Feature #5760

tails-greeter: feedback when repairing damaged persistent filesystem

Added by Tails 2013-07-18 07:45:54 . Updated 2020-04-15 06:05:22 .

Status:
Confirmed
Priority:
Low
Assignee:
Category:
Persistence
Target version:
Start date:
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Feature Branch:
Type of work:
Test
Blueprint:

Starter:
1
Affected tool:
Welcome Screen
Deliverable for:

Description

When one enables persistence with a persistent FS whose state is inconsistent state, tails-greeter appears to hang, while it’s actually waiting for the fsck/recovery process to finish. Some people will interpret this as a system crash, because it takes longer than normal.

On a 14GB test persistent volume, the recovery took more than a minute. It continued booting fine after recovery.

Relevant kernel messages:

kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3-fs (dm-0): using internal journal
EXT3-fs (dm-0): recovery complete
EXT3-fs (dm-0): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode

Subtasks

History

#1 Updated by intrigeri 2013-07-19 08:46:34

  • Category set to 165

#2 Updated by intrigeri 2013-07-19 09:06:40

  • Starter set to Yes

#3 Updated by BitingBird 2014-06-09 10:11:16

  • Subject changed from tails-greeter: feedback when repairing damaged persistent filesystem to Tails-greeter: feedback when repairing damaged persistent filesystem

#4 Updated by BitingBird 2014-06-09 13:50:10

  • Subject changed from Tails-greeter: feedback when repairing damaged persistent filesystem to tails-greeter: feedback when repairing damaged persistent filesystem

#5 Updated by alant 2014-07-05 16:29:40

Greeter code lives at http://git.tails.boum.org/greeter/. We should then add some backend code in a new module in the tailsgreeter package (Python) and integrate it in the GUI (new window?)

#6 Updated by BitingBird 2015-01-07 16:51:47

  • Category set to Persistence

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2015-06-05 15:34:33

  • Type of work changed from Code to Test

This was the case back when the persistent volume used ext3, but we’ve moved to ext4 a while ago => next step is to check if the problem is still as important in current Tails. Hint: better use a large (16GB or more) and slow (USB flash media) backing device.

#8 Updated by Anonymous 2017-06-28 11:03:39

  • Priority changed from Elevated to Normal

We now ship the new greeter in Tails 3.0.

Does this problem still persist with this new greeter and ext4?

Dear @helpdesk, did you receive any bug reports about a hanging boot while the system is doing an fsck?

This ticket has seen no activity since 2 years, and many changes have been made since then which suggest that we can lower the priority to normal.

#9 Updated by intrigeri 2017-06-28 11:28:18

> Does this problem still persist with this new greeter and ext4?

Guessing with the tech knowledge I have, not tested: the behavior is probably a little better with the new Greeter as there’s feedback (hourglass icon) while unlocking the persistent volume. I’m not sure if it’s good enough, or if it’ll still take so much more time than usual that users may believe the unlocking has failed.

#10 Updated by Anonymous 2018-01-18 16:15:40

  • Priority changed from Normal to Low

I’m lowering priority of this ticket as it is unclear how much this actually affects users.

#11 Updated by emmapeel 2018-01-18 16:43:40

I have experienced this as a user: when my session crashes involuntarily, like when I kick the usb stick, I restart and it takes a little more.

But I haven’t heard complains of users about this, or if I did I don’t remember.

#12 Updated by intrigeri 2020-04-15 06:05:22

  • Affected tool changed from Greeter to Welcome Screen