This is not a bug but a feature that was enabled.

See lvm.conf option  'use_devicesfile = 1'

It's a new/different way a solving problems how to select/filter devices lvm2 should use/see.

So when 'devicesfile' is in use - only devices enlisted in this file are scanned by lvm2.
User can use  lvmdevices command to maintain its content.

When the devicesfile file is erased or the option is disabled - lvm2 will use the 'filter=' mechanism known for ages  (that's also the reason why it started to work in your case).

It's likely debatable which behavior should be default.

It's worth to be mentioned the 'configure --with-default-use-devices-file=0/1' exists to allow distribution maintainer to select the right setting for their likeness.

I came across this issue when reinstalling my own server with Fedora 39.
Eventually I figured out I was able to work around it by doing:

# vgimportdevices -a
# vgchange -ay

FYI, this was introduced in the 2.03.16 update: https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/lvm2/c/44a7aeaa643a5f5854414d99a3f84859e7273d88?branch=rawhide

Also, when this was introduced upstream (2.03.12), it was off by default:
https://gitlab.com/lvmteam/lvm2/-/blob/main/WHATS_NEW?ref_type=heads#L199

So, arguably, changing this default should've been at least announced
and discussed in the mailing list. A change proposal would've been
appropriate, too.

PS. Out of curiosity, why is release monitoring integration disabled for lvm2?

We, i.e. Server WG, consider to create a change proposal to change it back to the behavior of F37, i.e.  lvm.conf option  'use_devicesfile = 0' or alike. But before doing so we want to get to know, *why* the change was made. We guess, someone should have a reason for that. Do you know what the reason is? Or where we can find the information?

The author of that commit, @mcsontos , would be the best person to ask, logically.

OK, thanks!

use_devicesfile=1 is meant to be the standard way of using lvm for years now, and it should have been that way in fedora at least a couple years ago.

The devices file feature was introduced to lvm primarily as an "opt in" mechanism for using devices with lvm.  Previously, lvm has always had an "opt out" approach in which devices needed to rejected with the filter to stop lvm from using them.  Over the past several years, it's become increasingly likely that lvm devices attached to a host no longer belong to the host and it's not safe for the host to assume it can use them. e.g. lvm devices are quite likely to belong to a guest VM, and there were many instances of hosts using and corrupting lvm devices that were in use by a guest VM.  Similar problems exist with machines connected to a SAN.

Many thanks for all this information! The arguments are immediately plausible to me. 


I conclude from this

1. 
It is best to operate Fedora Server with the use_devicesfile=1 to be on the save side.


2. 
We should, nevertheless, adapt anaconda (see #2247872 ) to
  a) remove the device file from the OS image. It refers to the machine that creates the image and is most likely incorrect for the machine to be installed.
  b) create a correct device file with first boot


3. 
We need a way to temporarily add a new device using a script. Example is arm-image-installer. It adds a device containing LVM as loop device and later physically via USB or sd slot. There are sections like:

if [ "$(fdisk -l $MEDIA | grep LVM)" != "" ]   ; then
        vgchange -a n "$(pvs 2> /dev/null | grep $MEDIA | awk '{print $2}')" > /dev/null 2>&1
fi

Currently vgchange fails due to the change in LVM configuration. Could you provide us with a hint or example how to do that? I can't see that from what I've found so far. Sorry for my lack of understanding.


4.
For standard LVM administration using the CLI vg-* tools, we need for server documentation a way to temporarily add a device without jeopardizing the system configuration and a way to permanently add a device. For the latter, probably vgimportdevices. 

Please, could you help us with an appropriate sentence/description which I can include in our documentation and in release notes?

In terms of temporarily using a device with lvm, there are two options:

1. Add the device to system.devices (lvmdevices --adddev /dev/foo), run lvm commands using that device, then remove the device from system.devices (lvmdevices --deldev /dev/foo.)  This makes sense if there are various and unpredictable lvm commands that might be used in the middle.

2. Give each individual lvm command access to the specific device using "--devices /dev/foo", and avoid needing to use system.devices.  e.g. vgchange -ay --devices /dev/foo.  This might make sense if you have a limited and predictable series of commands that you want to run with a fixed device (or devices, you can add multiple, e.g. --devices /dev/foo,/dev/bar.)  You can pass --devices to all lvm commands, and it's the most optimal way of running commands, because the commands will only look at the named devices, and can't be influenced by any other devices on the system.  Commands that don't include --devices /dev/foo won't see it.

To permamently allow LVM to use a device, run lvmdevices --adddev /dev/foo to add it to system.devices.  If you have an entire existing VG that you want to add to the system, you can run vgimportdevices <vgname> which will add all devices for <vgname> to system.devices.  Or, vgimportdevices -a to do the same for all visible VGs.

The shortest way to communicate that is probably something like:
"To use a device with LVM, run "lvmdevices --adddev device_name" to include that device in /etc/lvm/devices/system.devices.  Or, run vgimportdevices -a to include all devices from all visible VGs."

The needinfo request[s] on this closed bug have been removed as they have been unresolved for 120 days