Hello, While restoring a large data backup which contained some big sparse-ish files, using rsync 3.1.1, (these were VMDK files to be precise), I found that adding the --sparse option can permanently wedge the rsync processes.
I performed a few basic checks during the time it happened (at one point I left it a few days so I suspect it can last more or less forever). * strace didn't show any syscall activity, making me suspect it was blocked in userland * kill and kill -9 could not stop the processes, which would imply it was blocked in kernel IO * strace of the 100% processes did not display any syscall activity * the processes refused to stop consuming 100% CPU, until the system was rebooted * rebooting the system took forever on the all-process-kill timers I wanted to see if anybody had seen similar behavior before, or if there is more I could do to diagnose the cause. It's the first time in many years of use I ever got any unexplaining behavior like this from rsync so I wasn't sure what I should check since it defied most typical debug tools. The behavior appeared to quit when --sparse was removed. Sincerely, Matthew. -- Please use reply-all for most replies to avoid omitting the mailing list. To unsubscribe or change options: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/rsync Before posting, read: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html