[BusyBox 0001619]: BusyBox 1.8.2 fdisk doesn't read from stdin

bugs at busybox.net bugs at busybox.net
Sun Feb 10 11:13:19 UTC 2008


The following issue has been CLOSED 
====================================================================== 
http://busybox.net/bugs/view.php?id=1619 
====================================================================== 
Reported By:                vicser
Assigned To:                BusyBox
====================================================================== 
Project:                    BusyBox
Issue ID:                   1619
Category:                   Standards Compliance
Reproducibility:            always
Severity:                   major
Priority:                   normal
Status:                     closed
Resolution:                 open
Fixed in Version:           
====================================================================== 
Date Submitted:             11-30-2007 01:53 PST
Last Modified:              02-10-2008 03:13 PST
====================================================================== 
Summary:                    BusyBox 1.8.2 fdisk doesn't read from stdin
Description: 
busybox is used for unattended Linux installations.
During the installation hard drive is partitioned by means of fdisk.
fdisk is used in a batch mode.
This means text file with fdisk commands is prepared -
see attached fdisk-commands file
(partition size values are variable, fdisk-commands is used to create 3
partitions -boot root and swap).
And then fdisk-commands file is passed to fdisk through the stdin.
Somthing like

fdisk /dev/hda < fdisk-commands

In all busybox till 1.7.3 this works fine
But in busybox 1.8.0-1.8.2 fdisk doesn't read commands from stdin.

====================================================================== 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 vda - 12-01-07 19:41  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Just built busybox 1.8.2 and tested it:

# echo q >Q
# strace -o fdisk.log ./busybox fdisk /dev/sda1 <Q
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF
disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel. Changes will remain in memory only,
until you decide to write them. After that the previous content
won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x00,0x00 of partition table 4 will be corrected by
w(rite)

Command (m for help): q

#

strace log clearly shows that it did read from stdin:

write(1, "Command (m for help): ", 22)  = 22
read(0, "q", 1)                         = 1
write(1, "q", 1)                        = 1
read(0, "\n", 1)                        = 1
write(1, "\n", 1)                       = 1

Please provide more details (your .config, and strace log of fdisk
invocation which doesn't work for you) 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 iluxa - 01-30-08 12:55  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Apparently this busybox version expects all input to be line-buffered.
As a workaround, calling sync after sending each line will fix the
problem.
(line reading should be fixed instead, of course) 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 vda - 02-03-08 17:08  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> Apparently this busybox version expects all input to be line-buffered.

1.9.0 uses fgets() in fdisk (indirectly through read_line_input)
if input is coming from non-tty. What is the problem?

> As a workaround, calling sync after sending each line will fix the
problem.

What "sync"?

> (line reading should be fixed instead, of course)

I need understandable bug report first. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 hshao - 02-04-08 13:22  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
it is noticed that some changes in libbb/lineedit.c cause this problem. A
quick fix is to follow the patch below:

--- busybox-1.8.2/libbb/lineedit.c.orig	2008-02-04 11:38:51.000000000
-0800
+++ busybox-1.8.2/libbb/lineedit.c	2008-02-04 11:39:47.000000000 -0800
@@ -1270,6 +1270,8 @@
 	smalluint prevc;
 #endif
 
+//fix the issue: fdisk can't take input from non-tty mode
+#if 0
 	getTermSettings(0, (void *) &initial_settings);
 	/* Happens when e.g. stty -echo was run before */
 	if (!(initial_settings.c_lflag & ECHO)) {
@@ -1278,6 +1280,7 @@
 		fgets(command, maxsize, stdin);
 		return strlen(command);
 	}
+#endif
 
 // FIXME: audit & improve this
 	if (maxsize > MAX_LINELEN)
@@ -1296,6 +1299,7 @@
 	command_ps = command;
 	command[0] = '\0';
 
+	getTermSettings(0, (void *) &initial_settings);
 	memcpy(&new_settings, &initial_settings, sizeof(new_settings));
 	new_settings.c_lflag &= ~ICANON;        /* unbuffered input */
 	/* Turn off echoing and CTRL-C, so we can trap it */ 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 iluxa - 02-04-08 20:30  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
I took a look at 1.8 code, and it comes down to the same fgets call.
This may be a bug in the way busybox and glibc interact, since in this
case it is busybox statically linked with glibc 2.3

The "sync" I was referring to above was sync command. Example:
Original way:
fdisk /dev/sda << EOF
n
p
1


w
EOF
Had to be replaced with:
(echo n;sync; echo p; sync; echo 1; sync; echo; sync; echo; sync; echo
w;)|fdisk /dev/sda 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 vda - 02-08-08 10:43  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Oh. It seems to be a simple thing which is fixed in 1.9.0 already.

Does this patch help?

http://busybox.net/downloads/fixes-1.8.2/busybox-1.8.2-lineedit.patch 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 iluxa - 02-10-08 00:33  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
The patch (slightly modified) worked.
Will attach my version. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 vda - 02-10-08 03:13  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Thanks for testing/fixing. Closing the issue. 

Issue History 
Date Modified   Username       Field                    Change               
====================================================================== 
11-30-07 01:53  vicser         New Issue                                    
11-30-07 01:53  vicser         Status                   new => assigned     
11-30-07 01:53  vicser         Assigned To               => BusyBox         
11-30-07 01:53  vicser         File Added: fdisk-commands                    
11-30-07 02:04  vicser         Issue Monitored: vicser                      
11-30-07 02:04  vicser         Issue End Monitor: vicser                    
12-01-07 19:41  vda            Note Added: 0002994                          
12-01-07 19:41  vda            Status                   assigned => feedback
01-30-08 12:55  iluxa          Note Added: 0003624                          
02-03-08 17:08  vda            Note Added: 0003674                          
02-04-08 13:22  hshao          Note Added: 0003704                          
02-04-08 20:30  iluxa          Note Added: 0003714                          
02-08-08 10:43  vda            Note Added: 0003744                          
02-10-08 00:33  iluxa          Note Added: 0003784                          
02-10-08 00:34  iluxa          File Added: fixlineinput.patch                   

02-10-08 03:13  vda            Status                   feedback => closed  
02-10-08 03:13  vda            Note Added: 0003814                          
======================================================================




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