[Bug 1851123] Re: Ubuntu 19.10 and focal live cloned create and mount casper-rw partition

[C.S.Cameron]

I tried booting a Startup Disk Creator 19.10 flashdrive with F6.
I typed a space and then "persistent".
The drive booted persistent and stayed persistent every time I used this
procedure, otherwise it just booted Live.
I then tried F6 with the word "toram", it booted to RAM.
Then with "nomodeset" and combinations of these and they all worked.
Finally I tried F6 and "nopersistent".
I was able to unmount the casper-rw partition using Disks.
I tried formatting it FAT and NTFS but that did not work.
Finally I was able to wipe the partition using Disks and it just went back
to ISO9660 space.
I lost everything that was in casper-rw, but it was all in the name of
research.

On Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 9:20 PM sudodus <1851123 at bugs.launchpad.net>
wrote:

> Exploring the boot option 'nopersistent':
>
> The bug is there, but there is a workaround: add the boot option
> 'nopersistent'. This means that with 'nopersistent' and 'toram' all
> partitions on the boot drive can be unmounted and the drive can be
> unplugged or the casper-rw partition can be repaired or backed up
> without problems.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1851123
>
> Title:
>   Ubuntu 19.10 and focal live cloned create and mount casper-rw
>   partition
>
> Status in casper package in Ubuntu:
>   Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
>   It is very good that it is easy to create and use a casper-rw
>   partition to run Ubuntu persistent live in the versions 19.10 and
>   Focal Fossa, and that it is even created automatically, when there is
>   unallocated drive space behind the used part in a live drive.
>
>   But I think the system for doing that is 'too eager'. Maybe it is a
>   feature that is left from the development and debugging phase.
>
>   - It would be enough (best), if the casper-rw partition is created
>   only when it is needed, that is when the live system is booted with
>   the boot option 'persistent'.
>
>   - We (I am talking for users who like persistent live drives) can
>   accept that the casper-rw partition is created even when the drive is
>   booted live only (without the boot option 'persistent').
>
>   - But we think it is a bug, that the live-only system is also mounting
>   the casper-rw partition on the mount point /var/log and/or /var/crash
>   and keeps it busy so that it cannot be unmounted.
>
>   This way the drive is not really live-only, and it is not possible to
>   manage the drive space behind the system in an independent way. For
>   example, it is not possible to detach the drive by using the boot
>   option 'toram', and it is not possible to repair the casper-rw
>   partition when running live in the same drive. It will be necessary to
>   have two linux systems to do such tasks.
>
>   ProblemType: Bug
>   DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
>   Package: casper 1.428
>   ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-18.19-generic 5.3.1
>   Uname: Linux 5.3.0-18-generic x86_64
>   NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
>   ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu9
>   Architecture: amd64
>   CasperVersion: 1.428
>   CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
>   Date: Sun Nov  3 11:15:29 2019
>   LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Alpha amd64 (20191103)
>   ProcEnviron:
>    TERM=xterm-256color
>    PATH=(custom, no user)
>    XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
>    LANG=sv_SE.UTF-8
>    SHELL=/bin/bash
>   SourcePackage: casper
>   UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/casper/+bug/1851123/+subscriptions
>

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1851123

Title:
  Ubuntu 19.10 and focal live cloned create and mount casper-rw
  partition

Status in casper package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  It is very good that it is easy to create and use a casper-rw
  partition to run Ubuntu persistent live in the versions 19.10 and
  Focal Fossa, and that it is even created automatically, when there is
  unallocated drive space behind the used part in a live drive.

  But I think the system for doing that is 'too eager'. Maybe it is a
  feature that is left from the development and debugging phase.

  - It would be enough (best), if the casper-rw partition is created
  only when it is needed, that is when the live system is booted with
  the boot option 'persistent'.

  - We (I am talking for users who like persistent live drives) can
  accept that the casper-rw partition is created even when the drive is
  booted live only (without the boot option 'persistent').

  - But we think it is a bug, that the live-only system is also mounting
  the casper-rw partition on the mount point /var/log and/or /var/crash
  and keeps it busy so that it cannot be unmounted.

  This way the drive is not really live-only, and it is not possible to
  manage the drive space behind the system in an independent way. For
  example, it is not possible to detach the drive by using the boot
  option 'toram', and it is not possible to repair the casper-rw
  partition when running live in the same drive. It will be necessary to
  have two linux systems to do such tasks.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: casper 1.428
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-18.19-generic 5.3.1
  Uname: Linux 5.3.0-18-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu9
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.428
  CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
  Date: Sun Nov  3 11:15:29 2019
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Alpha amd64 (20191103)
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=xterm-256color
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=sv_SE.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: casper
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/casper/+bug/1851123/+subscriptions