Re: lockf in installworld -- not a good idea

On Fri, Sep 29, 2006 at 02:20:06PM +0100, Robert Watson wrote:

revision 1.72
date: 2005/11/03 08:56:39; author: ru; state: Exp; lines: +1 -0
Serialize access to the info/dir file; needed for parallel installs.

Reported by: scottl

I'm not very fond of using the non-standard lockf(1) here, but I
have no better idea at the moment. NetBSD uses ln(1) to create a
lock file, but this approach can result in a deadlock if make is
interrupted, leaving an orphaned lock file.

I'm not sure why this suddenly showed up in my configuration, but this is
preventing me from installing world on an NFS mounted file system without
rpc.lockd running. I get the following:

===> lib/libcom_err/doc (install)
lockf -k /usr/share/info/dir install-info --quiet
--defsection="Programming &
development tools." --defentry="* libcom_err: (com_err). A Common
Error
Description Library for UNIX." com_err.info /usr/share/info/dir
lockf: cannot open /usr/share/info/dir: Operation not supported
*** Error code 73

Stop in /zoo/rwatson/netperf/RELENG_6/src/lib/libcom_err/doc.
*** Error code 1

Stop in /zoo/rwatson/netperf/RELENG_6/src/lib/libcom_err.
*** Error code 1

The necessity to run rpc.lockd is documented in the build(7)
manpage. Quote:

: installworld Install everything built by a preceding buildworld step
: into the directory hierarchy pointed to by make(1) vari-
: able DESTDIR.
:
: If installing onto an NFS file system, make sure that
: rpc.lockd(8) is running on both client and server. See
: rc.conf(5) on how to make it start at boot time.

I've noticed an increasing intolerance in our tools for system install and
maintenance to locking not being implemented over the past few years. I no
longer get working cron on boxes with neither rpc.lockd nor local locking
enabled, for example. Installworld represents a bigger problem, since I
don't want to have to depend on a completely working rpc chain in order to
installworld, nor depend on running in what would effectively be multiuser
mode. Surely there's a better fix for this than adding lockf use?

I don't know of a better fix. Another approach is that mentioned
in the commit log and used by NetBSD. I tried it, and it was very
fragile -- it could easily leave the temporary file around, and
that would stuck forever another instances.

The problem at hand is that multiple instances of install-info(1)
are attempting to write to the ${DESTDIR}/usr/share/info/dir file.
If you have a better idea, don't hesitate to let me know. I'd
very much like to get rid of that as well.


Cheers,
--
Ruslan Ermilov
ru@xxxxxxxxxxx
FreeBSD committer

Attachment: pgp1ov2vTHjku.pgp
Description: PGP signature

Relevant Pages

  • Re: error when doing make installworld
    ... because of an error while doing make installworld. ... mergemaster -i and then reboot. ... The filesystem is not mounted in single user mode. ... *** Error code 1 ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Stop. in installworld (4.9)
    ... during "make installworld". ... *** Error code 1 ... # Floating point support - do not disable. ... # PCI Ethernet NICs that use the common MII bus controller code. ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Error on installworld from 5.2.1 to 5.3-p1
    ... I rebooted the machine and enter in single mode with kernel 5.2.1 ... When I execute the installworld, ... /dev/null -V MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX dummy" returned non-zero status ... *** Error code 1 ...
    (freebsd-stable)
  • error when doing make installworld
    ... because of an error while doing make installworld. ... My system is an amd64 machine running freebsd 6.1 and ... mergemaster -i and then reboot. ... *** Error code 1 ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: error when doing make installworld
    ... "Doing a make installworld before finding out if ... How am I able to find out if the new kernel will ... kernel will boot will bite ... *** Error code 1 ...
    (freebsd-questions)