[Bug 364365] New: Change message "unknown partition table" to something less irritating
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User casualprogrammer@yahoo.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c299704 Summary: Change message "unknown partition table" to something less irritating Product: openSUSE 11.0 Version: Alpha 2 Platform: x86 OS/Version: openSUSE 11.0 Status: NEW Severity: Enhancement Priority: P5 - None Component: Basesystem AssignedTo: bnc-team-screening@forge.provo.novell.com ReportedBy: casualprogrammer@yahoo.com QAContact: qa@suse.de Found By: Beta-Customer As learned from Bug #299704 and Bug #300894 as well as http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/ there does not have to be a partition table for media < 2GB which includes Floppies and many flash media. While it seems reasonable to check for a (valid) partition table, I suggest that the reporting is changed to something less confusing than "unknown partition table", as this implies that there is something wrong with the media, while in fact, it just doesn't need a partition table and therefore has none. In the cases of bugs 299704 and 300894 looking at the MBR after having read http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/ makes it obvious that there is no partition table at all, as the space used for it contains messages. So the message "unknown partition table" should be reserved for cases, where a structure is present that resembles a partition table, but has a format not known to Linux. In cases where the partition table is absent because its not needed, the message should either be suppressed or worded accordingly. As people (especially when not power users) tend to get quite upset when they are confronted with missing or corrupted partition tables this should be fixed quite soon. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 Andreas Jaeger <aj@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AssignedTo|bnc-team-screening@forge.provo.novell.com |fehr@novell.com -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User casualprogrammer@yahoo.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c1 --- Comment #1 from Casual J. Programmer <casualprogrammer@yahoo.com> 2008-02-23 10:24:11 MST --- After googling for "unknown partition table" it turns out that quite a few people are mislead to believe something is wrong with their media. A similar request as this one can be found at http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=463758 -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fehr@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c2 Thomas Fehr <fehr@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEW |NEEDINFO Info Provider| |casualprogrammer@yahoo.com --- Comment #2 from Thomas Fehr <fehr@novell.com> 2008-02-25 02:15:23 MST --- Where exactly have you seen the text "unknown partition table"? -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User casualprogrammer@yahoo.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c3 Casual J. Programmer <casualprogrammer@yahoo.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEEDINFO |NEW Info Provider|casualprogrammer@yahoo.com | --- Comment #3 from Casual J. Programmer <casualprogrammer@yahoo.com> 2008-02-25 03:06:24 MST --- Bug 299704 comment #3, Bug 300894 comment #0 -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fehr@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c4 Thomas Fehr <fehr@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC| |fehr@novell.com AssignedTo|fehr@novell.com |kernel-maintainers@forge.provo.novell.com Component|Basesystem |Kernel --- Comment #4 from Thomas Fehr <fehr@novell.com> 2008-02-25 03:15:24 MST --- So this is really a request to our kernel developers. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c5 Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC| |fseidel@novell.com --- Comment #5 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2008-02-25 03:47:49 MST --- After taking a closer look it seems like initially this was the case as the kernel reported "unable to read partition table" (but which probably doesn't sound much better to users anyway) in the case of no partition table. It seems like the upstream commit 57881dd9df40b76dc7fc6a0d13fd75f337accb32 (by suzuki@in.ibm.com on 2006-12-06) made this part unreachable. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEW |ASSIGNED -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c6 Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AssignedTo|kernel-maintainers@forge.provo.novell.com |fseidel@novell.com --- Comment #6 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2008-02-27 08:16:34 MST --- No, my previous note was wrong. On a correct media with no partition table nothing is mentioned at all. The message you are observing (investigated the mbrs of you from bug #299704) shows that there are the msdos label magic bytes (offset 510 and 511) set correctly, but on verifying if bootable indicator is set correctly (to 0 or 0x80) it only finds garbage at 0x1be. So, it seems your mbr is not only without a partition table but also has a abnormal structure. I verified (with multiple medias, formated via mkfs.vfat and from windows (vista)) and never got a "unknown partition table" message. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c7 Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|ASSIGNED |RESOLVED Resolution| |INVALID --- Comment #7 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2008-02-27 08:20:57 MST --- So, as those mbrs - besides the absent partition table - aren't regular ones this message is imho adequate. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User casualprogrammer@yahoo.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c8 Casual J. Programmer <casualprogrammer@yahoo.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|RESOLVED |REOPENED Resolution|INVALID | --- Comment #8 from Casual J. Programmer <casualprogrammer@yahoo.com> 2008-02-27 08:35:00 MST --- As the message "unknown partition table" just references an absent partition table it has nothing to do with "garbage at 0x1be" nor does it hint to that end. If "garbage at 0x1be" is worth investigating, it should be worth it's own (error)message then. The way you point it out makes the message even more obscure. So why this should be "adequate" iyho is beyond my intellectual capacities. Please come up with something reasonable. Besides: all the media were formatted with (my copy of) Windows XP professional. So there might be some XP magic code here. Also XP will report a Diskette or MMC with partition table as "not formatted" and refuse to touch it. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c9 --- Comment #9 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2008-02-27 09:10:17 MST --- (In reply to comment #8 from Casual J. Programmer)
As the message "unknown partition table" just references an absent partition table
No, that is wrong. A plane absent partition table does not lead to a "unknown partition table" message.
it has nothing to do with "garbage at 0x1be" nor does it hint to that end.
Of course the default logging isn't that detailed and in your case it definitly has to do with the unregular value at 0x1be.
If "garbage at 0x1be" is worth investigating, it should be worth it's own (error)message then.
No, "garbage at 0x1be" is the point of failure for your special mbr, but "unknown partition table" is imho perfectly valid in that case. Your partition table _is unknown_, so why should it tell anything different.
The way you point it out makes the message even more obscure. So why this should be "adequate" iyho is beyond my intellectual capacities. Please come up with something reasonable.
I hope the above made it mode clear.
Also XP will report a Diskette or MMC with partition table as "not formatted" and refuse to touch it.
XP also can cope with sd and mmc medias with and without a partition table on it. But anyway, what is valid: if this is a general point of problem with medias formated via XP it should be detected and handled accordingly. I will investigate if there is a general way to solve this. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c10 --- Comment #10 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2008-02-27 14:07:25 MST --- Created an attachment (id=197515) --> (https://bugzilla.novell.com/attachment.cgi?id=197515) possible fix for detection of not partitioned fat medias this is just a rough first try (but which is tested and works here without problems) -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User olh@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c13 --- Comment #13 from Olaf Hering <olh@novell.com> 2008-02-28 01:15:25 MST --- Ask lkml if the approach is acceptable. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User casualprogrammer@yahoo.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c14 --- Comment #14 from Casual J. Programmer <casualprogrammer@yahoo.com> 2008-02-28 05:49:40 MST --- Not sure what I am missing: fs/partitions/msdos.c: In function ‘msdos_partition’: fs/partitions/msdos.c:446: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type fs/partitions/msdos.c:446: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type fs/partitions/msdos.c:446: error: implicit declaration of function ‘FAT_VALID_MEDIA’ fs/partitions/msdos.c:446: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type make[2]: *** [fs/partitions/msdos.o] Error 1 make[1]: *** [fs/partitions] Error 2 make: *** [fs] Error 2 /* * Now that the 55aa signature is present, this is probably * either the boot sector of a FAT filesystem or a DOS-type * partition table. Reject this in case the boot indicator * is not 0 or 0x80. */ fb = (struct fat_boot_sector *) data; 446 if (fb->reserved && fb->fats && FAT_VALID_MEDIA(fb->media)) { printk("\n"); put_dev_sector(sect); return 1; } p = (struct partition *) (data + 0x1be); for (slot = 1; slot <= 4; slot++, p++) { if (p->boot_ind != 0 && p->boot_ind != 0x80) { put_dev_sector(sect); return 0; } } -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c15 --- Comment #15 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2008-02-28 06:47:00 MST --- Seems like you didn't correctly apply my patch .. as most probably its first hunk (the include of linux/msdos_fs.h) is missing. At least that would directly explain the error. Even when correctly applied there is a warning issued that a comparison would always be true. But that one is totally harmless (and also misleading). The used FAT_VALID_MEDIA macro contains a subexpression (x <= 0xFF, which here is always true as x is a unsigned 8bit var) that isn't really needed but also does no harm. I already sent the patch upstream and am now waiting for feedback from there. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User casualprogrammer@yahoo.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c16 --- Comment #16 from Casual J. Programmer <casualprogrammer@yahoo.com> 2008-02-28 08:11:16 MST --- ".. as most probably its first hunk (the include of linux/msdos_fs.h) is missing." How very true :-( -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c17 Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attachment #197515|0 |1 is obsolete| | --- Comment #17 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2008-03-03 03:57:11 MST --- Created an attachment (id=198218) --> (https://bugzilla.novell.com/attachment.cgi?id=198218) patch v2 just for record.. this is the new version of the patch i did after some upstream discussions -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c18 --- Comment #18 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2008-03-03 04:00:23 MST --- btw this will only compile with mm kernel tree currently as it requires another patch fixing the the FAT_VALID_MEDIA macro there -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c19 Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|REOPENED |RESOLVED Resolution| |FIXED --- Comment #19 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2008-03-05 06:05:19 MST --- commited patch v3 (besides a Acked-by: OGAWA Hirofumi and a small comment identical to v2) to cvs -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User kpunjabi@ubicom.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c20 Kunal Punjabi <kpunjabi@ubicom.com> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC| |kpunjabi@ubicom.com --- Comment #20 from Kunal Punjabi <kpunjabi@ubicom.com> 2009-02-03 19:20:28 MST --- (In reply to comment #19)
commited patch v3 (besides a Acked-by: OGAWA Hirofumi and a small comment identical to v2) to cvs
Hi Frank, I don't see your patch in the kernel version 2.6.28 linux-2.6.x\fs\partitions\msdos.c Without the patch, I was seeing a very similar problem. Certain valid FAT formatted USB drives/media (Lexar, Kingston Traveldrives) were not being detected by Linux and were causing an "unknown partition table" message even though the media is valid (can be accessed via XP) and/or has no partition table. Has the patch either been approved, checked in or committed? Thanks. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c21 --- Comment #21 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2009-02-04 04:29:35 MST --- The patch has been approved and went into Andrew Mortons mm-tree. But i haven't tracked if it also went into linus' tree. Could well be it was missed. I haven't checked that. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365 User fseidel@novell.com added comment https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=364365#c22 --- Comment #22 from Frank Seidel <fseidel@novell.com> 2009-02-04 04:35:42 MST --- Ok, i just checked linus git tree and found it. So it is in: My patch is in commit 0607fd02587a6b4b086dc746d63123c1f284db68 from April 28th 2008. commit 0607fd02587a6b4b086dc746d63123c1f284db68 Author: Frank Seidel <fseidel@suse.de> Date: Mon Apr 28 02:16:31 2008 -0700 fat: detect media without partition table correctly I received a complaint that some FAT formated medias (e.g. sd memory cards) trigger a "unknown partition table" message even though there is no partition table and they work correctly, while in general (when e.g. formated with mkdosfs or even Windows Vista) this message is not shown. Currently this seems only to happen when the medias get formatted with Windows XP (and possibly Win 2000). Then the boot indicator byte contains garbage (part of text message) and so do the other parts checked by msdos_paritition which then later triggers this message. References: novell bug #364365 Most fat formatted media without partition table contains zeros in the boot indication and the other tested bytes and so falls through the checks in msdos_partition, leading it to return with 1 (all is fine). But some (e.g. WinXP formatted) fat fomated medias don't use boot_ind and so the check fails and causes a "unkown partition table" warning eventhough there is none and everything would be fine. This additional check directly verifies if there is a fat formatted medium without a partition table. Signed-off-by: Frank Seidel <fseidel@suse.de> Cc: Andreas Dilger <adilger@sun.com> Acked-by: OGAWA Hirofumi <hirofumi@mail.parknet.co.jp> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
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