Dear List,
I have exported /var/cache/apt and /var/lib/apt/lists with NFS to allow several PCs on my home network to share the same deb package lists and archives. This system was working fine until about a month ago, perhaps due to a routine update/upgrade. Since then, when I try apt-get or aptitude update on either of two of the clients (spongebob and pinky), they hang at "Reading Package Lists... 0%" and require a reboot to break the spell. /var/log/messages on the clients complain that the server is not responding. Two other clients - a workstation (calvin) and a router (brain) - both work properly, as does the server (cruncher). All five machines use differently customized 2.6.8 Debian-patched kernels, each configured to the machine's hardware and function. All five machines run Debian testing. The two clients that fail are desktop PCs, while the two that work are Thinkpad 701C 486s.
The mount command (e.g., mount -t nfs -o rw,tcp,intr cruncher:/var/cache/apt /mnt/apt) returns instantly without error from all clients, and the mounted directories can be entered, viewed and written to without a problem. Perhaps the problem is with file locking. rpcinfo -p lists portmapper, nlockmgr, nfs, status and mountd on cruncher or spongebob (spongebob is also an nfs server), and portmapper, status and nlockmgr on brain, calvin or pinky.
The only other new symptom is that ssh-ing from one workstation to another sometimes gives an "unknown host" error, which goes away if I ping the remote workstation from the router (brain).
Since I suspected an upgrade may have led to this problem, I tried looking for old versions of mount, nfs-common and liblockfile1 in /var/cache/apt/archives. Only nfs-common had an old verison, and reinstalling that on pinky had no effect.
Any and all suggestions what to try next would be appreciated.
Yours,
Chris _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [email protected] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
