[Bug 372430] [NEW] After fsck failure, maintenance shell asks for root password

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I'm using Ubuntu 8.10, amd64 architecture, fully updated.

I turned on my system and after a bit of booting a little bit of fscking
I was presented with the following:

 * Checking root file system...
fsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
/dev/sda1 contains a file system with errors, check forced.
/dev/da1:
Inodes that were part of a corrupted orphan linked list found.

/dev/sda1: UNEXPECTED INCOSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.
        (i.e., without -a or -p options)
fsck fied with exit status 4
                                                                         [fail]
 * An automatic file system check (fsck) of the root filesystem failed.
A manual fsck must be performed, then the system restarted.
The fsck should be performed in maintenance mode with the
root filesystem mounted in read-only mode.
 * The root filesystem is currently mounted in read-only mode.
A maintenance shell will now be started.
After performing system maintenance, press CONTROL-D
to terminate the maintenance shell and restart the system.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue): _


The problem is:
- I haven't set up a root password, and a normal installation doesn't use one. So I can't give the root password.
- Control-D restarts the system, and the same thing happens next time you boot.
- If I boot into recovery mode using grub, the same thing happens.

So I have to use a liveCD to fsck /dev/sda1.

I should be able to provide the username and password of a sudoer to get
the privileges this maintenance shell needs, and therefore fix
(hopefully) the filesystem without impossible prompts, experimentation
with recovery mode, and multiple reboots.

I don't know what caused fsck to immediately say "/dev/sda1 contains a
file system with errors": the machine was shutdown normally last time it
was used. It is a laptop with a fully charged battery, so it could not
have been a power failure between starting the shutdown and unmounting
the filesystems.

Sorry for not knowing which package this bug belongs to.

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Incomplete

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After fsck failure, maintenance shell asks for root password
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/372430
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