Phase 2: Check Path Names Messages (System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration)

System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration

Phase 2: Check Path Names Messages

This phase removes directory entries pointing to bad inodes found in phases 1 and 1B. It reports error conditions resulting from:

Incorrect root inode mode and status
Directory inode pointers out of range
Directory entries pointing to bad inodes
Directory integrity checks

When the file system is being preened (-o p option), all errors in this phase terminate fsck, except those related to directories not being a multiple of the block size, duplicate and bad blocks, inodes out of range, and extraneous hard links.

These messages (in alphabetical order) might occur in phase 2:

BAD INODE state-number TO DESCEND

Cause: An fsck internal error has passed an invalid state state-number to the routine that descends the file system directory structure. fsck exits.
Action: If this error message is displayed, contact your local service provider or another qualified person.

BAD INODE NUMBER FOR '.' I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode 
SIZE=file-size MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename (FIX)

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found whose inode number for “.” does not equal inode-number.
Action: To change the inode number for “.” to be equal to inode-number, type y at the FIX prompt To leave the inode numbers for “.” unchanged, type n.

BAD INODE NUMBER FOR '..' I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode 
SIZE=file-size MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename (FIX)

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found whose inode number for “..” does not equal the parent of inode-number.
Action: To change the inode number for “..” to be equal to the parent of inode-number, type y at the FIX prompt. (Note that “..'' in the root inode points to itself.)To leave the inode number for “..” unchanged, type n.

BAD RETURN STATE state-number FROM DESCEND

Cause: An fsck internal error has returned an impossible state state-number from the routine that descends the file system directory structure. fsck exits.
Action: If this message is displayed, contact your local service provider or another qualified person.

BAD STATE state-number FOR ROOT INODE

Cause: An internal error has assigned an impossible state state-number to the root inode. fsck exits.
Action: If this error message is displayed, contact your local service provider or another qualified person.

BAD STATE state-number FOR INODE=inode-number

Cause: An internal error has assigned an impossible state state-number to inode inode-number. fsck exits.
Action: If this error message is displayed, contact your local service provider or another qualified person.

DIRECTORY TOO SHORT I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode 
SIZE=file-size MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename (FIX)

Cause: A directory filename has been found whose size file-size is less than the minimum directory size. The owner UID, mode file-mode, size file-size, modify time modification-time, and directory name filename are displayed.
Action: To increase the size of the directory to the minimum directory size, type y at the FIX prompt. To ignore this directory, type n.

DIRECTORY filename: LENGTH file-size NOT MULTIPLE OF block-number (ADJUST)

Cause: A directory filename has been found with size file-size that is not a multiple of the directory block size block-number.
Action: To round up the length to the appropriate block size, type y. When preening the file system (-o p option), fsck only displays a warning and adjusts the directory. To ignore this condition, type n.

DIRECTORY CORRUPTED I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode 
SIZE=file-size MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename (SALVAGE)

Cause: A directory with an inconsistent internal state has been found.
Action: To throw away all entries up to the next directory boundary (usually a 512-byte boundary), type y at the SALVAGE prompt. This drastic action can throw away up to 42 entries. Take this action only after other recovery efforts have failed. To skip to the next directory boundary and resume reading, but not modify the directory, type n.

DUP/BAD I=inode-number OWNER=O MODE=M SIZE=file-size 
MTIME=modification-time TYPE=filename (REMOVE)

Cause: Phase 1 or phase 1B found duplicate blocks or bad blocks associated with directory or file entry filename, inode inode-number. The owner UID, mode file-mode, size file-size, modification time modification-time, and directory or file name filename are displayed. If the -p (preen) option is specified, the duplicate/bad blocks are removed.
Action: To remove the directory or file entry filename, type y at the REMOVE prompt. To ignore this error condition, type n.

DUPS/BAD IN ROOT INODE (REALLOCATE)

Cause: Phase 1 or phase 1B has found duplicate blocks or bad blocks in the root inode (usually inode number 2) of the file system.
Action: To clear the existing contents of the root inode and reallocate it, type y at the REALLOCATE prompt. The files and directories usually found in the root inode will be recovered in phase 3 and put into the lost+found directory. If the attempt to allocate the root fails, fsck will exit with: CANNOT ALLOCATE ROOT INODE. Type n to get the CONTINUE prompt. Type: y to respond to the CONTINUE prompt, and ignore the DUPS/BAD error condition in the root inode and continue running the file system check. If the root inode is not correct, this might generate many other error messages. Type n to terminate the program.

EXTRA '.' ENTRY I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode 
SIZE=file-size MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename (FIX)

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found that has more than one entry for “.”.
Action: To remove the extra entry for “.” type y at the FIX prompt. To leave the directory unchanged, type n.

EXTRA '..' ENTRY I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode 
SIZE=file-size MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename(FIX)

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found that has more than one entry for “..” (the parent directory).
Action: To remove the extra entry for `..' (the parent directory), type y at the FIX prompt. To leave the directory unchanged, type n.

hard-link-number IS AN EXTRANEOUS HARD LINK TO A DIRECTORY filename (REMOVE)

Cause: fsck has found an extraneous hard link hard-link-number to a directory filename. When preening (-o p option), fsck ignores the extraneous hard links.
Action: To delete the extraneous entry hard-link-number type y at the REMOVE prompt. To ignore the error condition, type n.

inode-number OUT OF RANGE I=inode-number NAME=filename (REMOVE)

Cause: A directory entry filename has an inode number inode-number that is greater than the end of the inode list. If the -p (preen) option is specified, the inode will be removed automatically.
Action: To delete the directory entry filename type y at the REMOVE prompt. To ignore the error condition, type n.

MISSING '.' I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode SIZE=file-size 
MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename (FIX)

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found whose first entry (the entry for “.”) is unallocated.
Action: To build an entry for “.” with inode number equal to inode-number, type y at the FIX prompt. To leave the directory unchanged, type n.

MISSING '.' I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode SIZE=file-size 
MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename CANNOT FIX, FIRST ENTRY IN 
DIRECTORY CONTAINS filename

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found whose first entry is filename. fsck cannot resolve this problem.
Action: If this error message is displayed, contact your local service provider or another qualified person.

MISSING '.' I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode SIZE=file-size 
MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename CANNOT FIX, INSUFFICIENT 
SPACE TO ADD '.'

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found whose first entry is not “.”. fsck cannot resolve the problem.
Action: If this error message is displayed, contact your local service provider or another qualified person.

MISSING '..' I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode SIZE=file-size 
MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename (FIX)

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found whose second entry is unallocated.
Action: To build an entry for “..” with inode number equal to the parent of inode-number, type y at the FIX prompt. (Note that “..'' in the root inode points to itself.) To leave the directory unchanged, type n.

MISSING '..' I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode SIZE=file-size 
MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename CANNOT FIX, SECOND ENTRY IN 
DIRECTORY CONTAINS filename

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found whose second entry is filename. fsck cannot resolve this problem.
Action: If this error message is displayed, contact your local service provider or another qualified person.

MISSING '..' I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode SIZE=file-size 
MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename CANNOT FIX, INSUFFICIENT SPACE 
TO ADD '..'

Cause: A directory inode-number has been found whose second entry is not “..” (the parent directory). fsck cannot resolve this problem.
Action: If this error message is displayed, contact your local service provider or another qualified person.

NAME TOO LONG filename

Cause: An excessively long path name has been found, which usually indicates loops in the file system name space. This error can occur if a privileged user has made circular links to directories.
Action: Remove the circular links.

ROOT INODE UNALLOCATED (ALLOCATE)

Cause: The root inode (usually inode number 2) has no allocate-mode bits.
Action: To allocate inode 2 as the root inode, type y at the ALLOCATE prompt. The files and directories usually found in the root inode will be recovered in phase 3 and put into the lost+found directory. If the attempt to allocate the root inode fails, fsck displays this message and exits: CANNOT ALLOCATE ROOT INODE. To terminate the program, type n.

ROOT INODE NOT DIRECTORY (REALLOCATE)

Cause: The root inode (usually inode number 2) of the file system is not a directory inode.
Action: To clear the existing contents of the root inode and reallocate it, type y at the REALLOCATE prompt. The files and directories usually found in the root inode will be recovered in phase 3 and put into the lost+found directory. If the attempt to allocate the root inode fails, fsck displays this message and exits: CANNOT ALLOCATE ROOT INODE. To have fsck prompt with FIX, type n.

UNALLOCATED I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode SIZE=file-size 
MTIME=modification-time type=filename(REMOVE)

Cause: A directory or file entry filename points to an unallocated inode inode-number. The owner UID, mode file-mode, size file-size, modify time modification-time, and file name filename are displayed.
Action: To delete the directory entry filename, type y at the REMOVE prompt. To ignore the error condition, type n.

ZERO LENGTH DIRECTORY I=inode-number OWNER=UID MODE=file-mode 
SIZE=file-size MTIME=modification-time DIR=filename (REMOVE)

Cause: A directory entry filename has a size file-size that is zero. The owner UID, mode file-mode, size file-size, modify time modification-time, and directory name filename are displayed.
Action: To remove the directory entry filename, type y at the REMOVE prompt. This results in the BAD/DUP error message in phase 4. To ignore the error condition, type n.