Linux-Misc Digest #53, Volume #26 Mon, 16 Oct 00 17:13:02 EDT
Contents:
Re: Howto empty log files ("Greg Burnham")
Re: Crontab PPP problem ("Micer")
Stupid Newbie Question ("Dean P")
Re: RH6.2 + Travan tape drive (Tony Lawrence)
Re: How can one app crashing bring down whole system? (Tony Lawrence)
Re: Is there a MS Word (or substitute) for Linux? ("Vann")
Re: Stupid Newbie Question (Tony Lawrence)
Re: Howto empty log files ("Andrew N. McGuire ")
Re: unable to determine module loading: 3c90x instead 3c59x (Frank Ansari)
Re: Is there a MS Word (or substitute) for Linux? ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: test ("Andrew N. McGuire ")
linux kernel mailing list archive - where? (Johan Kullstam)
Re: I/O in application programs. ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Is there a MS Word (or substitute) for Linux? (Andrew J. Perrin)
Re: I/O in application programs. (Grant Edwards)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Greg Burnham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Howto empty log files
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 13:03:15 -0700
Take a look in /etc/logrotate.d there you will fiond the scripts that are
currently rotateling your apache, cron, ftpd, etc., etc., log files.
You'll may also want to look at /etc/logrotate.conf and run man logrotate
--
Greg Burnham
Lead Technologist
7th Floor Media @ Harbour Centre
604 291 5277 ph
604 291 5173 fx
7thfloormedia.com
"Tobias Schenk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Hi,
>
> How can I archive log files?
> When I rename an existing log file then still messages will be written
> in it.
> I exspected that a new file would be created and filled.
> How does this mechanism work?
> How to archive correctly?
> I have seen this effect in vbox log file and in messages.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Tobias
------------------------------
From: "Micer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Crontab PPP problem
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 13:21:27 -0700
And this will cause the ppp to redial whenever the line is dropped?
Micer
"David" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Micer wrote:
> >
> > I have a ppp-on script that works perfectly, dialing my ISP on system
> > startup of Redhat 6.0. I've used it successfully just about every day
for
> > months.
> >
> > But occasionally it drops the line, and using the PERSIST option in PPP
> > doesn't help. So I added an entry in crontab to run
/usr/local/bin/ppp-on
> > every minute all the time. This way, if the line ever drops, it will be
up
> > again within one minute. But even though the script works fine at system
> > startup or even when I type it manually, it doesn't work in crontab.
> >
> > Here is the error from /var/log/messages:
> >
> > pppd 2.3.7 started by root, uid0
> > Connect script failed
> > Exit
> >
> > Can anyone explain? What can I do to fix it?
>
> I use "persist & holdoff" in my ifcfp-ppp0 file like this.
>
> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ppp0
>
> PERSIST=yes
> HOLDOFF=70
>
> Place them just below the "ONBOOT=" line. The "HOLDOFF=" is the delay in
> seconds which is needed for the phone line to be reset before I can
> redial which may vary some depending on the ISP and phone company.
>
> --
> Confucius say: He who play in root, eventually kill tree.
> Registered with the Linux Counter. http://counter.li.org
> ID # 123538
------------------------------
From: "Dean P" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Stupid Newbie Question
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 20:30:52 GMT
Forgive me, oh wise Linux users.
Though I have entertained myself with linux for the last 2 years, I know
next to nothing about it and I am trying to learn by reading all the HowTo's
etc.
Here is the stupid question: RH 6.2, user folder has a yellow "bomb" with a
sad face that is called "Core". What the heck is that. I fear that opening
it could be evil!
Thanks in advance for your input.
Dean
------------------------------
From: Tony Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: RH6.2 + Travan tape drive
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 16:30:30 -0400
"Andrew E. Schulman" wrote:
>
> > I've got a machine running RH6.2 and am trying to configure a Travan
> > tape drive on it. I don't have entry in /dev for /dev/tape, so any
> > utilities I try fail. There are entries for rmt8 and rmt16, but I get
> > invalid device when I try using them. Does anyone know what major/minor
> > numbers I'd need to create a tape device of this type, or has anyone
> > else had any experience setting one up? Any help/ideas would be
> > appreciated.
>
> If it's a SCSI drive, the devices are /dev/st0 (rewinds after use) and
> /dev/nst0 (doesn't rewind). Can't remember for IDE.
IDE is /dev/ht0
--
Tony Lawrence ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
SCO/Linux articles, help, book reviews, tests,
job listings and more : http://www.pcunix.com
------------------------------
From: Tony Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: How can one app crashing bring down whole system?
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 16:31:59 -0400
John Thompson wrote:
>
> Tony Lawrence wrote:
>
> > Hartmann Schaffer wrote:
> > >
> > > In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> > > Tony Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > > ...
> > > >You need to have run "savetextmode" BEFORE you have a problem.
> > >
> > > is that part of some package? if not where can i find it?
> >
> > It sems to be part of Svgalib - rpm doesn't know about it, and
> > the man page admits to not knowing its origin..
>
> It is part of svgalib, and here at least rpm knows about it:
Yeah, turns out my rpm does know about it-- ever notice how you
have to type the right PATH for rpm to find something?
:-)
--
Tony Lawrence ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
SCO/Linux articles, help, book reviews, tests,
job listings and more : http://www.pcunix.com
------------------------------
From: "Vann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Is there a MS Word (or substitute) for Linux?
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 20:34:29 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Tell that to your boss when you hand in your report and it looks like
> crap, all because you used Linux and he, along with the rest of the
> world, is using Word.
>
> Maybe Linus will give you a job at Transmeta.
<snip>
This is nonsense. I write up reports all the time using a combination of
GNUmeric and AbiWord, and nobody has mentioned my reports looking like
"crap."
------------------------------
From: Tony Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Stupid Newbie Question
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 16:45:00 -0400
Dean P wrote:
>
> Forgive me, oh wise Linux users.
>
> Though I have entertained myself with linux for the last 2 years, I know
> next to nothing about it and I am trying to learn by reading all the HowTo's
> etc.
>
> Here is the stupid question: RH 6.2, user folder has a yellow "bomb" with a
> sad face that is called "Core". What the heck is that. I fear that opening
> it could be evil!
Opening it with the wrong tool could indeed mess you up, but only
temporarily, and only because it could mess up your screen.
However, anything that can handle binary files can examine it
safely.
A "core" file is just a memory image of a program that crashed.
If you have:
a debugger
the source to the program
some skill
you could examine the core file and figure out why the program
crashed (if you had even more skill, you could do that without
the source, even). Since you probably don't have one or more of
the necessary items, and don't care why it crashed anyway, you
can safely rm it.
--
Tony Lawrence ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
SCO/Linux articles, help, book reviews, tests,
job listings and more : http://www.pcunix.com
------------------------------
From: "Andrew N. McGuire " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Howto empty log files
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 15:41:18 -0500
On Mon, 16 Oct 2000, Tobias Schenk quoth:
TS> Hi,
TS>
TS> How can I archive log files?
TS> When I rename an existing log file then still messages will be written
TS> in it.
TS> I exspected that a new file would be created and filled.
TS> How does this mechanism work?
TS> How to archive correctly?
TS> I have seen this effect in vbox log file and in messages.
You can:
a:
copy logfile logfile.1
cat /dev/null > logfile
b:
Use a program written for this task such as logrotate or savelog.
b is the better idea.
anm
--
$ # = "%.6g" ; stat $0 or die $! ;
_ = q.Just another Perl Hacker. ;
print $ # ;
main'_ . v10 ;
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Frank Ansari)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking
Subject: Re: unable to determine module loading: 3c90x instead 3c59x
Date: 16 Oct 2000 20:49:19 GMT
Hi Armin,
first of all: where to find the settings which
always brings back the configuration you want to get
rid of depends on your distribution.
I have actually deleted SuSE from my HD and installed
Debian potato, so I only can speak for Debian at the
moment. There you find your configuraton under
/etc/modutils. There are the files you must edit
and then run "update-modules". Perhaps it's similar
under SuSE.
I would not recommend the 3c90x.o module.
At first I tried 3c59x.o and nothing worked.
Then I set up my /etc/networking/interfaces corrctly and
tried desperatly to run the card with 3c90x.o. I compiled
the stuff and thought that it's the driver exactly for
this card so it must work.
It did not work. I was a bit suspicious about a hint
at www.3com.com that "for 3c905C there is a module from
Donald Becker called 3c59x.o".
I tried 3c59x.o instead of 3c90x.o (after /etc/networking/interfaces
was correct) and it worked perfectly.
So the hint at www.3com.com was correct. Don't know why there
is a 3c90x.o module when it doesn't work.
Frank
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Armin Wittmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Hi
>
>I am installing a new webserver with SuSE 6.3
>Kernel 2.2.13.
>
>I purchased three 3c905C NICs to be inserted additional
>to the onboard eepro100 NIC.
>
>With booting, everything is ok but the wrong
>module
> 3c95x
>is loaded.
>This module recognizes the 3Com NICs but the
>driver does not support them correctly. No
>network connection works (ping to and from
>host).
>With eepro100 everyting is fine.
>
>The correct module would be
> 3c90x
>
>My steps to convince the startup process
>to load the module were these:
>
>- remove 3c59x.o from /lib/modules/2.2.1/net
> generate a new modules.dep with moddep
>- work in /etc/modules.conf (formely /etc/conf.modules).
> it looks now like this:
> probe 3c59x 3c90x
> above 3c59x 3c90x
>
> alias eth0 3c90x
> alias eth1 3c90x
> alias eth2 3c90x
> alias eth3 eepro100
>
> options eth3 options=32
> options eth0 media_select=100BASE_TX full_duplex=0
> options eth1 media_select=100BASE_TX full_duplex=0
> options eth2 media_select=100BASE_TX full_duplex=0
>
>I tried various combinations but nothing worked during normal
>boot up. Manually I can shutdown the interfaces deinstall
>the module and install the 3c90x without any problem.
>
>The questions:
>Where can I get informations how modules are loaded.
>I don't think that I have a kerneld running in this
>version of SuSE (this fact is mentioned in the manual).
>
>Where does the system find still this 3c59x.o
>even I removed it from the directory and renamed it
>to "old.3c59x.o.old" in the /root directory?
>
>Most important: How can I succeed to let the kernel
>load reliably only the 3c90x module or how can I switch
>off the 3c59x module?
>
>I would like to compile a new kernel but I can't choose
>the 3c90x.o module in the 'make menuconfig' procedure.
>How can I do this?
>
>Do I really need to install the newest 3Com driver?
>There is alreay this module in the SuSE distribution
>running fine.
>
>Many questions, are there short answers? :-)
>Thanks for helping
>
>Armin Wittmann
**************************************************************
To email me please replace the first 'u' of the domain name
with 'n' and the second with 'a'. Just to avoid spam.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Is there a MS Word (or substitute) for Linux?
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 20:36:06 GMT
In article <1YHG5.1492$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Grant Edwards) wrote:
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> >Tell that to your boss when you hand in your report and it
> >looks like crap, all because you used Linux and he, along with
> >the rest of the world, is using Word.
>
> Sorry to burst your bubble, but MS Word output _is_ crap. Ask
> anybody with a modicum of typesetting experience to take a look
> at something produced with MS Word. After they stop laughing
> they'll explain to you the many, many in which MS Word is
> incapable of producing professional looking output (e.g. lack
> of kerning and ligatures).
Agreed. When I was doing government transcripts for a while there, we'd
use Word for all the word-processing, and our draft output looked
pretty amateurish. When we needed to port the thing into actual layout
software, the whole .doc file format went out the window (we saved as
RTF, XML support being non-existent back then (ie: a year ago)).
There's a big ol' list of things Word can't do, or does really really
strangely.
It might make a decent report generator, though, if you don't really
care what the thing looks like...
-ws
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: "Andrew N. McGuire " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: test
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 15:46:43 -0500
On Mon, 16 Oct 2000, G=F3rek quoth:
G> this is only test,too.
G> U=BFytkownik "asd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> napisa=B3 w wiadomo=B6ci
G> news:8sf2ak$br3$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
G> > sorry, it's only test...
If they are only tests, why not post them in a test group?
anm
--=20
$ # =3D "%.6g" ; stat $0 or die $! ;
_ =3D q.Just another Perl Hacker. ;
print $ # ;
main'_ . v10 ;
------------------------------
Subject: linux kernel mailing list archive - where?
From: Johan Kullstam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 16 Oct 2000 16:51:26 -0400
where can i find an html linux kernel mailing list archive with
reasonably current entries?
i was using http://www.kernelnotes.org but since the flag day when
vger died, they don't seem to be archiving any more. ditto for tux.
what are people using?
--
J o h a n K u l l s t a m
[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
sysengr
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: I/O in application programs.
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 20:48:27 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Fred <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>(snip...)
>
> I am learning Unix. In the past I have written many
> programs, most of which I coded in IBM mainframe assembly
> language.
> (snip...)
> In its basic schema, this program may be described in the
> following sequence of steps. (For simplicity, I omit error
> handling).
>
> Step 1: Open the files.
open(), fopen(), etc.
> Step 2: Commence an input operation on the input file.
read()
> Step 3: Tell the operating system to suspend this program's
> execution until such moment as the most recently-initiated
> input operation is finished.
This is the default behaviour of read() and its ilk.
> Step 4: Test the most recently-completed input operation, to
> determine whether EOF has been encountered. If so, go to
> step 12.
Return value from read(), feof() for stream I/O.
> Step 5: Move all data from the input buffer to the
> computational buffer.
>
> Step 6: Commence an input operation on the input file.
Why do you want to do this at this time?
> Step 7: Modify the data in the computational buffer.
>
> Step 8: Tell the operating system to suspend this program's
> execution until such moment as the most recently-initiated
> output operation (if any) is finished.
Finished with respect to what? Copied out of your space?
Written to the hard drive? By default, write() won't return
until the data are safely tucked away in disc I/O buffers.
> Step 9: Move all data from the computational buffer to the
> output buffer.
>
> Step 10: Commence an output operation on the output file.
>
> Step 11: Go to step 3.
>
> Step 12: Tell the operating system to suspend this program's
> execution until such moment as the most recently-initiated
> output operation (if any) is finished.
fflush(), fclose(), close(), etc.
> Step 13: Close both files.
>
> Step 14: Stop.
> (snip...)
Unless there is a lot you're not telling, what you really
need is to change your mindset. It is simply not necessary to
asynchronously overlap I/O operations. The OS does it for you.
Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..." - Hospital/Shafte
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Andrew J. Perrin)
Subject: Re: Is there a MS Word (or substitute) for Linux?
Date: 16 Oct 2000 16:43:33 -0400
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jan Schaumann) writes:
> Garry Knight wrote:
> >In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Dustin
> >Puryear" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> >> Another possibility is to use HTML for true portability, but most
> >> publishing houses will not support that.
> >
> >Most of the word processors I've come across can import and export RTF
> >pretty well. It just depends on how tricky you want to get with using
> >text frames and so on. And, of course, the WP needs to have a good font
> >substitution algorithm. But I believe RTF to be the most portable text
> >format (apart from plain text, that is...).
>
> The most portable document format is PDF (Portable Document FOrmat - D'uh). RTF
> is not half as portable.
>
True enough, but it's simply not practical if the point is to share
*and change* files with others, as when one is co-authoring a paper.
There's no easy way to edit a PDF file.
--
======================================================================
Andrew Perrin - Solaris-Linux-NT-Samba-Perl-Access-Postgres Consulting
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - http://demog.berkeley.edu/~aperrin
======================================================================
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Grant Edwards)
Subject: Re: I/O in application programs.
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 21:09:09 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Fred wrote:
>In section 12.5 of his book, Stevens treats the topic of "I/O
>Multiplexing." Therein Stevens carefully cautions his reader
>that "I/O multiplexing is not yet part of POSIX." In other
>words, reference to the POSIX specification will not answer my
>questions. I must determine how things work in the real world.
>And because I wish to maximize the portability of my program, I
>must not limit my inquiry to the workings of my specific Unix
>platform. Rather, I must try to learn how most Unix platforms
>do this kind of work.
I don't think that Unix applications typically try to overlap
input/compute/output.
[ regarding select ]
>the descriptors that are ready." From his remarks, I gather
>that the select function will (optionally) suspend execution
>of the application program until such moment as there is a
>change in one or more of these bits.
Correct.
>So far, so good. I say this because, although the above-quoted
>passages may appear cryptic when lifted out of context (as I
>have done), they are clear enough when read in combination with
>other things Stevens says about I/O multiplexing. The problem
>comes a couple of paragraphs later, where he says, "We now need
>to be more specific about what 'ready' means." Stevens then
>proceeds to define "ready" so that the word has no genuine
>meaning. He says, for instance, that "A descriptor in the
>write set is considered ready if a write to that descriptor
>won't block."
If you're taling about regular file I/O, files are _always_
ready in Unix. Using select on a file-descriptor that is
associated with a regular file is not a useful thing to do.
File-descriptors associated with things like TCP connections
and serial ports may be not-ready, and select is useful for
them.
>In passing, I wonder how the kernel can know for sure that a
>future I/O operation won't block, without knowing the details
>of the operation.
It can't. If you try to write a block of data larger than can
be buffered, and you've got non-blocking I/O enabled, then the
driver will take as much as it can. You have to look at the
return value of write() to see how much data was actually
"consumed" by the driver. If you try to read more data than
available from a non-blocing descriptor then it will give you
however much it has available. You've got to check the return
value from read() to see how many bytes you received.
NB: A file descriptor is "ready" if there is at least 1 byte of
data to be read, or room for at least 1 byte of data. (Or
there's an error, or it's close, or ....).
>No doubt it is nice to know that the next call to write
>will not block, but that's not the same as knowing that the
>previous call to write is finished.
How do you define "finished?" Generally, you just leave the
file-descriptors in blocking mode and don't worry about it --
read() won't return until it's read as much data as you
requested, and write() won't return until it's written all of
the data you gave it.
>Similarly it is nice to know that the next call to read will
>not block, but that's not the same as knowing that the previous
>call to read is finished, and much less is it the same as
>knowing that the read did not encounter an EOF condition. In
>other words, the select function offers a prediction about the
>future, but that is not what I need at steps 3, 8, and 12. What
>I need is not a prediction about the future, but rather a
>statement about the present. For example, when my program
>arrives at step 3, either the input operation is finished, or
>it's not. If it's finished, I can safely copy data from the
>input buffer to the computational buffer. If it's not
>finished, I need to go to sleep until such time as it is
>finished. Apparently, neither select nor poll meets this need.
Unless you're writing a multi-threaded program, the easiest
thing to do is leave the descriptors in non-blocking mode
read(), compute(), write(). read() and write() both return the
number of bytes read/written. If you really want to overlap
the read/compute/write operations, you're going to have to have
multiple threads. In that case, use blocking read/write calls
in the I/O threads and and semaphores for inter-thread
synchronisation.
I'd recommend that you become proficient at single-threaded
Unix application programming before you try to do a
multiple-threaded implimentation.
--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! I'm using my X-RAY
at VISION to obtain a rare
visi.com glimpse of the INNER
WORKINGS of this POTATO!!
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Misc Digest
******************************
