[SOLVED] fsck is confused / lying

STDOUBT · 03-31-2011, 06:59 AM

I have Lenny still running on a laptop (for various silly reasons I don't want to upgrade yet).
I boot this machine maybe 10 times per week. Last week fsck forced a check while I was on AC power. Everything went fine. Now, just a week or so later (after maybe 10 bootups), fsck forces another check stating the filesystem has been mounted 47 times... This is simply NOT true.
Does anyone have an idea of what might be going on here?
Many Thanks for clues!

EDIT:

Quote:

Originally Posted by widget

It is not that you have booted that many times. It is that the file system has been mounted x number of times.

I tested this with some kludgey bashrc commands. Thank you for the enlightenment, sir!

demosthenese · 03-31-2011, 08:26 AM

Do you have separate root and home partitions? Separate counts are kept for each if you do.

syg00 · 03-31-2011, 09:02 AM

User says "fsck is confused / lying"
Me says user versus Ted (presuming ext?) ....

Guess who I'm backing.

tommylovell · 03-31-2011, 10:13 AM

Presuming ext2/3.

You can always do a 'dumpe2fs -h /dev/<devicename>' after each reboot and check the "Mount count:".

Code:

[root@example ~]# dumpe2fs -h /dev/mapper/athlon-root 
dumpe2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)
.
.
.
Mount count:              11
Maximum mount count:      -1
Last checked:             Mon Mar 14 22:35:17 2011
Check interval:           0 (<none>)
.
.
.

And if "Maximum mount count: -1" and "Check interval: 0 (<none>)" (oops), you should change one or the other to occasionally force a 'fsck'.

Code:

[root@example ~]# tune2fs -i2w /dev/mapper/athlon-root 
tune2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)
Setting interval between checks to 1209600 seconds

[root@example ~]# dumpe2fs -h /dev/mapper/athlon-root 
dumpe2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)
.
.
.
Mount count:              11
Maximum mount count:      -1
Last checked:             Mon Mar 14 22:35:17 2011
Check interval:           1209600 (2 weeks)
Next check after:         Mon Mar 28 22:35:17 2011
.
.
.

I'm with syg00 on this one. Why would Lenny lie?

STDOUBT · 03-31-2011, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by demosthenese

Do you have separate root and home partitions? Separate counts are kept for each if you do.

Yes, separate / and /home partitions, both ext3.

Quote:

user versus Ted

I don't get this reference, but I think I understand your position.

Code:

example:/home/user# dumpe2fs -h /dev/mapper/sample-root 
.
.
Mount count:              4
Maximum mount count:      39
Last checked:             Thu Mar 31 04:46:13 2011
Check interval:           15552000 (6 months)
.
.

I understand why my "mounted 47 times" would happen visa vis my "Maximum mount count": on battery power, forced checks are skipped.

Code:

example:/home/user# dumpe2fs -h /dev/mapper/sample-home
.
.
Mount count:              15
Maximum mount count:      23
Last checked:             Thu Mar 24 03:46:15 2011
Check interval:           15552000 (6 months)
.
.

I'm guessing the difference in the "Maximum mount count" would be due to the idea that a root partition would need less frequent checking vs. a /home partition.

Anyway, if anyone has ideas for an explanation as to why fsck claims that I have booted 47 times when I know it was far less than that, I'd really appreciate it!

widget · 03-31-2011, 11:21 PM

I have no idea what you do on your box, like what else is installed or if you share files with another OS or computer.

That said, I get my / root partitions checked all the time with a similar message on this multi boot box that is used for testing (mainly Ubuntu pre-release versions).

You are somewhat incorrect as to the message. It is not that you have booted that many times. It is that the file system has been mounted x number of times.

If you are sharing files your /home file system is being mounted every time. I chroot into the test installs / partition to update/upgrade so the root partitions get mounted for that.

If I want to check files or maybe do some copy/paste of files or directories some installs file system is bing mounted to do those things.

This could be the case with you.

demosthenese · 04-01-2011, 09:13 AM

Could it be the first fsck was on your root partition, and several battery boots later, the second fsck was on your home partition?