Assertion failure in ext3_sync_file() at fs/ext3/fsync.c:50: "ext3_journal_current_handle() == 0"

[linux at horizon.com]

> is this error reproducible?

Sorry, I didn't try; it was a production server I already had one
short-notice reboot on, and I didn't feel like trying for two.
(Although you're right, I should have thought of leaving it like that
until a good maintenance window instead of immediately e2fscking and
cleaning up.)

>> Here's the tune2fs -l output.  No idea why it says "clean"; it is still
>> mounted read/write.

> i don't know if this is "ok" (don't have the docs atm) but does e2fsck
> report anything to worry about?

No, it didn't.  I moved half of the .deb files and completed the update
by halves, and all was well.