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SubjectRe: Sendmail 8.9.0 claims a Linux kernel bug
On 25 Jun 1998, Andi Kleen wrote:

> Ben Gertzfield <che@debian.org> writes:
>
> > From the Sendmail 8.9.0 Known Bugs List:
> >
> > * accept() problem on Linux.
> >
> > Apparently, the accept() in sendmail daemon loop can return ETIMEDOUT
> > and cause sendmail to sleep for 5 seconds during which time no new
> > connections will be accepted. An error is reported to syslog:
> >
> > Jun 9 17:14:12 hostname sendmail[207]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root):
> > getrequests: accept: Connection timed out
> >
> > "Connection timed out" is not documented as a valid return from
> > accept(2) and this is believed to be a bug in the Linux kernel.
>
> This is no kernel bug, but an intentional change from BSD/Solaris semantics.
> Linux accept() returns errors for failed connection attempts unlike BSD which drops
> them.
>
> It is a documentation bug if the manpage does not state that.
>
A previous version of sendmail sets up a timer and expects EINTR as its
normal "waiting for connection" error, which it properly ignores. Anything
else writes an error message then waits for 5 seconds before trying
again. I note that it closes its socket also, which is a design bug.
It is expensive to get a new socket. Accept should simply be called
until it succeeds (with no time-out). This is a daemon which should
sleep forever if there are no connection attempts.

This is sendmail-8.7.5. The code in daemon.c is, in my not too humble
opinion, rather juvenile.

Cheers,
Dick Johnson
***** FILE SYSTEM MODIFIED *****
Penguin : Linux version 2.1.105 on an i586 machine (66.15 BogoMips).
Warning : It's hard to remain at the trailing edge of technology.


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