softupdates can cause crash...

[Dmitry Pryanishnikov]

Hello!

> Date:      Mon, 17 May 2004 16:19:43 -0700
> From:      John-Mark Gurney <gurney_j at efn.org>
>
> Softupdates on -stable currently has a bug when handling large files
> that will cause your machine to panic.  I have filed kern/66781 which
> describes this problem.  The best work around that I can recommend is
> to disable softupdates on any and all FS's.

 There is one line in your sample program which I can't understand. What's
the purpose (question for you) and actual action (question for fs gurus) of
the following line:

device=/dev/da1s1e
...
        fsync "$device" &

??? I thought fsync() call is for regular files, not for special ones, does it
still stand? When I remove this line or replace it with

	sync &

crash no more happens. So, can we call it "foot-shooting"? Of course, bug
should be fixed if possible, but it seems that only root can fsync device,
so the main question, can regular user activity create similar conditions
(again question for fs gurus)?

Sincerely, Dmitry
-- 
Atlantis ISP, System Administrator
e-mail:  dmitry at atlantis.dp.ua
nic-hdl: LYNX-RIPE