Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 01:12:10 +0200 From: boink <lordboink@gmail.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Ignorant user overfilled /usr; strange errors followed. Fixed with fsck -y, but what exactly happened? Message-ID: <73cb07950605171612x5f2ea0f9vd4f8b297d5c1a5c6@mail.gmail.com>
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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/
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