On 1/17/07, Greg Wallace wrote:

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I want to try running a manual fsck on my main partition. I booted into runlevel 3 and tried "umount /dev/hda2" but got "device is busy". I'm thinking that I should be trying to unmount the filesystem itself, not

On Wednesday, January 17, 2007 @ 8:27 PM, Sunny wrote: the

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device, but don't know how to figure out what that is (and I can't remember a command that would show the filesystem name associated with the device). Then again, maybe I'm way off base here. Anyway, I just need to be able to unmount the filesystem so I can run fsck on it. Can someone tell me what to enter to do the unmount?

Thanks, Greg Wallace

IO did not see dat you started a new thread, so I answered in the other one. So, the solution is to boot either from the install media (cd/dvd) and select maintenance mode, or boot from knoppix, damn small linux, etc.

-- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)

Thanks. I'll try maintenance mode from the installation DVD. Greg W. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday, January 17, 2007 @ 8:33 PM, Randall Schulz wrote:

Greg,

On Wednesday 17 January 2007 18:15, Greg Wallace wrote:

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I want to try running a manual fsck on my main partition. I booted into runlevel 3 and tried "umount /dev/hda2" but got "device is busy".

That means either a process has a file on the mounted file system open or there is a process with a directory on that file system as its current working directory (this is the one that's easy to overlook).

Interesting. I booted up in runlevel 3 thinking that would prevent anything from from interfering with the umount. Based on a note from Sunny, sounds like I need to boot from the installation DVD in order to be able to unmount the file system.

...

I'm thinking that I should be trying to unmount the filesystem itself, not the device,

There's no real difference when it comes to using the "umount" command. It will look up a mount-point directory in /etc/mtab and translate it to the name of the device mounted there for you, so you can use either to accomplish an unmount operation.

So I guess there was nothing wrong with umount /dev/hda2, it was simply unmountable, so to speak, for other reasons.

...

but don't know how to figure out what that is (and I can't remember a command that would show the filesystem name associated with the device).

The "mount" command shows which device is mounted on which mount point (a directory).

Thanks. I'll make note of that.

...

Then again, maybe I'm way off base here. Anyway, I just need to be able to unmount the filesystem so I can run fsck on it. Can someone tell me what to enter to do the unmount?

% umount /dev/sd...

% umount /dev/hd...

% umount /media/...

etc.

Ok, so there was nothing wrong with what I entered, it's just that the filesystem was unmountable.

...

Thanks, Greg Wallace

Randall Schulz

Thanks, Greg Wallace -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wed, Jan 17, 2007 at 06:55:05PM -0800, Randall R Schulz wrote:

Unmountable _AT THE MOMENT!_ There are no file systems (other than the root) that cannot be unmounted.

While that may be true in theory, in practice it's really not a good idea to tell cluebies that. Or have you never gotten to watch what happens when you un-mount /usr from under someone? Things don't work very well after that. -- Marc Wilson | Veni, Vidi, Visa. msw@cox.net | -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wed, Jan 17, 2007 at 07:49:47PM -0800, Randall R Schulz wrote:

You'd rather have them pull the plug and risk file system corruption?

You want a *honest* answer? I don't care what cluebies do to themselves. That's their own problem. That doesn't mean I'm not going to provide information, but it's not my responsibility to *stop* anyone but myself from doing anything.

All I'm saying is that once you disoncontinue all active uses of a mounted file system (including working directories), it can be unmounted safely. That's true and useful information.

You have a different definition of "uses" than most people. Sure you can unmount it, but that doesn't mean you can do anything with the box afterwards. -- Marc Wilson | You are only young once, but you can stay immature msw@cox.net | indefinitely. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 17 January 2007 20:31, Randall R Schulz wrote:

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If you reduce the number of _uses_ (plurals of the noun defined above), then the umount command, sans -f / force option, will succeed.

Sorry. Something got messed up. I mean to say: "If you reduce the number of uses of file-system entities on the file system in question to zero, then the umount command [...] will succeed."

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Randall Schulz -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 17 January 2007 21:43, Darryl Gregorash wrote:

On 2007-01-17 22:49, Randall R Schulz wrote: ...

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"If you reduce the number of uses of file-system entities on the file system in question to zero, then the umount command [...] will succeed."

Randall,

I have to agree with Marc on this. ...

The person asked about unmounting when the "device is busy" diagnostic results. He wanted to run fsck. He was in run level 3. His goal is reasonable and my response was valid. That's really all there is to it.

Whether or not something is possible in principle is not the point here.

Whether or not it conforms to your or my idea of advisable is also not the point.

The question is, can the advice be followed without potential for making a serious mess of things?

There is never any damage caused by non-forcibly unmounting a file system.

In the hands of the less-than-experienced, the answer here is certainly "no", and so the advice should not be given.

Right. Withhold facts to protect the naive. Sorry, I don't agree with that philosophy. Randall Schulz -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wed, 2007-01-17 at 22:24 -0800, Randall R Schulz wrote:

On Wednesday 17 January 2007 21:43, Darryl Gregorash wrote:

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On 2007-01-17 22:49, Randall R Schulz wrote: ...

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"If you reduce the number of uses of file-system entities on the file system in question to zero, then the umount command [...] will succeed."

Randall,

I have to agree with Marc on this. ...

The person asked about unmounting when the "device is busy"

No, he asked about umounting his "main" partition which I interpret as being / (root). Quite a difference. -- Ken Schneider UNIX since 1989, linux since 1994, SuSE since 1998 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wed, 2007-01-17 at 19:49 -0800, Randall R Schulz wrote:

On Wednesday 17 January 2007 19:12, Marc Wilson wrote:

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On Wed, Jan 17, 2007 at 06:55:05PM -0800, Randall R Schulz wrote:

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Unmountable _AT THE MOMENT!_ There are no file systems (other than the root) that cannot be unmounted.

While that may be true in theory, in practice it's really not a good idea to tell cluebies that.

Eh?

You'd rather have them pull the plug and risk file system corruption?

...

Or have you never gotten to watch what happens when you un-mount /usr from under someone? Things don't work very well after that.

All I'm saying is that once you disoncontinue all active uses of a mounted file system (including working directories), it can be unmounted safely. That's true and useful information.

Except for / (root) which is always busy with open log files. -- Ken Schneider UNIX since 1989, linux since 1994, SuSE since 1998 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Thu, 2007-01-18 at 19:53 -0800, Marc Wilson wrote:

On Thu, Jan 18, 2007 at 08:58:10AM -0500, Kenneth Schneider wrote:

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Except for / (root) which is always busy with open log files.

If you're keeping log files in the root, you have far larger problems than whether or not you can unmount a filesystem. Log files belong in /var, which may or may not be a separate filesystem (it is if you're smart).

Which in a standard install is _not_ a separate filesystem. This does _not_ create "far larger problems" as you state. -- Ken Schneider UNIX since 1989, linux since 1994, SuSE since 1998 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

* Marc Wilson [01-19-07 02:24]: [...]

And /var is not /root, no matter how you want to dance around it.

no, but remember: "root" does not mean "/root" and: "/root" /= "/" "/var" may be part of "/" (root) or may be a separate partition. -- Patrick Shanahan Registered Linux User #207535 http://wahoo.no-ip.org @ http://counter.li.org HOG # US1244711 Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2 OpenSUSE Linux http://en.opensuse.org/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 17 January 2007 18:49, Greg Wallace wrote:

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Well, I entered lsof and about 6 or 7 screens of data rolled by. Looks like booting from the installation DVD is the only (reasonable) way to get there.

Noooooooooooo! Learn how to filter the lsof output. It is very diagnostically valuable! Just use grep to filter out names (e.g.) that you're interested in. Experiment. Learn. Just giving up and rebooting teaches you nothing and does nothing to repair any possible damage to your file system, e.g.

Greg W.

RRS -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Thursday, January 18, 2007 @ 7:56 AM, Kenneth Schneider wrote:

On Wed, 2007-01-17 at 20:49 -0600, Greg Wallace wrote:

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On Wednesday, January 17, 2007 @ 8:34 PM, Jay C Vollmer wrote:

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On Wednesday 17 January 2007 20:15, Greg Wallace wrote:

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I want to try running a manual fsck on my main partition.

Are you talking about /, the root partition? If so it cannot be checked while the system is running, you need to boot the DVD and use rescue system.

Yeah, that's what other people told me and that's what I did. Interestingly, Carlos Robinson just sent out a note that made it sound like you could also do it if you booted to runlevel 1, but maybe I misinterpreted what he was saying.

-- Ken Schneider UNIX since 1989, linux since 1994, SuSE since 1998

Greg W -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Thu, Jan 18, 2007 at 08:56:28AM -0500, Kenneth Schneider wrote:

Are you talking about /, the root partition? If so it cannot be checked while the system is running, you need to boot the DVD and use rescue system.

Except that it can be, of course. It can *always* be checked. Whether or not it can be *repaired*, or not, is another issue. If you can remount it read/only, you can repair it, then re-mount it read/write again. All this spouting off about runlevels is utter nonsense. -- Marc Wilson | Reality is for those who can't face Science Fiction. msw@cox.net | -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org