Package: e2fsprogs Version: 1.42.12-1.1 Severity: normal File: /sbin/mke2fs When creating an ext3/ext4 filesystem the sparse_super2 option is ignored and defaults back to sparse_super when using extent or 64bit. mke2fs should respect the use of sparse_super2 when using either or both -O extent or -O 64bit. Normal formatting using sparse_super and works as expected creating 2 backup superblocks. mke2fs /dev/sdq1 -t ext4 -b 4096 -O sparse_super2 mke2fs 1.42.12 (29-Aug-2014) Creating filesystem with 61049344 4k blocks and 15269888 inodes Filesystem UUID: cdaa09a3-dcb2-473a-9da8-7517a632db14 Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 61046784 Allocating group tables: done Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (32768 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done Using extent option with sparse_super2 creates more than 2 backup superblocks. mke2fs /dev/sdq1 -t ext4 -b 4096 -O sparse_super2 -O extent mke2fs 1.42.12 (29-Aug-2014) Creating filesystem with 61049344 4k blocks and 15269888 inodes Filesystem UUID: 4634627d-bd41-4f96-923d-21746f12cf1f Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872 Allocating group tables: done Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (32768 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done Using 64bit option with sparse_super2 creates more than 2 backup superblocks. mke2fs /dev/sdq1 -t ext4 -b 4096 -O sparse_super2 -O 64bit mke2fs 1.42.12 (29-Aug-2014) Creating filesystem with 61049344 4k blocks and 15269888 inodes Filesystem UUID: ef3ed24c-0183-40c9-b2de-0b8e9bb868bb Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208, 4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872 Allocating group tables: done Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (32768 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done mke2fs (mkfs.ext4) should respect the sparse_super2 option when used with 64bit or extent. -- System Information: Debian Release: 8.3 APT prefers stable APT policy: (500, 'stable') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) Kernel: Linux 4.2.8-1-pve (SMP w/24 CPU cores) Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system) Versions of packages e2fsprogs depends on: ii e2fslibs 1.42.12-1.1 ii libblkid1 2.25.2-6 ii libc6 2.19-18+deb8u3 ii libcomerr2 1.42.12-1.1 ii libss2 1.42.12-1.1 ii libuuid1 2.25.2-6 ii util-linux 2.25.2-6 e2fsprogs recommends no packages. Versions of packages e2fsprogs suggests: pn e2fsck-static <none> pn gpart <none> ii parted 3.2-7 -- no debconf information
I'll add some checks so that e2fsck prints an error and explains what the user did wrong, but you are only supposed to specify the -O option once. If you want to specify more than one file system feature to enable in addition to the ones enabled by -t ext4, the -O option takes a comma separated list, e.g. e2fsck -O sparse_super2,64bit -t ext4 /dev/sdq1
I've added a commit to e2fsprogs 1.43 (when it is released) so it will accept multiple -O options, since other people will likely make the same mistake.