la la land

[Ron Peterson]

Just an update for anyone who might be interested in why a file (e.g.
/etc/password) might appear to fade in and out of existance.  (See
previous posting for more info.)

We haven't got it completely licked yet, but it appears to be related to
the fact that this is a dual processor machine (Compaq DS20).  Using the
Tru64 UNIX 'runon' command to force execution of, say, 'ls' to occur on
a specific processor has shown that when the problem occurs, it is local
to one CPU (not always the same one).

So we're suspecting inconsistent cache data.  Whether it's a hardware or
software issue has yet to be determined.  Certain operations will make
the problem go away, others will not.  E.G. 'cp passwd temp; cp temp
passwd' doesn't help.  'cp passwd temp; mv temp passwd' (new inode)
does.  If you do 'touch passwd' on the CPU that doesn't see it, it
reappears, but with zero size.

Fun.

-- 

Ron Peterson
9 Morgan Street, Apt. 'A'
South Hadley, MA  01075
413.536.1146 tel
ron.peterson at yellowbank.com
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