[Bug 1584520] [NEW] mdadm ignores "--force" switch on Intel Fake Raid

[Anatoly Zapadinsky]

Public bug reported:

I have an old system that is supplied with an Intel Option ROM that does
not support > 2tb hard drives. Linux works perfectly on this system and
see hard drives bigger than 2tb though. I want to create a raid with
imsm metadata format and attach it to another system later. mdadm dosn't
let me do this. I try to force raid creating using the "--force" option
but it is ignored.

#mdadm --version
mdadm - v3.3 - 3rd September 2013

#mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md/imsm --level=5 --raid-devices=3 /dev/sd[b-d] --metadata=imsm --force
mdmon: Cannot create this array on device /dev/sdb
mdadm: /dev/sdb is not suitable for this array.
mdmon: Cannot create this array on device /dev/sdc
mdadm: /dev/sdc is not suitable for this array.
mdmon: Cannot create this array on device /dev/sdd
mdadm: /dev/sdd is not suitable for this array.
mdadm: create aborted

It seems that it also block one from creating imsm metadata raids on AMD
platform or in a virtual machine of any type. Why? Why mdadm control
user? The "--force" switch is made for this. Ignore the Option ROM
version and create the raid! Its a fake raid after all.

** Affects: mdadm (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1584520

Title:
  mdadm ignores "--force" switch on Intel Fake Raid

Status in mdadm package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I have an old system that is supplied with an Intel Option ROM that
  does not support > 2tb hard drives. Linux works perfectly on this
  system and see hard drives bigger than 2tb though. I want to create a
  raid with imsm metadata format and attach it to another system later.
  mdadm dosn't let me do this. I try to force raid creating using the "
  --force" option but it is ignored.

  #mdadm --version
  mdadm - v3.3 - 3rd September 2013

  #mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md/imsm --level=5 --raid-devices=3 /dev/sd[b-d] --metadata=imsm --force
  mdmon: Cannot create this array on device /dev/sdb
  mdadm: /dev/sdb is not suitable for this array.
  mdmon: Cannot create this array on device /dev/sdc
  mdadm: /dev/sdc is not suitable for this array.
  mdmon: Cannot create this array on device /dev/sdd
  mdadm: /dev/sdd is not suitable for this array.
  mdadm: create aborted

  It seems that it also block one from creating imsm metadata raids on
  AMD platform or in a virtual machine of any type. Why? Why mdadm
  control user? The "--force" switch is made for this. Ignore the Option
  ROM version and create the raid! Its a fake raid after all.

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