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Date:      Mon, 31 May 2010 11:45:25 -0700
From:      Jeremy Chadwick <freebsd@jdc.parodius.com>
To:        Dave Hayes <dave@jetcafe.org>
Cc:        Garrett Cooper <yanefbsd@gmail.com>, freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, Clifton Royston <cliftonr@lava.net>, jhb@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Locking a file backed mdconfig into memory
Message-ID:  <20100531184525.GA89545@icarus.home.lan>
In-Reply-To: <201005311825.o4VIPp5F051573@hugeraid.jetcafe.org>
References:  <201005272348.o4RNmgWh014243@hugeraid.jetcafe.org> <20100528043006.GA18560@lava.net> <201005281757.o4SHvTwq020905@hugeraid.jetcafe.org> <20100528191828.GA83371@icarus.home.lan> <201005281926.o4SJQCW3041849@hugeraid.jetcafe.org> <20100528215837.GA86689@icarus.home.lan> <AANLkTikq8AJIlvIkWkGIaS6mlqWOAPreVY7ALs3AO98v@mail.gmail.com> <201005310242.o4V2glZX057087@hugeraid.jetcafe.org> <20100531041843.GA66732@icarus.home.lan> <201005311825.o4VIPp5F051573@hugeraid.jetcafe.org>

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On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 11:25:51AM -0700, Dave Hayes wrote:
> Jeremy Chadwick <freebsd@jdc.parodius.com> writes:
> > Is the mfsroot file compressed (.gz extension)?  Reason I ask is that
> > the OP states he's using RELENG_7...
> 
> Yes it is compressed. 
> 
> > http://jdc.parodius.com/freebsd/pxeboot_serial_install_7.html#step7
> 
> Thanks much for this. I did a simple test, I rebuilt a DVD that wasn't
> booting to use a lower level of compression (gzip -9 to gzip -6) on
> mfsroot without changing anything else. This caused it to boot normally.
> 
> I'm not sure it's conclusive evidence, but it certainly looks like a
> weak datapoint supporting this kernel bug being the source of my
> problem.
> 
> Is this problem fixed in 8.0 or by a patch?

With regards to said bug, gzip compression seems to work fine on
RELENG_8, at least in my experiences:

http://jdc.parodius.com/freebsd/pxeboot_serial_install_8.html

I'm not sure the level of compression is what triggers the bug though;
I haven't tested all levels (1 through 9).

CC'ing jhb@ since he last updated PR kern/120127 (which I would say is
still a problem on RELENG_7 :-) ).  John, are you aware of any gzip
decompression / mfsroot changes which might explain the problem on
RELENG_7?  I haven't done a "thorough" series of tests, but on my
testbed boxes RELENG_8 works fine with a gzip'd mfsroot.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                   jdc@parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |




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