Bug 12900

Summary:	ext3 file system is included as module rather than compiled in kernel
Product:	Mageia	Reporter:	w unruh <unruh>
Component:	RPM Packages	Assignee:	Mageia Bug Squad <bugsquad>
Status:	RESOLVED INVALID	QA Contact:
Severity:	normal
Priority:	Normal	CC:	tmb
Version:	3
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	i586
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Source RPM:	kernel 3.10.x	CVE:
Status comment:

Description w unruh 2014-02-28 01:34:07 CET

Description of problem: Both the ext2 and ext4 filesystems are included in the kernel, while ext3 is no, but is supplied as a module instead. This means that the system cannot boot from and ext3 filesystem partion without  an initrd which has the ext3 module incorporated. Since ext3 is still one of the standard Linux filesystems, it seems really strange that it should be left out of the kernel. 
This for example makes it really hard to simply copy and installation from one computer to another exactly similar system, but with the root partition being ext3 rather than ext4




Reproducible: 

Steps to Reproduce:

Comment 1 Thomas Backlund 2014-02-28 02:29:36 CET

There is nothing strange about it.

ext4 is the default not ext3

and ext2 gets selected for builtin as ext4 needs it that way

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
CC: (none) => tmb
Resolution: (none) => INVALID

Comment 2 w unruh 2014-02-28 09:30:04 CET

And until relatively recently ext3 was the default, which means that this can break systems which are being upgraded (see above). I call that a bug, not a feature. Some backward compatibility is a good thing. Copy an installation from an ext4 drive to an ext3 drive and suddenly things break.

Status: RESOLVED => REOPENED
Resolution: INVALID => (none)

Comment 3 Thomas Backlund 2014-02-28 10:32:10 CET


No.

as we never have had a mageia supported kernel with ext3 builtin, 
it cant possible be a regression.

Not to mention, we dont have full support for it either, as the installer
does not even allow you to create an installation without initrd.

As for ext4, it was set as default on 2009-10-07, wich means _way_ back
when Mandriva 2010.0 (or atleast 2010.1) was released.

http://gitweb.mageia.org/software/drakx/commit/perl-install/fs?id=dd962c22f7e02d9bbcc7f62c515d4c2ab7b1fdf3

And the Mageia 3 kernels were the first ones that even gained a capablility
to boot without initrd.

So its you that needs to cope with your own custom setups.

if you move an install from ext4 to ext3 and it breaks you get to keep the pieces.
and for it to work you need atleast to create an initrd that has ext3 added.

Status: REOPENED => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => INVALID