> ----------
> From: Maurice Hendrix
> Sent: 02 July 1999 08:09
> To: 'Akintayo Holder'
> Subject: RE: Self fixing linux ?
>
>
>
> ----------
> From: Akintayo Holder[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: 02 July 1999 06:22
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Self fixing linux ?
>
> [...]
> This continued for two boots, then I had a blackout (power outage) and
> the pc went down before i got to it. When I rebooted the error was gone
> and the zip worked (this is why the above description is vague)
>
> My questions are
> 1. What happened ?
>
>
You seem to have stumble upon a little known and as yet undocumented feature
of Linux. This feature let's the kernel detect a variety of problems that
can not be repaired easily. Usually frequent rebooting by the sysadmin will
be a good hint to the kernel something is going beyond it's control. To
enable the self-diagnostics and the self-repair daemons (diagd and borgd) to
do their work properly the kernel needs some time to itself. A sysadmin
constantly rebooting the machine is a real pain. So what the kernel does is,
it will access the power-inlet of your computer and through that it can
access the local power-distribution node or even the nearest power-plant and
shut it down. Now the sysadmin will usually be busy with other things when
the power gets back on and the daemons can do their job. By the time you get
back to your machine the system will have diagnosed the problem and repaired
it. ;-)
--
Maurice Hendrix
snailmail: Fuji Photo Film BV Standard disclaimers apply
Dept. P1LPI
attn. M. Hendrix
PO Box 90156
5000 LJ Tilburg
phone: +31 13-579 1370 or fax: +31 13-579 1385
- We are Linux. You *will* be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
