[Bug]UUID from block info and blkid

ahmar16 · October 22, 2019, 10:28am

I am trying to set up ExtRoot on my TP-Link W8980 but it keeps saying in log that it cant find a device with UUID.
Now when I try blkid and (block info or block detect) I get different UUIDs for the partitions. I am using v18.06.4 with custom built firmware.

The output is as follows:

root@TpLink-W8980:~# blkid
/dev/mtdblock3: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda1: LABEL="data" UUID="01D588B5B6ABACE0" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="049ddfb1-01"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="root" UUID="01D588B5BAD55960" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="049ddfb1-02"
/dev/sda3: TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="049ddfb1-03"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Data" UUID="40447BA2447B997C" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="5d52e53e-d1e2-44b3-b290-df4517d34b8f"

root@TpLink-W8980:~# block detect
config 'global'
	option	anon_swap	'0'
	option	anon_mount	'0'
	option	auto_swap	'1'
	option	auto_mount	'1'
	option	delay_root	'5'
	option	check_fs	'0'

config 'mount'
	option	target	'/mnt/sda1'
	option	uuid	'01D588B5B6ABACE0'
	option	enabled	'0'

config 'mount'
	option	target	'/mnt/sda2'
	option	uuid	'0000001800000048'
	option	enabled	'0'

config 'swap'
	option	device	'/dev/sda3'
	option	enabled	'0'

config 'mount'
	option	target	'/mnt/sdb1'
	option	uuid	'0000001800000048'
	option	enabled	'0'

root@TpLink-W8980:~# block info
/dev/mtdblock3: UUID="eb458983-9b33933e-14968b82-0499697a" VERSION="4.0" MOUNT="/rom" TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/mtdblock4: MOUNT="/overlay" TYPE="jffs2"
/dev/sda1: UUID="01D588B5B6ABACE0" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: UUID="0000001800000048" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda3: VERSION="1" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="0000001800000048" TYPE="ntfs"

Can someone advise anything here?
Please note that /dev/sda is a USB Flash Disk and /dev/sdb is external Hard Disk.

Also my current /etc/config/fstab:

root@TpLink-W8980:~# cat /etc/config/fstab
config 'global'
	option	anon_swap	'0'
	option	anon_mount	'0'
	option	auto_swap	'1'
	option	auto_mount	'1'
	option	delay_root	'15'
	option	check_fs	'0'

config 'mount'
	option	target	'/tmp/data'
	option	uuid	'01D588B5B6ABACE0'
	option  options 'rw,async,noatime,hide_hid_files,big_writes,fmask=0000,dmask=0000'
	option 	fstype  'ntfs'
	option	enabled	'1'

config 'mount'
	option	target	'/overlay'
	option	uuid	'01D588B5BAD55960'
	option  options 'rw,sync,hide_hid_files,fmask=0000,dmask=0000,noatime'
	option  fstype  'ntfs'
	option	enabled	'1'

config 'swap'
	option	device	'/dev/sda3'
	option	enabled	'1'

config 'mount'
	option 	target 	'/tmp/data-hdd'
	option 	uuid   	'40447BA2447B997C'
	option 	options 'rw,async,noatime,hide_hid_files,big_writes,fmask=0000,dmask=0000'
	option 	fstype	'ntfs'
	option	enabled '1'

I think it could be a bug but not sure.

Edit: Is it possible that I can use the PARTUUID instead of the UUID in case there is a bug within block mount or something?

Edit2: There is a bug created for this issue since 18.06.1 but nothing has been done so far to make it right. Bug #2129

Workaround Solution: The workaround is available in 9th post

trendy · October 22, 2019, 10:46am

Just to be clear. The current fstab works but you have issues mounting an NTFS partition as overlay? I don't see the UUID in the list of block detect.

ahmar16 · October 22, 2019, 10:54am

No I think I was not clear. The fstab does not work. As I said above that on boot it keeps saying that it was not able to find the device based on some UUID.

vgaetera · October 22, 2019, 10:59am

Yep, it's the bug I opened a while ago, seems still relevant:
https://bugs.openwrt.org/index.php?do=details&task_id=2129

In any case, NTFS is not a native Linux FS and its implementation is incomplete/limited, so I wouldn't recommend using it.

ahmar16 · October 22, 2019, 11:05am

I understand that but the first partition always has the correct UUID and can be used as /overlay quite nicely so it is merely a bug in block detect which needs to be addressed.

Ansuel · October 22, 2019, 11:30am

Can someone try this in master? Have done son fix some times ago and I think they are not present in latest stable

vgaetera · October 22, 2019, 12:53pm

NTFS on Linux doesn't support permissions/ownership, so it's unlikely you can use it for the extroot.

ahmar16 · October 22, 2019, 2:06pm

No latest snapshot doesnt change a thing. It's the same, UUIDs are different as above. Even though I formatted the 100mb sda2 to EXT4. The 2nd device with NTFS always has a specific UUID and then every device after that has this same UUID.

root@TpLink-W8980:~# blkid
/dev/mtdblock3: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda1: LABEL="data" UUID="01D588B5B6ABACE0" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="049ddfb1-01"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="root" UUID="d251fd94-de88-d501-8040-fd94de88d501" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="049ddfb1-02"
/dev/sda3: TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="049ddfb1-03"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Data" UUID="40447BA2447B997C" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="5d52e53e-d1e2-44b3-b290-df4517d34b8f"
root@TpLink-W8980:~# block detect
config 'global'
        option  anon_swap       '0'
        option  anon_mount      '0'
        option  auto_swap       '1'
        option  auto_mount      '1'
        option  delay_root      '5'
        option  check_fs        '0'

config 'mount'
        option  target  '/mnt/sda1'
        option  uuid    '01D588B5B6ABACE0'
        option  enabled '0'

config 'mount'
        option  target  '/mnt/sda2'
        option  uuid    'd251fd94-de88-d501-8040-fd94de88d501'
        option  enabled '0'

config 'swap'
        option  device  '/dev/sda3'
        option  enabled '0'

config 'mount'
        option  target  '/mnt/sdb1'
        option  uuid    '0000001800000048'
        option  enabled '0'

anon69880279 · October 23, 2019, 1:19pm

i use ntfs without problem ( read & write)
not kmod-ntfs buts ntfs-3g lsblk e2fsprogs
run with HDD or USB key connected directly or with a HUB USB with only this:

*fstab
config global
option anon_swap '0'
option auto_swap '1'
option auto_mount '1'
option delay_root '5'
option anon_mount '1'
option check_fs '1'

*samba
config samba
option name 'NAME'
option workgroup 'WORKGROUP'
option description 'NAME'
option homes '1'
config sambashare
option browseable 'yes'
option path '/mnt'
option read_only 'no'
option guest_ok 'yes'
option name 'USB'
*

root@MINIHERE-239:/etc/config# blkid
/dev/mtdblock5: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda1: LABEL="PP" UUID="4E89-3D57" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="Microsoft Basic Data" PARTUUID="efe3b037-20e4-4d05-9ea5-de5718647d26"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="20190707-DI" UUID="3467-3C25" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="000c7d05-01"
/dev/sdc1: UUID="8028-3845" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="0249e8cc-01"
/dev/sdd1: LABEL="WIN10_V1809" UUID="5EBE-08AD" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="02644082-01"
/dev/sde1: LABEL="IR3_SSS_X64FRE_FR-FR_DV9" UUID="CE58BB2C58BB1267" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="0013ccd9-01"
/dev/sdf: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="B458-1B18" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sdg1: LABEL="Nouveau nom" UUID="0C7AC0F07AC0D79A" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="9faea563-01"

vgaetera · October 23, 2019, 1:40pm

You are not using it as extroot, are you?

anon69880279 · October 23, 2019, 6:59pm

for ntfs and others i use;

ntfs-3g ( read and write )
kmod-fs-autofs4
kmod-fs-ext4
kmod-fs-reiserfs
kmod-fs-vfat
kmod-scsi-core
kmod-slhc
kmod-usb-core
kmod-usb-ohci
kmod-usb-printer
kmod-usb-storage
kmod-usb-storage-extras
kmod-usb-storage-uas
kmod-usb-uhci
kmod-usb3

ahmar16 · October 24, 2019, 3:49am

It doesn't matter right now. The issue is related to UUIDs for ntfs drives. In fstab you cannot mount the drives based on UUIDs but you can mount them as /dev/sd* but it may be a race condition with some USB flash drives.

So is there any other option that can be used in fstab to make it more clear that a specific device needs to be mounted and not just any drive?

vgaetera · October 24, 2019, 7:29am

If I understand correctly, you are not using extroot.

Try to mount NTFS to /mnt instead of /overlay.
You can also test Ext4/F2FS instead of NTFS for /overlay.

ahmar16 · October 24, 2019, 9:06am

I understand that and it's not an issue where to mount the drive. The issue is that there is only one UUID which is accurate enough to mount a drive, being the first one, and rest are just bogus/same UUIDs and you cant mount more than one drive based on ntfs. Ntfs is a matter of choice here because being a windows user Fat32 is not an option due to 3gb file limitations.

trendy · October 24, 2019, 9:11am

Not quite. As long as it is mounted on the OpenWrt, you can access the contents of the drives with Samba, FTP, SSHFS or any other way and the clients don't need to know the FS used.

ahmar16 · October 24, 2019, 9:15am

Yes but if I wanted to use the drive with my PC physically then Windows will not recognise any non-Windows FS and I cant transfer any data or even share the drive with my friends if I ever need to.

trendy · October 24, 2019, 9:34am

This ...

... and this ...

... are contradicting.
First decide how do you want to use the drive.

ahmar16 · October 24, 2019, 10:47am

@trendy Please see above. I did want to use ExtRoot with NTFS but I thought it would be better not to. So I am using 100mb partition with Ext4 and one other partition is NTFS. There is a 500Gb external HDD with NTFS also but its UUID is not displaying accurately as it should and that causes issues.

anon69880279 · October 24, 2019, 9:02pm

Do as i do: I do not use any UUID or /dev/sdx and /mnt/sdx.. .

Everything is automatic and this even with several HDD or USB keys connected to a USB HUB

All is plug and play

ahmar16 · October 25, 2019, 4:46am

Can you please show complete fstab? The fstab you have posted above doesn't include any mount points. Where does it mount the drives?