Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Mon, 30 Oct 2000 08:06:19 -0600 (CST) | From | Jesse Pollard <> | Subject | Re: syslog() blocks on glibc 2.1.3 with kernel 2.2.x |
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--------- Received message begins Here ---------
Jesse Pollard <pollard@cats-chateau.net>: > On Sun, 29 Oct 2000, Stephen Harris wrote: > >Horst von Brand wrote: > > > >> > > If you send SIGSTOP to syslogd on a Red Hat 6.2 system (glibc 2.1.3, > >> > > kernel 2.2.x), within a few minutes you will find your entire machine > >> > > grinds to a halt. For example, nobody can log in. > >> > >> Great! Yet another way in which root can get the rope to shoot herself in > >> the foot. Anything _really_ new? > > > >OK, let's go a step further - what if syslog dies or breaks in some way > >shape or form so that the syslog() function blocks...? > > > >My worry is the one that was originally raised but ignored: syslog() should > >not BLOCK regardless of whether it's local or remote. syslog is not a > >reliable mechanism and many programs have been written assuming they can > >fire off syslog() calls without worry. > > It was NOT ignored. If syslogd dies, then the system SHOULD stop, after a > few seconds (depending on the log rate...). > > I do believe that restarting syslog should be possible... Perhaps syslog > should be started by inetd at the very beginning. Then it could be restarted > after an exit/abort. > > This can STILL fail if the syslog.conf is completely invalid - but then the > system SHOULD be stopped pending the investigation of why the file has been > corrupted, or syslogd falls back on a default configuration (record everything > in the syslog file).
As was pointed out in a separate E-mail: I ment to say "init" instead of "inetd", since inetd can generate syslog messages...
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jesse I Pollard, II Email: pollard@navo.hpc.mil
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