Public bug reported: This is a creepy bug that seems to disappear under examination. In this case it appears that the bug is a timing bug, and introducing delays makes it go away. I call this sort of thing a "frankenbug" because of creepyness and difficulty diagnosing.
It appears to be an interaction between a call to sfdisk(8) and a subsequent call to lsblk(8). I have a test script that displays the bug on my systems under the right circumstances -- in particular, on my core i-7 Dell 990, it shows up when reporting on a USB 3.0 GPT stick, but not when reporting on the boot drive /dev/sda formatted with MBR. This is a much simplified program, derived from a backup utility I've been working on. You can run it with no delays (default) or introduce delays with the -z (sleep 1) switch or the -y (sync) switch. The correct output occurs with the -z switch. In the others, the partition types are not reported. There should be no difference. Example runs: root@giggles:~/bin# bash test.sh sdd label: gpt ptv[@] is "" ftv[@] is "ext4 swap vfat ext4 " root@giggles:~/bin# bash test.sh -z sdd label: gpt ptv[@] is "0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4 0657fd6d-a4ab-43c4-84e5-0933c84b4f4f 21686148-6449-6e6f-744e-656564454649 c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b 0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4 " ftv[@] is "ext4 swap vfat ext4 " ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04 Package: util-linux 2.34-0.1ubuntu9.1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-52.57-generic 5.4.65 Uname: Linux 5.4.0-52-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.10 Architecture: amd64 CasperMD5CheckResult: skip Date: Sat Oct 24 11:50:53 2020 InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-09-19 (35 days ago) InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423) SourcePackage: util-linux UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) ** Affects: util-linux (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Tags: amd64 apport-bug focal -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to util-linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1901343 Title: timing bug creates interacctions between util-linux utitlities Status in util-linux package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: This is a creepy bug that seems to disappear under examination. In this case it appears that the bug is a timing bug, and introducing delays makes it go away. I call this sort of thing a "frankenbug" because of creepyness and difficulty diagnosing. It appears to be an interaction between a call to sfdisk(8) and a subsequent call to lsblk(8). I have a test script that displays the bug on my systems under the right circumstances -- in particular, on my core i-7 Dell 990, it shows up when reporting on a USB 3.0 GPT stick, but not when reporting on the boot drive /dev/sda formatted with MBR. This is a much simplified program, derived from a backup utility I've been working on. You can run it with no delays (default) or introduce delays with the -z (sleep 1) switch or the -y (sync) switch. The correct output occurs with the -z switch. In the others, the partition types are not reported. There should be no difference. Example runs: root@giggles:~/bin# bash test.sh sdd label: gpt ptv[@] is "" ftv[@] is "ext4 swap vfat ext4 " root@giggles:~/bin# bash test.sh -z sdd label: gpt ptv[@] is "0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4 0657fd6d-a4ab-43c4-84e5-0933c84b4f4f 21686148-6449-6e6f-744e-656564454649 c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b 0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4 " ftv[@] is "ext4 swap vfat ext4 " ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04 Package: util-linux 2.34-0.1ubuntu9.1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-52.57-generic 5.4.65 Uname: Linux 5.4.0-52-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.10 Architecture: amd64 CasperMD5CheckResult: skip Date: Sat Oct 24 11:50:53 2020 InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-09-19 (35 days ago) InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423) SourcePackage: util-linux UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/util-linux/+bug/1901343/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp