Linux-Misc Digest #368, Volume #27 Thu, 15 Mar 01 16:13:04 EST
Contents:
Re: Help with /usr symlink - Urgent!!! ("Eric en Jolanda")
phatlinux (chuck)
Re: Books on Unix Kernel for non-programmer. ("J.Smith")
InterScan VirusWall on Debian (Yann Hirou)
Re: phatlinux ("Todd Warfield")
Re: can a serial connection work when keyboard/monitor doesn't? (Randy R)
Re: script to monitor and kill/restart runaway processes on Linux server (Randy R)
webwasher manual (Christian Merkle)
Re: real player 8 ("Jeffrey S. Kline")
Re: can't kill! (Jean-David Beyer)
SOS No modem com4??? (Albert Schwartz)
Re: Help with /usr symlink - Urgent!!! (Jean-David Beyer)
Re: real player 8 (Bob Tennent)
Re: script to monitor and kill/restart runaway processes on Linux server (Jeremiah
DeWitt Weiner)
Re: can't kill! ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
How To remove top command bar in Ximian ? (public)
taper-6.9b-3 and RedHat 7.0... (Dominic Vernius)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Eric en Jolanda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Help with /usr symlink - Urgent!!!
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 19:49:48 +0100
> The DB2 install tries to build into the /usr/IBMdb2/V7.1 directory.
> The process never gets a chance to start due to a "device full" error.
> So, what I want to try and do is relocate the /usr directory structure
> to the "/home" mount which has plenty of room and create a symlink in
> it's place: root/usr --> /home/usr
Why not just place IBMdb2 on /home and symlink that in /usr ?
It sounds to me like a far easier task.
Eric
------------------------------
From: chuck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: phatlinux
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 18:11:57 +0000
I am trying to get a copy of phatlinux. The www.phatlinix.com site
never responds although connecting. I would like to just buy it outright, but canot
find an address. Where can I get it? Anybody have an address?
_______________________________________________
Submitted via WebNewsReader of http://www.interbulletin.com
------------------------------
From: "J.Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
alt.os.linux,comp.unix.admin,comp.unix.aix,comp.unix.bsd.openbsd.misc,comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: Books on Unix Kernel for non-programmer.
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 20:10:26 +0100
>
> Don't know what you expect to learn from an OS internals book when
> you don't know a *int from an int.
>
Well as I mentioned, im an system administrator, not a programmer. Knowing
how *nix works conceptually and how the algorythms work, will be of use for
performance tuning, as an troubleshooting aid, and be of general use while
performing my daily sysadmin duties. But because I wont have to actually
write or read any code, it will be of less value to me to know " a *int from
an int."
;)
------------------------------
From: Yann Hirou <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: InterScan VirusWall on Debian
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 01 21:59:16 +0100
Hi,
If anyone is interested in running Trendmicro Interscan Viruswall on
Debian instead of RedHat or SuSe, I wrote some patches to do it.
It seems to work fine.
you can find them on http://perso.linuxfr.org/hirou/InterScan/
--
Yann
------------------------------
From: "Todd Warfield" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: phatlinux
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 14:09:24 -0500
Try http://www.phatlinux.com/
Todd
"chuck" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>
> I am trying to get a copy of phatlinux. The www.phatlinix.com site
> never responds although connecting. I would like to just buy it outright,
but canot find an address. Where can I get it? Anybody have an address?
> _______________________________________________
> Submitted via WebNewsReader of http://www.interbulletin.com
>
------------------------------
From: Randy R <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: can a serial connection work when keyboard/monitor doesn't?
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 19:25:23 GMT
We run about 300 - 400 dedicated linux servers, and every night/day 1
or 2 machines freeze up. All the hardware runs newer motherboards with
ps2 keyboards and mice.
I don't know what Alt-SysRq-S, Alt-SysRq-U, Alt-SysRq-B means, please
explain.
What you said about hot-plugging a keyboard into the computer is
exactly what I was wondering, if the computer will not respond to the
keyboard because the computer is too busy to notice that a keyboard
was plugged into it. I assume from your response it doesn't matter
whether the keyboard is plugged into it already or not, same with the
monitor.
I do intend to experiment with connecting to the compter via a serial
connection to see if it responds differently.
On 15 Mar 2001 05:20:50 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dances With Crows)
wrote:
>On Thu, 15 Mar 2001 04:31:27 GMT, Randy R staggered into the Black Sun
>and said:
>>dedicated Linux servers. One of my jobs is rebooting dedicated servers
>>that have crashed for one reason or the other. 99% of the time I have
>>to do a hard reboot.
>
>Has anyone done any investigation of this? Linux machines running the
>stable kernel Just Shouldn't Die so long as the hardware is OK.
>
>>Is there any way to avoid this without having someone on the server
>>moitoring processes 24 hours a day?
>
>In the kernel configuration menu, you will see options for "watchdog"
>hardware and a "software watchdog". Check these out. Hardware watchdog
>cards may be a significant expense if you have lots of machines to
>outfit. The software watchdog will not help you if the kernel's memory
>space is being corrupted somehow.
>
>>When I go to reboot the machine, I connect the monitor and keyboard
>>directly to the server, and usually I don't get anything, just a blank
>>screen and the keyboard doesn't do anything.
>
>Not even Alt-SysRq-S, Alt-SysRq-U, Alt-SysRq-B ? (This assumes x86
>hardware; the "magic key" sequence is different for other architectures)
>
>>I was wondering if either a direct serial connection, or a connection
>>via a console server would at least allow me to soft reboot the
>>machine, or if there is any other way to reboot the machine without
>>hitting reset ie a KVM switch, etc.
>
>I assume you can't ssh into the machine, then. A direct serial
>connection might work, but if the machine is so hosed that Alt-SysRq
>doesn't do anything, I wouldn't hold out too much hope. Please clarify
>what you mean by the KVM comment; a KVM is not magic, it's just a way of
>having many machines sharing one keyboard/monitor/mouse. A KVM can help
>you avoid the problems associated with hot-plugging PS2 mice/keyboards
>into cheap x86 hardware, but that's about it.
------------------------------
From: Randy R <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: script to monitor and kill/restart runaway processes on Linux server
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 19:30:56 GMT
We already have something like this, but I was looking for something
like the watchdog that would reboot the machine automatically BEFORE
it freezes up completely, in order to prevent dataloss from the
computer being hard-rebooted too often.
On Thu, 15 Mar 2001 16:43:42 GMT, E J <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>http://bigsister.sourceforge.net/home.html
>Loved it because big sister was pretty good looking at webpage and seeing
>how each server was doing.
>Hated it because my boss wanted big sister to page me every time there
>was a problem even it was a minor
>problem :)
>
>Randy R wrote:
>
>> This is related to my previous post. Again, I work for a medium sized
>> webhosting provider who also host dedicated Linux servers. I was
>> wondering if anyone could recommend some software or scripts that
>> would keep a Linux server from freezing up because of runnaway
>> processes, etc, or at least lessen the frequency. Or even if there was
>> a way to monitor the processes on a server, and make the computer
>> automatically reboot before it crashed.
------------------------------
From: Christian Merkle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: webwasher manual
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 19:28:33 +0100
Hallo,
gibt es irgendeine Anleitung (man, howto,...) fuer den webwasher.
Vielen Dank fuer alle Infos.
Christian.
--
"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who
make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that mathematicians
have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine
man in the bonds of Hell." -- St. Augustine
------------------------------
From: "Jeffrey S. Kline" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: linux.redhat.misc
Subject: Re: real player 8
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 13:56:11 -0600
No there isn't and probably won't be anytime soon unless someone reverse
engineers the current stuff.
I get absolutely no response from Real.com about any inquiries on anything
not tied to Microsoft platforms. Not even Mac!!! You'd think you even get
the infamous "automated response" mail but not even this. The only official
response I got on a phone call was that they only support Windows and
Macintosh, and that I'd have to use those platforms. The versions that were
available, are rather dated, weren't apparently coded by them directly, and
no plans exist to support foreign operating systems. They even dropped the
BeOS version they put on the Professional Be 5.x CD's...
Screw em. I don't need to be looking at that junk if it's that tied to
Microsoft. As long as I have good vision and can read well, that will
suffice albeit, Quicktime is available, but same issue... doesn't read
current codec's...
If you absolutely need to use Real player, then keep a measly 1.2gig
partition around to run Windows, IE and Realplayer, then boot back to Linux
or Be for all other tasks... <grin> (didn't we used to do that back in the
"olden" days when we needed to run real DOS programs that werent compatible
with Windows??) <grin>
Cheers;
Jeff
"richard noel fell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Is there a linux version of real player 8? I am using redhat 7.0 and
> have real player 7 installed. However, some web sites now require the
> latest version and there is no such version for linux on the real.com
> site that I can find.
> Thanks,
> Dick Fell
>
------------------------------
From: Jean-David Beyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: can't kill!
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 15:12:15 -0500
Tommy Tang wrote:
>
> Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> >
> > Tommy Tang wrote:
> > >
> > > Dear all,
> > >
> > > I am writing a program under linux and encounter
> > > a difficult problem.
> > > When my program run, it opens the /dev/video and
> > > soon it hangs. I try to kill that process but it
> > > survive even after my kill -9. How can I release
> > > the device /dev/video? Even unloading the module
> > > bttv failed.
> > >
> > > root@h254225 fd]# date; ps -A | grep a.out
> > > Thu Mar 15 15:00:44 HKT 2001
> > > 4487 pts/3 00:00:00 a.out
> > > [root@h254225 fd]# kill -9 4487
> > > [root@h254225 fd]# date; ps -A | grep a.out
> > > Thu Mar 15 15:00:46 HKT 2001
> > > 4487 pts/3 00:00:00 a.out
> > > [root@h254225 fd]#
> > >
> > > I know it is possible to kill that by rebooting,
> > > but is there any better method?
> > >
> > Your process may be stuck in state D. If this is the case, you are
> > screwed and will have to reboot. You can see the state by running the
> > top (man top) command. I would think you could get it from ps (man
> > ps), but I have not figured out how.
>
> Thanks for your reply.
>
> It is really in state D when top-ing. Why the process
> will go to this state? And how to prevent it from going
> to this state?
>
As far as I can tell, this is either because of a kernel software bug
or a hardware bug. The symptom (being in state D) indicates that the
process is waiting for an IO operation to complete, and it never will
complete, either due to the device failing to request an interrupt
indicating trouble or completion, or the hardware or software lost the
interrupt.
I know of no way out of this other than rebooting.
--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ Registered Machine 73926.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 3:10pm up 12 days, 22:14, 3 users, load average: 2.16, 2.08,
2.02
------------------------------
From: Albert Schwartz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: SOS No modem com4???
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 15:17:39 -0500
My modem is set on com4. Comp. is Pent111, Win98 + Linux Caldero
USR Sportster, 56k (no Winmodem).
Installed Caldero couple days ago. Had Mandrake 7.1 before.
Linux will not find Modem. Msg, Modem busy, or sorry cannot open.
I have tried KDE, dev/modem, and tty 0 to 3. No good.on any. Tho I
think the setting for com 4 should be tty3.
Win98 works fine, linux also works fine except for modem.
Used OS\2 but want to change to Linux.
I need to keep com port 4. Others in use.
Linux finds modem on a Pent1 with the same modem, but com port 2 is
used.
What do I need to get Linux to recognize Com4???
Help much appreciated.
It took me 84 years to get this dumb.
Albert, Wa3fib.
------------------------------
From: Jean-David Beyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Help with /usr symlink - Urgent!!!
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 15:22:07 -0500
Eric en Jolanda wrote:
>
> > The DB2 install tries to build into the /usr/IBMdb2/V7.1 directory.
> > The process never gets a chance to start due to a "device full" error.
> > So, what I want to try and do is relocate the /usr directory structure
> > to the "/home" mount which has plenty of room and create a symlink in
> > it's place: root/usr --> /home/usr
>
> Why not just place IBMdb2 on /home and symlink that in /usr ?
>
> It sounds to me like a far easier task.
>
> Eric
IBM's installation software unpacks a bunch of RPMs and they have
already decided where they will go. It also monkeys around with
/etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow as well as /etc/services,
/etc/inittab (although I comment that out and put in some stuff of my
own in /etc/rc.d/init.d instead). I also suspect that the full
pathnames are built into the install procedure and possibly the
libraries and running programs as well. It is quite difficult to
install DB2 at all. I think IBM violate the spirit of the file system
hierarchy standard, though. IMAO, they should install into /opt/IBMdb2
or somewhere like that. But they do not. I am not sure what would
happen if you created /opt/IBMdb2 and created a symlink from
/usr/IBMdb2 to there. I am not sure all the software is capable of
following such symlinks.
DB2 is a package of over 100 Megabytes on the distribution medium.
Once installed, it consumes 206880 blocks under /usr/IBMdb2 and over
4000 blocks in /home, and some other stuff here and there (in /var,
for example).
--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ Registered Machine 73926.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 3:10pm up 12 days, 22:14, 3 users, load average: 2.16, 2.08,
2.02
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bob Tennent)
Crossposted-To: linux.redhat.misc
Subject: Re: real player 8
Date: 15 Mar 2001 20:18:28 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Thu, 15 Mar 2001 10:34:43 -0500, richard noel fell wrote:
>Is there a linux version of real player 8?
http://proforma.real.com/real/player/player.html?\
src=010314realhome_1,010314rpchoice_h1&dc=316315314
Click on UNIX under "select OS".
Bob T.
------------------------------
From: Jeremiah DeWitt Weiner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: script to monitor and kill/restart runaway processes on Linux server
Date: 15 Mar 2001 20:32:47 GMT
Randy R <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I was
> wondering if anyone could recommend some software or scripts that
> would keep a Linux server from freezing up because of runnaway
> processes, etc, or at least lessen the frequency.
When you say "runaway processes", what do you mean? Processes that
eat all the CPU time? Too many processes that drive the load sky-high? You
might want to look into ulimit (man bash and search for ulimit) to help
control things. Alternately, if you have a single process or family of
processes that's getting all the processor time, you might try nice'ing
them heavily. It won't stop them from demanding all the processor time,
but it can make the system more responsive from the point of view of non-
niced processes (like your shell).
JDW
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: can't kill!
Date: 15 Mar 2001 13:04:16 -0800
Jean-David Beyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Tommy Tang wrote:
> >
> > Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> > >
> > > Tommy Tang wrote:
...<snip>...
> > > > When my program run, it opens the /dev/video and
> > > > soon it hangs. I try to kill that process but it
...<snip>...
> > > Your process may be stuck in state D. If this is the case, you are
...<snip>...
> > It is really in state D when top-ing. Why the process
> > will go to this state? And how to prevent it from going
> > to this state?
> >
> As far as I can tell, this is either because of a kernel software bug
> or a hardware bug. The symptom (being in state D) indicates that the
> process is waiting for an IO operation to complete, and it never will
> complete, either due to the device failing to request an interrupt
> indicating trouble or completion, or the hardware or software lost the
> interrupt.
>
> I know of no way out of this other than rebooting.
...<snip>...
I remember reading unix (not linux) documentation back in the early
90s that mentioned that a kill signal will not be acted upon until a
current IO operation is completed, so if it is a 'bug' it's a long
standing one and really a design decision. Shortly after reading this,
at my job then, using SCO Unix I believe, a colleague had been trying to
do something over a modem line and was complaining his process was hung
and he couldn't kill it. We turned off the modem and the process
terminated. I don't know if this helps Mr Tang but it suggests that the
roots of his problem are pretty deep.
--
Replace ragwind.localdomain with rahul for a working email address
------------------------------
From: public <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: How To remove top command bar in Ximian ?
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 16:13:41 -0500
I have RedHat 7. When I tried to upgrade GNOME, I was directed to
Ximian GNOME.
Ximian GNOME was fairly easy to install.
Now, I have a command bar at the top of the screen, which resembles the
Macintosh command bar.
The command bar at the bottom of the screen is still intact.
I prefer the command bar at the bottom.
How can I remove the new command bar that appears at the top of the
screen ,...
Thanks.
------------------------------
From: Dominic Vernius <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: taper-6.9b-3 and RedHat 7.0...
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 15:18:50 -0600
Howdy,
I've got an HP Colorado 14Gb ATAPI IDE tape drive which used
to work fine on a P233/RH6.2 as [hdb]; no scsi-emulation,
ide as /dev/ht0.
The drive was moved to a PII 400/RH7.0 as [hdd]; with
ide scsi emulation, scsi as /dev/scd0.
ncurses has been upgraded to 5.2
Making a tape works fine, but when I use the backup
command, taper freezes and I cannot kill it.
Process status shows 'D' dead asleep.
The only way I can kill taper is by rebooting which also
causes / (root partition) shown as busy and a partition check is
always run.
Has anyone had a similar problem?
Thanx in advance,
<-{ dom }->
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Misc Digest
******************************
