Patrick L. McGillan writes:Urgh. This is definitely the kind of error I wanted least to show up. The floppy driver is the least mature part of the system, and any errors are likely to show up there. I'm unable to reproduce this error: the only way this kind of write error could occur is if the floppy driver is totally unable to read the first block. Normally write errors won't be noticed by the writing process: it just writes to the cache. This definitely looks like a driver bug: UNLESS you are using floppies that aren't formatted? You have to format the floppies (currently possible only under DOS) before trying to write to them. Please, please tell me that was the reason :-) Is somebody else getting this same kind of error? Could you please report the hardware you are getting it on (5.25"? 3.5"?)? Are you able to read the disk (as a root-image for example), and does the error happen all the time? Yeah, I'm lazy. It's much easier to do a simple "reply", so that the person with the problem gets it solved, but nobody else. I'll try to reply to the mailing list in the future (unless it's something very machine-specific.) darken.@cs.yale.edu: This is a possibly deficiency in the linux kernel. I don't allow links/unlinks to directories, as keeping track of the parent is too much work. I /think/ it's impossible to allow a hard link to a directory, but I'm not sure. Anybody with ideas is free to mail me. I think the best solution is to write a "mvdir", which simply copies the directory and removes the old one. Obviously I haven't done it. (Does minix allow hard links to directories? How does it handle the '..' file in such a directory?) Most programs starting with a "g" are GNU software. This is also the case with "gar". Gar is just a shorthand fro "GNU ar", ie "ar" ie "/usr/local/lib/gcc-ar". Likewise "gstrip" is the same as strip, "gas" is the same as "as" etc. I have most of the gcc binaries linked to three different names: /usr/local/lib/gcc-xxxx, /usr/local/bin/xxxx and /usr/local/bin/gxxxx. chmem is a Minix brain-damage. Ignore it. It isn't needed under linux. (it tells the kernel how much memory to allocate to the program, as minix doesn't allow a process to grow). Remove the line from the Makefile if you are running totally under linux (and it's probably not needed under minix either, if you have the right patches). Linux has two special processes: The swapper (#0) and init. The swapper is used as a "null"-process: When no other process wants to run the swapper just sits and idles. It may not sleep. Init (#1) is the real father of all processes. It should really do a lot more than it does currently: execute the /etc/rc file and start logins. Currently It just starts 2 processes: /bin/update (#2) and /bin/sh (#3). It then just waits for any of these to exit, and syncs the filesystems (Normally this happens only when /bin/sh exits, as /bin/update shouldn't exit for any reason.) What has probably happened is that you have deleted (or changed) /bin/update so that it won't work any more (possibly due to a corrupted filesystem). It isn't deadly, but it's a bit uncertain: The filesystem is never synced automatically any more. Not even a "logout" syncs it, as init synced it once when /bin/update exited, and thinks that is enough. The possibilities for a upset filesystem are much greater... Check for file system errors with the newly posted fsck (although you are still unable to correct anything with it: backup and reinstall.) Linus
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| Tvrtko A. Ursulin | Western Digital GreenPower drives and Linux |
git: | |
| Shawn O. Pearce | [BULLS**T PATCH] Allow Git to work at Insane Bank Corp |
| Michael Hendricks | removing content from git history |
| Eivind LM | Split a subversion repo into several git repos |
| Nicolas Pitre | Re: [PATCH] gc: call "prune --expire 2.weeks.ago" |
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| Mark Tarrabain | Some thoughts on device drivers |
| Karl J. Vesterling | Re: BYTE asks, is UNIX dead? |
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