in ext3_orphan_cleanup (same for ext4) we do: if (EXT3_SB(sb)->s_mount_state & EXT3_ERROR_FS) { if (es->s_last_orphan) jbd_debug(1, "Errors on filesystem, " "clearing orphan list.\n"); es->s_last_orphan = 0; jbd_debug(1, "Skipping orphan recovery on fs with errors.\n"); return; } I can sort of understand not processing the orphan inode list if the fs is already known to be potentially corrupted, but actually clearing the list seems to go too far. This means that a subsequent e2fsck will find even more problems as a result of the orphan list not being available. It's been this way for a while though, so the original reason for the behavior may be lost. Does anyone know? I've been alerted to a somewhat odd behavior where a filesystem with an orphan inode list *and* in error state behaves differently if: 1) e2fsck -p is done: e2fsck fixes things and exits happily vs. 2) mount is done first, then e2fsck -p: due to the orphan inode list being gone, enough errors are found that e2fsck exits with UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY. The 2nd case above has the tendency to halt the boot process, which is unfortunate. The situation might be improved by at least not clearing the orphan inode list when the fs is mounted readonly. What do folks think? Thanks, -Eric -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ext4" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html