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I have an embedded linux on arm7.

I have a rootfs mounted on MTD partition 10 (for example), i.e. /dev/mtd10, which is a flash device. The volume is UBIFS device UBI0 (/dev/ubi0).

I have setup a pivot_root (similar to a chroot) tmpfs roughly following the instructions from here: resize-a-live-root-fs-a-howto.

I want to erase/re-format mtd10 (UBI0) The problem that I have is that I can't detach/format UBI0 until I have because it tells me its busy. So, I use the command:

fuser -vm /dev/mtd10 and this gives me a list of processes that I can kill, so I do all that and then umount (or umount -l) all the partitions that are mounted on UBI0.

So my system no longer has any dependency on UBI0... except the shell I am running. I have tried combinations of many things, but the only thing that seems to work (once I have tidied up) is to logout (using exit command) and then log back in (for me I just have to type in the username root).

As soon as I logout/run telinit u at this point then I see the UBI0 go away and I can detatch it.

update: killing rc_mxc.S has a similar effect to loging out (i.e. it ends my shell and I have to login again. But this also ends my script :(

The problem here is that I don't know how I can script that up. Running exit in a script just ends the script.

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  • Have you ensured the current directory for your shell is not on the device? Or the file holding the shell binary (say /bin/sh), or the file holding the shell script is on the device? You can do something like exec /tmp/.../bin/sh /tmp/.../myscript to swap over to a new shell script, releasing some of these.
    – meuh
    Commented Oct 3, 2018 at 11:50
  • @meuh hmm... I think it is somthing to do with that. As I say if I kill my shell or logout (both have a similar effect) then I can free the device. I was actually just messing around with running a script exec myscript.sh to kill of everything including the sh that was running on the device and that seemed to work (but after the script I still need to login again) - however I think because my sh that I start in is on the device then the exec may also be on it so I had to not terminate the sh that I spawned ...complicated! - in short, I will try your recommendation as it seems sound :)
    – code_fodder
    Commented Oct 3, 2018 at 12:13
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    What about using initramfs that never "pivots" to a "physical" file system?
    – jc__
    Commented Oct 3, 2018 at 13:58
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    @jc__ that looks really like what I want to do!...but I can't find a simple/basic example of this. It seems like you build up a tmp-rootfs similar to creating a chroot/pivot_root folder (in RAM/tmpfs) - but then I am not sure what happens... Do you need to have a specific init script... bit confused as how exactly initramfs work - if you have any good links or want to layout an answer I'll happily mark them up :)
    – code_fodder
    Commented Oct 4, 2018 at 6:52
  • Are you just needing to do maintenance on your system (partition,format)? If yes boot to a live distro (via USB). If you want to create a custom 'distro', that will consist of building a kernel from source and using something like busybox for a simple init. Buildroot for a custom 'distro' that is more advanced. What boot loader are you using? uboot? uboot contains tools to partition and format too. I said all that to ask: What is your ultimate goal? What do you need to accomplish?
    – jc__
    Commented Oct 4, 2018 at 13:54

1 Answer 1

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Run find /proc/$$ -type l -ls in the shell that's holding the FS open. For each one of those links that points to that FS, take appropriate action:

  • In the fd subdirectory: run exec n>replacement, where n is the file descriptor number and replacement is the file it should point at, or &- to close that descriptor.
  • As exe or in the map_files subdirectory: run exec /bin/sh, replacing /bin/sh with the path to any shell you want in your tmpfs root.
  • As cwd: cd to some other directory.
  • As root: go to the tmpfs root, and chroot ..
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  • hm... sorry, I really don't get what this is trying to do + did not work : (
    – code_fodder
    Commented Oct 4, 2018 at 6:49

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