From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Sat, 15 Jun 2002 19:04:37 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Sat, 15 Jun 2002 19:04:36 -0400 Received: from crack.them.org ([65.125.64.184]:20489 "EHLO crack.them.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Sat, 15 Jun 2002 19:04:35 -0400 Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 18:04:26 -0500 From: Daniel Jacobowitz To: Andrew Morton Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Inexplicable disk activity trying to load modules on devfs Message-ID: <20020615180426.C19472@crack.them.org> Mail-Followup-To: Andrew Morton , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <20020615172244.C19123@crack.them.org> <3D0BC34E.BAE89EB9@zip.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Sat, Jun 15, 2002 at 03:44:30PM -0700, Andrew Morton wrote: > Daniel Jacobowitz wrote: > > > > I just booted into 2.4.19-pre10-ac2 for the first time, and noticed > > something very odd: my disk activity light was flashing at about > > half-second intervals, very regularly, and I could hear the disk > > moving. I was only able to track it down to which disk controller, via > > /proc/interrupts (are there any tools for monitoring VFS activity? > > They'd be really useful). Eventually I hunted down the program causing > > it: xmms. > > > > The reason turned out to be that I hadn't remembered to build my sound > > driver for this kernel version. Every half-second xmms tried to open > > /dev/mixer (and failed, ENOENT). Every time it did that there was > > actual disk activity. Easily reproducible without xmms. Reproducible > > on any non-existant device in devfs, but not for nonexisting files on > > other filesystems. Is something bypassing the normal disk cache > > mechanisms here? That doesn't seem right at all. > > > > syslog activity from a printk, perhaps? Nope. No log activity whatsoever. -- Daniel Jacobowitz Debian GNU/Linux Developer MontaVista Software Carnegie Mellon University