ports/135442: mkntfs from sysutils/ntfsprogs don't seems to work

[Samuel Martín Moro]

>Number:         135442
>Category:       ports
>Synopsis:       mkntfs from sysutils/ntfsprogs don't seems to work
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    freebsd-ports-bugs
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:
>Class:          update
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Wed Jun 10 12:50:01 UTC 2009
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Samuel Martín Moro
>Release:        4.7, 5.4, 6.2, 7.*
>Organization:
CamTrace
>Environment:
FreeBSD h2g2.axis.fr 7.2-RELEASE FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE #0: Fri May  1 08:49:13 UTC 2009     root at walker.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386
>Description:
mkntfs don't work, whatever FreeBSD nor ntfsprogs version.
the only difference I noticed between ntfsprogs versions is that clusters size is 2048 before 2.0.0, and 4096 after.

Using minimalist command, mkntfs tells me my device is not a block device.
Using -F (force) option, mkntfs try to write zeroes on all the slice, but fail near 99%.
Using -f (fast) option, mkntfs don't write zeroes, so it starts formatting, and after the message "Creating NTFS volume structures", nothing append anymore.
A truss on mkntfs process confirms that.

FreeBSD test versions: 4.7, 5.4, 6.2, 7.[0-2]
ntfsprogs test versions: 1.13.1, 1.13.1_[1-5], 2.0.0


Reading mailinglists, I found nothing about how to "correctly use", or fix the problem.
Posting to freebsd-questions, the only guy that replied tells me I should report this package as brocken. And that's not such a bad idea.
>How-To-Repeat:
~# mkntfs -p 10 -H 255 -S 63 /dev/da0s1
/dev/da0s1 is not a block device.
~#
 -> FAIL.
it seems the block devices' patch is some kind of joke.
Force users to use -F option to get their format correctly working is not a patch!

~# mkntfs -F -p 10 -H 255 -S 63 -c 4096 /dev/da0s1
/dev/da0s1 is not a block device.
mkntfs forced anyway.
Cluster size has been automatically set to 4096 bytes.
Initializing device with zeroes: 99%Failed to complete writing to /dev/da0s1 after three retries.
This should not happen.
~#
 -> Again, FAIL...

~# mkntfs -f -F -p 63 -H 255 -S 63 /dev/da0s1
/dev/da0s1 is not a block device.
mkntfs forced anyway.
Cluster size has been automatically set to 2048 bytes.
Creating NTFS volume structures.
^C
~#
while mkntfs's still working:
~# truss -p `ps axww | awk '/[m]kntfs /{print $1}'`
^C
~#
 -> FAIL! FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL !
before killing mkntfs, I wait 40 minutes, while nothing seems to happend.
40mins... for a 2Gb USB stick...

every output is from a different version of mkntfs, but, as I telled before, the only noticiable difference is cluster's default size.
Each test was done on each version of FreeBSD, and with each version of ntfsprogs.
>Fix:
some voodoo incantation might solve the problem.
or not.

Anyway, have a nice day!

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: