Bug#1122921: debian-installer: doesn't install fsck.vfat even on EFI systems, which have a vfat ex def and explicitly enable fscking it in fstab

[Pascal Hambourg]

On 14/12/2025 at 19:06, Pascal Hambourg wrote:


AFAICS detected_filesystem is updated only when init.d/* scripts are 
executed, not when the partition is formatted. As a result, it is not 
always updated after a partition is formatted.


Checking more carefully, detected_filesystem is updated by 
update.d/detected_filesystem which is executed not only by 
init.d/update_partitions but also by lib/base.sh function 
update_partition() which is called in multiple scripts but AFAICS none 
in commit.d/ where partitions are formatted, so my conclusion still stands.

Bug#1122921: debian-installer: doesn't install fsck.vfat even on EFI systems, which have a vfat ex def and explicitly enable fscking it in fstab

[наб]

Hi!

On Sun, Dec 14, 2025 at 06:35:08PM +0100, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> Any traces of trying (and maybe failing) to get that package installed?
> See /var/log/syslog at runtime, and /var/log/installer/syslog afterwards.
Attaching full /var/log/installer, but
  # grep dosfs /var/log/installer/syslog
  Dec 14 02:13:51 anna[1631]: DEBUG: retrieving dosfstools-udeb 4.2-1.2
and grep -i fat only yields os-prober.

Best,


var-log-installer.tar.zst
Description: application/zstd


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Bug#1122921: debian-installer: doesn't install fsck.vfat even on EFI systems, which have a vfat ex def and explicitly enable fscking it in fstab

[Pascal Hambourg]

Hi,

On 14/12/2025 at 18:35, Cyril Brulebois wrote:

наб  (2025-12-14):

I recently installed trixie on an EFI amd64 system.

(...)

And yet! I don't have a fsck.vfat, so it doesn't get checked, ever.

(...)

But from a quick look, I think this should be happening already?

 commit 859ba462b5b1fc4e2c2a654a7263856905af51ce (tag: 163)
 Author: Steve McIntyre 
 Date:   Mon May 15 22:59:30 2023 +0100
 
 Install dosfstools if we have a FAT ESP
AFAICS detected_filesystem is updated only when init.d/* scripts are 
executed, not when the partition is formatted. As a result, it is not 
always updated after a partition is formatted.


For example it is updated when using LVM after creating the EFI 
partition (because LVM setup executes init.d/* scripts) but not when 
using plain partitions.

Bug#1122921: debian-installer: doesn't install fsck.vfat even on EFI systems, which have a vfat ex def and explicitly enable fscking it in fstab

[Cyril Brulebois]

Hi,

наб  (2025-12-14):
> I recently installed trixie on an EFI amd64 system.
> 
> By definition, this means I have a vfat partition which is required for
> booting (and indeed I had an ESP on /dev/vda1).
> Additionally, /etc/fstab for /boot/efi has a fs_passno field of 1,
> so fscking is explicitly enabled.
> 
> And yet! I don't have a fsck.vfat, so it doesn't get checked, ever.
> 
> I think the target ought to have a fsck for all the filesystems
> configured in d-i anyway (but especially when it's part of the boot
> sequence), so d-i ought to pull in dosfstools I think?

Without knowing much about any possible decision against doing so… what
you're suggesting makes sense to me.

But from a quick look, I think this should be happening already?

commit 859ba462b5b1fc4e2c2a654a7263856905af51ce (tag: 163)
Author: Steve McIntyre 
Date:   Mon May 15 22:59:30 2023 +0100

Install dosfstools if we have a FAT ESP

That should be the case for bookworm (164) and trixie (174).

  
https://salsa.debian.org/installer-team/partman-basicfilesystems/-/commit/859ba462b5b1fc4e2c2a654a7263856905af51ce

Any traces of trying (and maybe failing) to get that package installed?
See /var/log/syslog at runtime, and /var/log/installer/syslog afterwards.


Cheers,
-- 
Cyril Brulebois (k...@debian.org)
D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant


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Bug#1122921: debian-installer: doesn't install fsck.vfat even on EFI systems, which have a vfat ex def and explicitly enable fscking it in fstab

[наб]

Package: debian-installer
Version: 20250803+deb13u2
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

I recently installed trixie on an EFI amd64 system.

By definition, this means I have a vfat partition which is required for
booting (and indeed I had an ESP on /dev/vda1).
Additionally, /etc/fstab for /boot/efi has a fs_passno field of 1,
so fscking is explicitly enabled.

And yet! I don't have a fsck.vfat, so it doesn't get checked, ever.

I think the target ought to have a fsck for all the filesystems
configured in d-i anyway (but especially when it's part of the boot
sequence), so d-i ought to pull in dosfstools I think?

Best,

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 12.11
  APT prefers oldstable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'oldstable-updates'), (500, 'oldstable-security'), (500, 
'oldstable-debug'), (500, 'oldstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 6.1.0-35-amd64 (SMP w/24 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_FIRMWARE_WORKAROUND, 
TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), 
LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled


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