June 1, 2026 at 5:37 AM, "Borja Tarraso" <[email protected] mailto:[email protected]?to=%22Borja%20Tarraso%22%20%3Cborja.tarraso%40member.fsf.org%3E > wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> On canonical Debian GNU/Hurd 0.9, an apt-get install of around
> 14 MB of packages onto the underlying ext2fs /var reproducibly
> trips an ext2fs translator assertion within a minute or two and
> wedges the rootfs.
Perhaps try again with the "ext3/4fs" that just landed, and see if
the bug is still there...just a thought.
> Reproducer:
>
> 1. Boot a canonical Debian GNU/Hurd 0.9 image (gnumach
> 2:1.8+git20260224-8, hurd 1:0.9.git20251029-7+b1). /var is
> mounted via /hurd/tmpfs (size 256M) by default and masks the
> underlying ext2fs /var on the rootfs.
>
> 2. Drop the tmpfs to expose the underlying /var:
>
> settrans -fg /var
>
> 3. apt-install a multi-package set, for example:
>
> apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
> xvfb emacs-lucid elpa-exwm elpa-xelb pulseaudio
>
> dpkg unpacks a few packages and then the kernel log emits:
>
> ext2fs: ../../ext2fs/pager.c:455:
> file_pager_write_pages: Assertion 'blk' failed.
>
> The translator does not recover; subsequent writes to /
> hang and the VM has to be reset.
>
> The same install runs to completion against the /hurd/tmpfs
> overlay (nothing persists in that case, of course). The rootfs
> is well under any size limit (5 GB qcow2 with around 3.6 GB
> free per df before the install). Reading pager.c around line
> 455 the failing condition looks like an indirect-block lookup
> returning zero for a block the pager is about to write out,
> which on the face of it reads like a metadata coherency issue
> between the inode block map and the pager's view of the dirty
> page; I am not an ext2fs maintainer, so that reading may be
> wrong.
>
> I would appreciate:
>
> - Confirmation that this reproduces, or a pointer if it is
> a known bug already in flight.
> - Guidance on whether the root cause sits in ext2fs's pager,
> in inode block-map maintenance under the apt-install
> workload, or upstream of both.
> - If a patch exists or is planned, which release it lands in.
>
> Happy to test patches in a qemu loop, run the workload against
> a debug build of ext2fs with extra logging, or send the full
> serial trace if any of that helps.
>
> Alternative filing channel if a tracker entry is preferred:
> https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=hurd
>
> Thanks,
> Borja Tarraso
> [email protected] mailto:[email protected]
>
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