From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 17 23:12:13 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 86AF816A4D1 for ; Wed, 17 May 2006 23:12:13 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lordboink@gmail.com) Received: from nz-out-0102.google.com (nz-out-0102.google.com [64.233.162.198]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 27B1643D6D for ; Wed, 17 May 2006 23:12:10 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from lordboink@gmail.com) Received: by nz-out-0102.google.com with SMTP id r28so295478nza for ; Wed, 17 May 2006 16:12:10 -0700 (PDT) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition; b=dfffrhdvpLCXwPRutp3veZaatExbltLbs4dcMp14qPWrZVWu2aPcQK1XYafsP1cKjXPDk7JMM2d1ioZ/yBtriMnnqYT5VMSfzDXPVw91cC191Sv11/MA55GFdjRDUAQLPTG9QNvjOdwER6NLvVU4PrwgA7VsK3lAwo7icW3tvME= Received: by 10.37.13.48 with SMTP id q48mr1580525nzi; Wed, 17 May 2006 16:12:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.36.103.8 with HTTP; Wed, 17 May 2006 16:12:10 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <73cb07950605171612x5f2ea0f9vd4f8b297d5c1a5c6@mail.gmail.com> Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 01:12:10 +0200 From: boink To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Subject: Ignorant user overfilled /usr; strange errors followed. Fixed with fsck -y, but what exactly happened? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 23:12:14 -0000 Dear FreeBSD, While attempting to follow filesystem activity (and not realising the effect it would have) I left a ktrace running (something like ktrace -di -p0 -ti - seen on a forum while searching for a Filemon equivalent for FreeBSD). I had launched it while in /usr/ports, and forgot about it. Doh! Some time later strange things started happening, so I exited from X/KDE, and found a whole sequence of 'filesystem is full' errors on the console. df said that /usr was at 108%. I found the offending ktrace.out file in /usr/ports (~25GB), killed ktrace, deleted the file, and restarted X/KDE. It took about 5 minutes to show the desktop, following a number of console messages like 'xauth: creating new authority file...' So, I Googled around and found a few hints relating to permissions in ~, but that didn't seem to be the problem; anyway I moved my ~/.kde/ to ~/.kde_20060515 in an attempt to 'reset' kde's startup behaviour, but X/KDE still took ages to start the GUI, following similar messages. Even once X/KDE had started, some applications took a *long* time to start (eg Firefox - 3/4 minutes to show blank home page). However, I could still r/w access all files within /usr. Following the advice found on various fora, I then ran fsck -y in single-user mode, with the following output: ** Last mounted on /usr ** Phase 1 - Check Blocks and Sizes ** Phase 2 - Check Pathnames ** Phase 3 - Check Connectivity ** Phase 4 - Check Reference Counts ** Phase 5 - Check Cyl groups FREE BLK COUNT(S) WRONG IN SUPERBLK SALVAGE? yes 401256 files, 4135860 used, 13715938 free (126762 frags, 169-647 blocks, 0,8% fragmentation) Afterwards, X/KDE started with its usual alacrity, so I restored my ~/.kde folder, and now everything seems to be exactly as before. My questions are these: - How could /usr have been at 108%, given that 100% is the logical maximum? - Is there any risk that a physically adjacent filesystem be damaged? - How can it be that, immediately following the deletion of /usr/ports/ktrace.out, I still had errors *at all* (prior to the fsck)? - Given its recent history, can I now trust the integrity of /usr? My interpretation of the situation is that following the deletion of /usr/ports/ktrace.out, KDE, on startup, tried to write a file to a filesystem that apparently (although incorrectly) had no free blocks. fsck fixed the problem of the reported free blocks. However, if this interpretation is correct, it shouldn't have worked *at all* until fsck had repaired the filesystem. That is, KDE should not have started at all. So, prior to the fsck -y in single-user mode, what was happening in the five minutes it took KDE to start? Sorry if this whole description was long and convoluted, but I'd really appreciate a few hints as to what went on. With thanks in advance for any illumination, boink PS. Henceforth, I promise not to let commands I don't understand fill up my filesystems :o/