no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

jensp · 2009-01-13 18:32:09

Hey there,
I recently switched to ext4 and since then I've had some problems with disk space running out although there should be alot available. This is especially trigged when pacman accesses the /var/lib/pacman directory. I'm running kernel 2.6.29-rc1 but the problem also occured with all other kernel versions from 2.6.28-rc2 upwards.
Here's an example of my problem:

root@eee:~$ du -hs /var/lib/pacman 
71M    /var/lib/pacman
root@eee:~$ tar cjpf pacman.tar.bz2 /var/lib/pacman 
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
root@eee:~$ rm -rf /var/lib/pacman 
root@eee:~$ tar xjpf pacman.tar.bz2 -C /           
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/915resolution-static-0.5.3-3/depends: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/915resolution-static-0.5.3-3/files: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/915resolution-static-0.5.3-3/desc: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/kbproto-1.0.3-1/depends: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/kbproto-1.0.3-1/files: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/kbproto-1.0.3-1/desc: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/smpeg-0.4.4-4/depends: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/smpeg-0.4.4-4/files: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/smpeg-0.4.4-4/desc: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/xcursor-themes-1.0.1-1/depends: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/xcursor-themes-1.0.1-1/files: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/xcursor-themes-1.0.1-1/desc: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/tor-0.2.0.32-1/depends: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/tor-0.2.0.32-1/files: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/tor-0.2.0.32-1/desc: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/tor-0.2.0.32-1/install: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/truecrypt-6.1a-2/depends: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/truecrypt-6.1a-2/files: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/truecrypt-6.1a-2/desc: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/artwiz-fonts-1.3-3/depends: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/artwiz-fonts-1.3-3/files: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/artwiz-fonts-1.3-3/desc: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/artwiz-fonts-1.3-3/install: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/qt-recordmydesktop-0.3.8-1/depends: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/qt-recordmydesktop-0.3.8-1/files: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: var/lib/pacman/local/qt-recordmydesktop-0.3.8-1/desc: Cannot open: No space left on device
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
root@eee[2]:~$ df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/ssd-root  3.0G  2.3G  695M  77% /
none                 1009M     0 1009M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/mapper/ssd-home  709M  548M  162M  78% /home
none                 1009M   13M  997M   2% /tmp
none                 1009M   16M  994M   2% /home/jens/.mozilla/firefox/lfdv5u2k.default/Cache

jens@eee:~$ df -i
Filesystem            Inodes   IUsed   IFree IUse% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/ssd-root  196608  133094   63514   68% /
none                  221808       1  221807    1% /dev/shm
/dev/mapper/ssd-home   46080   15404   30676   34% /home
none                  221808      59  221749    1% /tmp
none                  221808     106  221702    1% /home/jens/.mozilla/firefox/lfdv5u2k.default/Cache

There is a bug report on the kernel mailinglist http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux … 10/4379924 but that didn't really help me at all. I'm not running a bittorrent client or any other program which does excessive disc writes. The only thing I could imagine would be the write cycles of my ssd expiring, but my eeepc is not even a year old.
I'd be very greatful for any pointers.

sirius · 2009-01-13 19:12:34

I had the same problem after a kernel panic. I started from a rescue system and forced an e2fsck with fsck.ext4 -f /dev/sdx. Rebooted and problem was gone. Seems that ext4 still is not too stable ;-) Dont't know what you should do if this happens a lot, though.

iBertus · 2009-01-13 19:16:35

Geez, all of these ext4 bugs make me want to switch back to JFS until things settle down.

kensai · 2009-01-13 20:51:54

iBertus wrote:

Geez, all of these ext4 bugs make me want to switch back to JFS until things settle down.

Are there bugs? WOW, sometimes I wonder if I have the perfect combination of hardware.

broch · 2009-01-14 18:31:37

the sheer number of fixes for ext4 in the kernel changelog would suggest that there is still a lot of issues with ext4.
These problems do not undermine ext4 value. 2.6.28 is fist with working ext4 so obviously a lot of bug will pop up.

I doubt that you have perfect hardware combination, you are just lucky.

jensp · 2009-01-14 21:16:38

fsck didn't help, I gave up on ext4 and converted back to ext3, thanks for the suggestions anyway

Marcel- · 2009-02-04 09:50:07

Same problem here:

# mkdir /usr/testdir
mkdir: cannot create directory '/usr/testdir': no space left on device
# df - h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda6             1.5G  940M  432M  69% /
none                  502M     0  502M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/sda7             2.9G  225M  2.5G   9% /var
/dev/sda9              29G  1.1G   28G   4% /home
/dev/sda8             7.7G  1.4G  6.3G  18% /usr
/dev/sda4             456M   11M  446M   3% /boot
/dev/sda10            3.5G   71M  3.4G   3% /enc
/dev/sda11            5.7G  728M  5.0G  13% /var/cache/pacman

Lifty · 2009-03-06 10:07:39

Had the same problem when I tried to install firefox to a fresh archlinux install. Was kind of shocking first followed by a wtf?
But it was fine the next boot although I had some fileconflicts because of the aborted firefox setup. So this is caused by a buggy ext4? Damn it! Should have sticked to ext3

Last edited by Lifty (2009-03-06 10:08:13)

TheGrudge · 2009-03-06 20:58:11

Maybe the ext4 FS is not delivering correct values for free space sometimes?
My media partition was constantly 68.3% fragmented, although it was freshly installed.
Yesterday pacman updated e2fstools and suddenly my partition has only 33% fragmentation, all the other partitions changed their level of fragmentation, too.

Maybe ext4 is only assuming that the partition is full because of wrong internal variables?

Arch Linux

#1 2009-01-13 18:32:09

no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

#2 2009-01-13 19:12:34

Re: no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

#3 2009-01-13 19:16:35

Re: no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

#4 2009-01-13 20:51:54

Re: no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

#5 2009-01-14 18:31:37

Re: no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

#6 2009-01-14 21:16:38

Re: no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

#7 2009-02-04 09:50:07

Re: no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

#8 2009-03-06 10:07:39

Re: no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

#9 2009-03-06 20:58:11

Re: no space left with ext4 although 23% is free

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