POSIX and ISC 2.2.x -- how many people are using this?

[Karl Denninger]

Some more followup on the crash problem I was experiencing with ISC 2.2
(panics in "namei"):

o)	The crashes occur regardless of whether the OS is 2.2, 2.2.1, 2.2
	with the POSIX fix disk, 2.2.1 with the POSIX fix disk, with and
	without the network drivers and with and without the TCP/IP & NFS
	patches (SSU 4.a & 4.b)

o)	If one doesn't run >any< posix applications (compiled with "-Xp")
	then the crashes do not occur.  Once you start using the Posix
	options (I had compiled trn with this specifically to allow
	multi-group support -- needed to solve an access control problem)
	the system will start panicing in "namei" on a frequent basis.  With
	the kind of use I have here, that "frequent basis" means in less
	than 24 hours.

	That POSIX was responsible was verified by removing the new copy of
	"trn" from the system -- we've now been up for over a day without
	problems.  The >only< change made which caused the system to once
	again be stable was the removal of this one application.

Generic environment information:

80386/25 cache system (our own)
Math chip (80387) with the u-area writable parameters set OFF
Security patch is not installed (we have a '387 and don't need it)
AHA1542A/1542B SCSI host adapter (both tried with identical results)
	tunable parameters for the adapter had no effect within operational
	boundaries of the motherboard
Equinox Megaport /24 with 2.3.0 drivers (latest and best-working available)
3 SCSI MAXTOR disk drives and a Archive 2150S tape
ATI Wonder VGA card and monitor

Pretty standard stuff, actually.

This has been reported to Marty Stuart at ISC.

If anyone is running POSIX applications regularly and is NOT experiencing
problems I'd really like to hear about it.... it would provide an
interesting comparison.

Actually, the better solution would be to fix it and support multiple groups
internally in the system utilities.  That's really the only need I have for
POSIX support (although that might not be the only reason others want it :-)
One problem with POSIX is that it requires filenames <= 14 characters; it
returns an error on open of a filename that is too long rather than
truncating it.  This is a minor annoyance that requires code changes in many
software packages.

--
Karl Denninger (karl at ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 808-7300], Voice: [+1 708 808-7200]
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