Bug 722906 - System installation wiped my partition
Summary: System installation wiped my partition
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: anaconda
Version: 15
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Anaconda Maintenance Team
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2011-07-18 13:00 UTC by Victor Hahn
Modified: 2012-08-07 14:50 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2012-08-07 14:50:13 UTC
Type: ---


Attachments (Terms of Use)
anaconda.log (36.72 KB, text/x-log)
2011-07-21 17:05 UTC, Victor Hahn
no flags Details
anaconda.program.log (262.88 KB, text/x-log)
2011-07-21 17:10 UTC, Victor Hahn
no flags Details
anaconda.storage.log (755.23 KB, text/x-log)
2011-07-21 17:11 UTC, Victor Hahn
no flags Details

Description Victor Hahn 2011-07-18 13:00:49 UTC
I tried to install Fedora 15 over my existing Debian Squeeze installation. My original partition layout was as follows:

sda1 - unencrypted, unused partition
sda2 - LUKS encrypted root partition, ext3
sda3 - swap, encrypted using the random key method

First, I deleted all system files from sda2, i.e. everything except /home. Then, I converted sda2 to ext4 as the installer required me to (which I found quite annoying). Finally, I entered my desired partition layout in Anaconda:

sda1 - unencrypted /boot, ext4, format
sda2 - LUKS encrypted /root, ext4, DO NOT FORMAT
sda3 - swap, LUKS encrypted, same passphrase as existing sda2, format

The installer even asked me if I wanted to add the passphrase for the new swap partition to the existing root one, so it did recognize it was not supposed to erase sda2. However, after I confirmed those changes it startet a file system resizing operation (which took quite a long time). After the installation completed, all my data from sda2 (my /home data) was wiped.

I'm happy I created a backup before installing Fedora. However, this is a serious bug. Data loss should never ever occur.

Comment 1 Chris Lumens 2011-07-18 13:51:48 UTC
Please attach /var/log/anaconda/storage.log and /var/log/anaconda/program.log to this bug report.  Thanks.

Comment 2 David Lehman 2011-07-18 14:55:25 UTC
Please also attach /var/log/anaconda/anaconda.log. Thanks.

Comment 3 David Lehman 2011-07-19 18:46:43 UTC
For one thing, anaconda will not allow you to install to a preexisting root filesystem. There is too much that can go wrong. Secondly, the way the live install works is by exactly duplicating the live environment's root device onto the new system's target root device. This does necessarily destroy anything that previously existed on that target device, which should not matter since it should have been marked for reformatting.

Comment 4 Victor Hahn 2011-07-21 17:05:56 UTC
Created attachment 514236 [details]
anaconda.log

Comment 5 Victor Hahn 2011-07-21 17:10:56 UTC
Created attachment 514238 [details]
anaconda.program.log

Comment 6 Victor Hahn 2011-07-21 17:11:19 UTC
Created attachment 514239 [details]
anaconda.storage.log

Comment 7 Victor Hahn 2011-07-21 17:15:49 UTC
Thanks for your replies! I attached the requested logs.

David, does this means anaconda forces formatting the designated root partition? If so, a more explicit warning is probably necessary.

Finally, I need to correct my initial post. sda2 was designated to become the root partition, so "/" and not "/root".

Comment 8 Fedora End Of Life 2012-08-07 14:50:18 UTC
This message is a notice that Fedora 15 is now at end of life. Fedora
has stopped maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora 15. It is
Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no
longer maintained. At this time, all open bugs with a Fedora 'version'
of '15' have been closed as WONTFIX.

(Please note: Our normal process is to give advanced warning of this
occurring, but we forgot to do that. A thousand apologies.)

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, feel free to reopen
this bug and simply change the 'version' to a later Fedora version.

Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that
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