Linux – fsck on shutdown instead of startup

debianfscklinuxscientific-linux

Usually, fsck is executed automatically at startup after every 30th reboot or so. Sometimes, it can be really slow, and can delay bootup by more than half an hour.

Is there any way to run fsck at shutdown instead? (I don't mind if shutdown is delayed. Bootup time is more important.)

I would like this for the Debian or Scientific Linux distros.

Best Answer

While you can check some things during shutdown, you cannot effectively run fsck on your root filesystem. You see, fsck requires that the filesystem is not mounted before it can attempt repair. This is only possible during boot, while still running from initramfs.

Related Solutions

Linux fsck – Will My System Run fsck on Reboot?

If all you want to do is avoid an fsck, adding the -f option to shutdown should help with that. shutdown -F to force fsck.

tune2fs -l /dev/foo will tell you the interesting bits of information.

Here's a start at extracting just what you need:

mount -l -t ext3,ext2 | cut -d' ' -f1 | xargs -n1 tune2fs -l | egrep -i 'state|mount|check'

If the "Next check after" date is in the past, there will be an fsck.

If the filesystem state is not clean, there will be an fsck. (this could also happen if there's a problem with the system during reboot/shutdown that prevents a clean unmount)

If the mount count has reached the maximum mount count, there will be an fsck.

Linux – How dangerous is it to interrupt an fsck

I don't have any direct knowledge or evidence, but to me, it would just be plain EVIL to not handle SIGINT.

Hm. Actually, I can offer some assurance: strings /sbin/fsck | grep sig reports:

sigaction
Warning... %s for device %s exited with signal %d.

So I'll just take this as anectdotal evidence that the fsck developers are calling sigaction to handle the relevant signals.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Linux fsck – Will My System Run fsck on Reboot?

Linux – How dangerous is it to interrupt an fsck

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