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Subject2.1.131 IDE blocking
Hi!

Now, after some hours of trying to resolve this on #Linux or #Linux.DE,
I thought it would be worth a mail to the kernel people.

I am using 2.1.131 with just VGA_CAN_DO_64KB and the patches (posted
here a week ago) to make it compile using pgcc-2.92.21. The kernel
works fine so far (I doubt it's an egcs issue, that's the reason
I mention it).

I have a 25 MB /var/spool/mail/johnny. Don't ask why, I have it.
I'm using ircII, icewm-0.9.18 (not all the time, it doesn't cause
the failure) and mutt-0.94.18i.

Whenever one of these programs tries to check how many mails are
in my /var/spool/mail/johnny (25MB), the *whole* system blocks for
about 30 seconds. This means that I'm not able to login in on
of the *gettys, and I cannot issue any command while this lock
is done.

For example: I am in ircII, chatting. I load a certain configuration
(bigcheese) which not only checks for new mail but counts the
mails in my mbox, too. They're about 7,600 in it at the moment.
Don't ask why, take it, as it is.

Everytime ircII or mutt or icewm tries to count my mail, it seems
to me like the whole fs cache is filled with data from the 25MB(!)
mail file. This should not happen.

Every few minutes on IRC ircII checks for new mail and count my
mails.

That's not the problem.

The problem is, that while it counts/whatever my mails, the
partition it works on is not accessible. I cannot even login
as root, since /var/spool/mail/johnny is on my root fs.

Counting my mails takes as much as 30 seconds real time.

I cannot do much else in this time. Isn't there a solution?

Again: While a program---let's say ircII---checks for how
many messages are in my /var/spool/mail/johnny---the whole
system that depends on that volume (/var is on the same
volume than / is) is affected ---, is blocked. I cannot
even login on any console while it is blocked.

The drive(s) are ATA (hd*).

johnny
--
Trust no-one.

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