Bug#396570: mdadm: Incorrect error message for insufficient permission

[Rob Sims]

Package: mdadm
Version: 2.5.4-1
Severity: normal

Upon boot after a crash due to failing video hardware, one disk in a
raid 1 array was marked failed.  The command
mdadm --re-add /dev/md1 /dev/sdb1
failed with the message /dev/md1 is not an md device.  The real problem
was that I attempted the operation as a normal user, thus did not have
sufficient permission to do so.

The failure to autostart the array (recovery) after the crash is not
mdadm's fault; I have RAID 1 built in to the kernel, so it starts
without mdadm.

-- Package-specific info:
--- mount output
/dev/md0 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/md1 on /mnt/video type ext3 (rw)
nfsd on /proc/fs/nfsd type nfsd (rw)
rpc_pipefs on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)

--- mdadm.conf
DEVICE partitions
ARRAY /dev/md1 level=raid1 num-devices=2 UUID=9613ea02:21825f67:02070f19:cb83e351
MAILADDR root

--- /proc/mdstat:
Personalities : [raid1] 
md1 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0]
      312568576 blocks [2/1] [U_]
      [==>..................]  recovery = 11.1% (34864256/312568576) finish=76.9min speed=60134K/sec
      
md0 : active raid1 hdc1[0] hda1[1]
      117185984 blocks [2/2] [UU]
      
unused devices: <none>

--- /proc/partitions:
major minor  #blocks  name

   3     0  117187500 hda
   3     1  117186111 hda1
  22     0  117187500 hdc
  22     1  117186111 hdc1
   9     0  117185984 md0
   8     0  312571224 sda
   8     1  312568641 sda1
   8    16  312571224 sdb
   8    17  312568641 sdb1
   9     1  312568576 md1

--- initrd.img-2.6.17-phb07:

--- /proc/modules:

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.17-phb07
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)

Versions of packages mdadm depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]        1.5.7       Debian configuration management sy
ii  libc6                        2.3.6.ds1-7 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  lsb-base                     3.1-18      Linux Standard Base 3.1 init scrip
ii  makedev                      2.3.1-83    creates device files in /dev

Versions of packages mdadm recommends:
ii  postfix [mail-transport-agent 2.3.3-4    A high-performance mail transport 

-- debconf information:
* mdadm/autostart: true
  mdadm/initrdstart: all
  mdadm/initrdstart_notinconf: false
  mdadm/initrdstart_msg_errexist:
  mdadm/initrdstart_msg_intro:
  mdadm/initrdstart_msg_errblock:
* mdadm/warning:
* mdadm/start_daemon: true
* mdadm/mail_to: root
  mdadm/initrdstart_msg_errmd:
  mdadm/initrdstart_msg_errconf:
* mdadm/autocheck: true