mount relatime option / Ext3-fs: Unrecognized mount option ...

[Gary Artim]

Hi --

Last night I added to all my ext3 filesystem relatime, replacing noatime.
I never remount the filesystems (my error). I then ran:
'yum update', and it installed a new kernel and initrd,
2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64. From then on when I tried to boot I got:

ext3-fs: Unrecognized mount option 'relatime or missing value,
mount: error mounting /dev/root on /sysrout as ext3: invalid Argument.

I booted knoppix, mount my fs, changed fstab,mtab, sync sync and
it kept complaining  about relatime. Then I stumbled on a link saying
the relatime
is passed automatically by the kernel or ? (it was late, head sore
from banging it)

I rebooted the old kernel/initrd and it came up. I catted /proc/mounts and
it showed relatime as a option, checked /etc/fstab /etc/mtab and they all
have noatime (with relatime removed -- verifying my knoppix routine worked).

Can anyone explain this? I'd like to be able to go forward with
2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64.
I think (no proof) that the install of the kernel removed something (?) needed
for ext3 fs to mount cleanly, thanks for any help!

-- Gary

[Gary Artim]

On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 6:50 PM, Ryan Sawhill <rsawhill+flist(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:
> > Ryan, thanks for mentioning removing relatime flag before
> building
> > a new initrd. I forgot to mention that. See the bugzilla entry link I
> > posted before (comment #4) which explains what's going on.
>
>  Looking at that bug task now I see it's totally relevant and explains
>  our issue. Doesn't have anything to do with this particular kernel I
>  see. It hadn't occurred to me that this was the first time I had
>  updated my kernel since adding relatime to my laptop's fstab.
>
>  I want to ESPECIALLY thank you for the pointer Kenny, because
>  something said on that page led me to do a little research and realize
>  that by default, relatime is actually set for all filesystems by the
>  kernel nowadays. Wow. Had no idea. I only started using it because I
>  found it in the mount man page. SO GARY, you can take your relatime
>  stuff out of fstab too. :) For more info, see
>  http://lwn.net/Articles/244829/ ... then if you want even more google
>  "default_relatime". (On a kernel that has the update, you'll find
>  /proc/sys/kernel/fs/default_relatime, which will be set to 1 unless
>  you change it with a boot option [or on the fly].)
>
>  --
>  fedora-list mailing list
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>  To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
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>  
Kenny/Ryan --

mkinitrd -f /boot/initrd-2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64.img 2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64

this worked like a charm! now I gotta start reading lwn.net/web info and see why
including relatime in my fstab caused this situation. Many Many thanks!

-- Gary )

[Ryan Sawhill]

>  Ryan, thanks for mentioning removing relatime flag before building
>  a new initrd. I forgot to mention that. See the bugzilla entry link I
>  posted before (comment #4) which explains what's going on. 
Looking at that bug task now I see it's totally relevant and explains
our issue. Doesn't have anything to do with this particular kernel I
see. It hadn't occurred to me that this was the first time I had
updated my kernel since adding relatime to my laptop's fstab.

I want to ESPECIALLY thank you for the pointer Kenny, because
something said on that page led me to do a little research and realize
that by default, relatime is actually set for all filesystems by the
kernel nowadays. Wow. Had no idea. I only started using it because I
found it in the mount man page. SO GARY, you can take your relatime
stuff out of fstab too. :) For more info, see
http://lwn.net/Articles/244829/ ... then if you want even more google
"default_relatime". (On a kernel that has the update, you'll find
/proc/sys/kernel/fs/default_relatime, which will be set to 1 unless
you change it with a boot option [or on the fly].)

[Kenny Gow]

Ryan Sawhill wrote:
> > This sounds like the same situation I ran into with Fedora 7.
> >
> > Rebuilding the initrd for the new kernel fixed the problem.
> >
> > Kenny
>  
>  Thanks for the thought Kenny! Hadn't even ocurred to me that might be
>  necessary. :) Well, and that's because it shouldn't be. Anyway, this
>  whole situation is odd to me. If you edit your fstab to remove
>  "relatime" and recompile your initial rd, then change your fstab back
>  to include relatime again... THEN you can get the new kernel to boot
>  properly. Just recompiling initrd without removing relatime from your
>  fstab isn't gonna make a difference.
>  
>  To give more detail, it throws up an "Unrecognized mount option
>  'relatime' or missing value" error. Then of course everything else
>  fails (setting up dev, proc, sys, and passing ctl to init).
>  
>  So the question is, why is this happening? Obviously, it shouldn't be happening.
>  
>  Gary: I didn't look at the link Kenny gave, but fyi it's trivial to
>  rebuild an initrd img after you remove relatime from your fstab. In
>  your case I believe you'd just be running as root:
>  mkinitrd /path/to/initrd-to-create.img kernel-version
>  or, explicitly:
>  # mkinitrd -f /boot/initrd-2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64.img 2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64
>  (which would replace your current /boot/initrd-$brokenkernel.img file
>  with a new one.)
>   
Ryan, thanks for mentioning removing relatime flag before building
a new initrd. I forgot to mention that. See the bugzilla entry link I
posted before (comment #4) which explains what's going on.

[Ryan Sawhill]

>  This sounds like the same situation I ran into with Fedora 7.
>
>  Rebuilding the initrd for the new kernel fixed the problem.
>
>  Kenny 
Thanks for the thought Kenny! Hadn't even ocurred to me that might be
necessary. :) Well, and that's because it shouldn't be. Anyway, this
whole situation is odd to me. If you edit your fstab to remove
"relatime" and recompile your initial rd, then change your fstab back
to include relatime again... THEN you can get the new kernel to boot
properly. Just recompiling initrd without removing relatime from your
fstab isn't gonna make a difference.

To give more detail, it throws up an "Unrecognized mount option
'relatime' or missing value" error. Then of course everything else
fails (setting up dev, proc, sys, and passing ctl to init).

So the question is, why is this happening? Obviously, it shouldn't be happening.

Gary: I didn't look at the link Kenny gave, but fyi it's trivial to
rebuild an initrd img after you remove relatime from your fstab. In
your case I believe you'd just be running as root:
mkinitrd /path/to/initrd-to-create.img kernel-version
or, explicitly:
# mkinitrd -f /boot/initrd-2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64.img 2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64
(which would replace your current /boot/initrd-$brokenkernel.img file
with a new one.)

[Kenny Gow]

gary artim wrote:
>  Hi --
>  
>  Last night I added to all my ext3 filesystem relatime, replacing noatime.
>  I never remount the filesystems (my error). I then ran:
>  'yum update', and it installed a new kernel and initrd,
>  2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64. From then on when I tried to boot I got:
>  
>  ext3-fs: Unrecognized mount option 'relatime or missing value,
>  mount: error mounting /dev/root on /sysrout as ext3: invalid Argument.
>  
>  I booted knoppix, mount my fs, changed fstab,mtab, sync sync and
>  it kept complaining  about relatime. Then I stumbled on a link saying
>  the relatime
>  is passed automatically by the kernel or ? (it was late, head sore
>  from banging it)
>  
>  I rebooted the old kernel/initrd and it came up. I catted /proc/mounts and
>  it showed relatime as a option, checked /etc/fstab /etc/mtab and they all
>  have noatime (with relatime removed -- verifying my knoppix routine worked).
>  
>  Can anyone explain this? I'd like to be able to go forward with
>  2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64.
>  I think (no proof) that the install of the kernel removed something (?) needed
>  for ext3 fs to mount cleanly, thanks for any help! 
This sounds like the same situation I ran into with Fedora 7.

Rebuilding the initrd for the new kernel fixed the problem.

Read through all the comments for how to build a new initrd:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=296361

Kenny

[Gary Artim]

Did you post it as a problem? thanks for confirming! -- Gary

On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 9:35 AM, gary artim <gartim(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:
>  Hi --
>
>  Last night I added to all my ext3 filesystem relatime, replacing noatime.
>  I never remount the filesystems (my error). I then ran:
>  'yum update', and it installed a new kernel and initrd,
>  2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64. From then on when I tried to boot I got:
>
>  ext3-fs: Unrecognized mount option 'relatime or missing value,
>  mount: error mounting /dev/root on /sysrout as ext3: invalid Argument.
>
>  I booted knoppix, mount my fs, changed fstab,mtab, sync sync and
>  it kept complaining  about relatime. Then I stumbled on a link saying
>  the relatime
>  is passed automatically by the kernel or ? (it was late, head sore
>  from banging it)
>
>  I rebooted the old kernel/initrd and it came up. I catted /proc/mounts and
>  it showed relatime as a option, checked /etc/fstab /etc/mtab and they all
>  have noatime (with relatime removed -- verifying my knoppix routine worked).
>
>  Can anyone explain this? I'd like to be able to go forward with
>  2.6.26.6-79.fc9.x86_64.
>  I think (no proof) that the install of the kernel removed something (?) needed
>  for ext3 fs to mount cleanly, thanks for any help!
>
>  -- Gary
>

[Gary Artim]

>  This sounds like the same situation I ran into with Fedora 7.
>
>  Rebuilding the initrd for the new kernel fixed the problem.
>
>  Read through all the comments for how to build a new initrd:
>  https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=296361
>
>  Kenny
>  
I'll check it out! thanks, Gary