, your time would be better used in running fdisk rather than fsck. It was my impression the original poster only had a few multiply linked inodes.

My major issue with -y is that it takes control out of your hands, and if your goal is to attempt to preserve as much as possible, the -y option isn't likely to be helpful there. Remember the original poster wanted to do the least destructive path. Sometimes the right answer is to sit there and press yes 10,000 times (and bill accordingly). After all, fsck already does the best it can to fix the filesystem in the default configuration.

For an ext2/ext3 fs the "fsck -p" gives almost the same result. This will automatically fix any error that is "safe" to fix, without assuming an answer of "yes" to *every* question. Now if you know every question that fsck might possibly ask and know that you want to answer "yes" to all of those questions then it makes sense to use he "-y". I'm simply not that confident that I know all the questions should be answered "yes". But if you miss one question and it winds up deleting grub or some other system critical file like fsck, you might be totally screwed.

Brian



More information about the KCLUG mailing list