Inconsistency in nvme output & recommendation

[Mark Thompson]

Smartctl 7.4 output for NVMe SMART Self-test Logs is not consistent between HDD or SSD output format, specifically the Self-test Log "Num" column is not formatted to start with "#" as the HDD and SSD outputs are formatted. Additionally the numbering starts at "0" on an nvme output where everything else starts at "1". As a side note: I also echo the problem in ticket 1741.

[Mark Thompson]

I do not program in C++ but I hope to have a tiny grasp on it. If my recommendation is bad, sorry.

In version 7.5 src for nvmeprint.ccp, line 643:

jout("%2u %-17s %-33s %9" PRIu64 " %12s %5s %3s %3s %4s\n", i, t, s, poh, lb, ns, sg, st, sc);

Change to (add hash at beginning):

jout("#%2u %-17s %-33s %9" PRIu64 " %12s %5s %3s %3s %4s\n", i, t, s, poh, lb, ns, sg, st, sc);

[Christian Franke]

In general, ATA/SATA, SCSI/SAS and NVMe diagnostic information differ considerably by design and so do smartctl outputs.

The start with "0" is intentional because it is the index of the table entry. Aligning with the 20+ years old ATA/SATA format won't ease table parsing much because the remaining columns also differ.

Leaving ticket open as undecided for now.

[Mark Thompson]

I can understand that point about the number itself, '0' is perfectly fine, however what about the '#' preceding the test number? I saw an consistency issue that was introduced in version 7.4 just for nvme and thought I'd recommend the change to maintain consistency amongst the Selt-test Logs.