There Might Be Another EXT4 Corruption Bug

Written by Michael Larabel in Free Software on 1 November 2012 at 10:59 AM EDT. 33 Comments
FREE SOFTWARE
It was only days ago that an EXT4 file-system corruption bug affected the stable Linux kernel, which was finally patched yesterday. Now though it looks like there may be another EXT4 corruption bug affecting the stable kernel.

A Phoronix reader, Ernest Boyd, sent in an email "Unfortunately another problem appears to exist which more simply produces Ext4 shutdown corruption." From his LaunchPad bug report, it's easy to reproduce this problem:
1. Format and label a target Ext4 partion using Ubuntu 12.04
2. Install 64bit 12.10 OS using that target without reformatting it
3. Shut down
4. Boot an alternate copy of Ubuntu
5. Restart selecting the newly installed OS
6. Login then shutdown
6. Boot an alternate copy of Ubuntu
7.Fsck the newly installed OS allowing corrections to be made

Each time the the newly installed OS is executed and then shutdown, even if execution only consists of logging on, a subsequent fsck will FAIL.
The bug is marked as critical since it results in file-system corruption and is reproducible with the user having made an image of the Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit installation to reproduce. "I can recreate the symptoms of Ext4 filesystem corruption 100% of the time by restoring from the image, booting, logging on and shutting down."

As of yet there's no comment by the upstream Linux kernel developers or the Ubuntu kernel folks.
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Michael Larabel

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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