[Bug 1656915] Re: 17.04 free -g is not showing swap space for btrfs filesystem

[Dimitri John Ledkov]

with 128G of RAM one should not need swap at all.

** Also affects: ubuntu-release-notes
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Changed in: ubuntu-release-notes
     Assignee: (unassigned) => Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)

** Changed in: ubuntu-release-notes
       Status: New => Confirmed

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Title:
  17.04 free -g is not showing swap space for btrfs filesystem

Status in Release Notes for Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in debian-installer package in Ubuntu:
  Opinion

Bug description:
  == Comment: #0 - PAVAMAN SUBRAMANIYAM - 2017-01-16 03:58:57 ==
  ---Problem Description---
  free -g is not showing swap space for btrfs filesystem installed as Guided Partitioning of Ubuntu 17.04
   
  ---uname output---
  Linux ltc-garri2 4.9.0-11-generic #12-Ubuntu SMP Mon Dec 12 16:16:45 UTC 2016 ppc64le ppc64le ppc64le GNU/Linux
   
  Machine Type = P8 
   
  ---Steps to Reproduce---
  Install a P8 8335-GTB Hardware with Ubuntu17.04 OS.
  Then check if the swap space is shown using free command.

  root at ltc-garri2:~# free -g
                total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
  Mem:            127           1         125           0           0         124
  Swap:             0           0           0

  I have selected Guided - use entire disk in Partition disks Menu while installing Ubuntu 17.04.
  Then selected the Partition to modify its filesystem settings to btrfs journaling file system and created the same.
   
  == Comment: #8 - Kevin W. Rudd - 2017-01-16 12:12:04 ==

  Hello Canonical.

  We had a couple of new bugs opened up recently (including this one)
  that are related to the 17.04 change to using swapfiles instead of
  swap partitions in certain cases.  This is generating some confusion
  and questions.

  ? Do you have a current release note document for 17.04 that outlines
  this change and the various scenarios where a swap partition or volume
  might still be needed?

  Related to the above question, it appears that btrfs needs a special
  mention for Zesty installs:

  In the past, btrfs has been used for testing by simply changing the
  filesystem chosen as part of the "Guided partitioning" option.  This
  will no longer work as a swap partition is not automatically created
  for this option, and btrfs does not currently support swapfiles:

  https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/FAQ#Does_btrfs_support_swap_files.3F

  An entry documenting the need for manual partitioning (including a
  swap partition) or recommending an LVM configuration for btrfs would
  probably be helpful in this case.

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