Subject: Linux-Development Digest #800
From: Digestifier <Linux-Development-Request@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>
To: Linux-Development@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: Linux-Development@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Date:     Mon, 6 Jun 94 17:13:31 EDT

Linux-Development Digest #800, Volume #1          Mon, 6 Jun 94 17:13:31 EDT

Contents:
  Re: Linux on a ThinkPad? (Schultz, Russell)
  rlogin/rlogind and rsh/rshd password problems (Matthew Grant)
  Re: linux bug or HP bug? (with solution) (Waldek Hebisch)
  Diamond Viper (taylor)
  Serial port - 1.1.18 (J. Daniel Kulp)
  Re: New kernels and # of lines on screen (Randy Chapman)
  Re: NFS hangs system 1.1.16 & 1.1.17 (Alan D. Peckham)
  Re: Linux game development (Was Re: Why [DOS, W (Mike Dowling)
  Filesystem semantics protecting meta data ... and users data (Totally Lost)
  Re: Qlogic Scsi driver? (Michael Griffith)
  problem programming Tcl/Tk + C application (Henning Zingler)
  Receiving raw ethernet packets (John Wilson)
  WANTED: Linux boot disk to allow tar to tape and mount (Scott Bushman)
  Re: DIP: Aborts with Errors. Help! (Uri Blumenthal)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: schultz_russell@semail.jsc.nasa.gov (Schultz, Russell)
Subject: Re: Linux on a ThinkPad?
Date: 3 Jun 1994 13:39:20 GMT

We're looking at using Linux as an aquisition platform (possibly in the
MIR  spacestation), but we're leery about support and ease of
development in the device driver arena(specifically A/D cards, and
custom serial interfaces)

Could any kind soul point me to some information, whether first hand or
whatever, concerning device driver development.  Source
code/faqs/examples would gladly be of use.

Russ

Ye olde standarde disclaimer:  These words are my own and I cant blame
them on anybody else.

------------------------------

From: grantma@ritz.equinox.gen.nz (Matthew Grant)
Subject: rlogin/rlogind and rsh/rshd password problems
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 1994 22:06:49 GMT

I have been playing with the TCP/IP on Slackware 1.0.8 by using the loopback
socket (127.0.0.1).  When a user login is specified by using -l, I get a quick response
with 2 - 3 seconds before the password prompt comes up.  Then any try after
that, it takes 30 SECONDS!  It does not happen when I try to change id to
root.  Another wierd thing is that when the delay of 30 seconds occurs, it
is ended bty a second rlogin/rsh process spawning!

BTW, the ftp client is not that good either.  mget * does not work.  I think
I will use ncftp.

 I am testing out the TCP/IP suite because my local internet provider is
soon going to start offering dial up SLIP, and I might have to take my
machine into work.  BTW they want to run Linux for a whole lot of Xterms, as
well as running some software on them to take the load off their Sun Sparc
10.

Thank You.  Please E-mail me a reply.

Matthew.
-- 
    _/  _/   __/   _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/  _/  _/_/  _/  _/     Matthew A. Grant
   _/_/_/  _/  _/   _/     _/   _/_ _/  _/_   _/  _/    1 Domain Tce, Chch. NZ.
  _/  _/  _/_/_/   _/     _/   _/_/_/  _/    _/_/_/   (03) 338-4287
 _/  _/  _/  _/   _/     _/   _/  _/  _/_/  _/  _/  grantma@ritz.equinox.gen.nz      

------------------------------

From: hebisch@hera (Waldek Hebisch)
Subject: Re: linux bug or HP bug? (with solution)
Date: 6 Jun 1994 13:53:38 GMT

Nigel Gamble (nigel@gate.net) wrote:
: In <2snbej$q76@sun0.urz.uni-heidelberg.de> fc4@aixfile1.urz.uni-heidelberg.de (Peter Parzer) writes:
: >I had the problem that the lp driver would not recognize if my
: >HP LaserJet 4p was power off. I solved this problem, at least for
: >the polled version of the driver. The key of the problem was that
: >the printer returned as state 0x87 when power off (state means
: >the result of LP_S(minor)). The linux lp driver takes this as OK
: >and assumes that the char was printed. I dont know if this is a bug
: >in the lp driver or if this is a problem with HP since I have no
: >idea about the official specifications of line printers.

: >Another curious thing is that my HP deskjet 550c somtimes returns
: >0x87 and sometimes returns 0x4f (line-off) when power-off.

: There isn't a general solution to this problem since, as you have
: noticed, the status is undefined when the printer is powered off.
: I suggest that you keep the printer powered on whenever anyone is
: likely to be printing.

: Cheers,
: Nigel
: --
: Nigel Gamble                                    nigel@gate.net
: Boca Raton, FL, USA.
I think it is linux bug. The driver should not send characters to 
the printer when error is asserted - currently driver relies only 
on BUSY line. 
   You should expect to get the status 0x87 from most of the 
printers - it means all lines are connected to ground and this is 
how standard interface circuits works. 
   In my kernel driver tests not only BUSY line but also  also error 
line - this fixes the problem with printer being powered-off and 
should not break any other printer.

                                              Waldemar Hebisch
hebisch@math.uni.wroc.pl

for 

------------------------------

From: pdt@unix.brighton.ac.uk (taylor)
Subject: Diamond Viper
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 14:28:08 GMT

Is there an X driver that will work with the Diamond Viper video card?

Paul Taylor.

------------------------------

From: dkulp@ccs.neu.edu (J. Daniel Kulp)
Subject: Serial port - 1.1.18
Date: 6 Jun 1994 14:51:08 GMT

I just "upgraded" from 1.0.8 to 1.1.18 by getting the 1.1.13 and the 
patches from ftp.funet.fi.  Now, when I boot, it says something to the effect
of  
Serial Driver 4.0 - No serial options
/dev/cua0  irq4
/dev/cua1  irq3
/dev/cua2  irq4

or something like that.  I forget the format.  Anyway, the problem is that I
only have two serial ports.   Where did the third on come from?  This didn't
happen in 1.0.8.   

What I did was apply the patches, modify the socket.c so that the last few
lineswere surrounded by an #ifdef CONFIG_INET so that it could be compiled
without net support, then did the normal make config, make dep, make clean,
make zImage.  CP zImage /vmlinux.  Reinstalled LILO. Rebooted.  

It isn't much of a problem.  It isn't causeing my machine to do any weird
flips or anything, I just thought I see if it is a bug or not.

Thanks



Machine specs:
AST Prem Exec. Notebook 386sx20
8 meg RAM
microsoft mouse on com one.
internal 2400/9600 data/fax modem on com 2
60 meg hard drive:
   /dev/hda1  OS/2 fat     30meg
   /dev/hda5  Linux Native 30meg
Slackware 1.2.0



-- 
J. Daniel Kulp                                       dkulp@ccs.neu.edu
Chemical Engineering Major at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass.


------------------------------

From: chapmra@u.washington.edu (Randy Chapman)
Subject: Re: New kernels and # of lines on screen
Date: 6 Jun 1994 15:37:16 GMT

OK, I guess I wasn't totally clear on this.  I was driving my video card 
at 80x50 and everything there worked just peachy.  Then I tried to use my 
Ampex A-210 (serial 80x24 dumb terminal).  And the system thought it also 
had 50 lines :(

However, jumping from 1.1.16 to 1.1.18 fixed the whole problem :)

Good work, guys!  And thanks for such a WONDERFUL product!

Randy Chapman

In article <2st1rn$oji@news.u.washington.edu>,
Randy Chapman <chapmra@u.washington.edu> wrote:
>When I upgraded my kernel from 1.0.0 to 1.1.16, my computer suddenly 
>started thinking my 24-line terminal had 50 lines.  It used to work fine 
>and I don't think I changed any other relevant code.  Backing back down 
>to 1.0.0 fixed the problem, but I need the more current kernels for RARP..
>
>Does anybody have a suggestion?
>
>Thanks,
>Randy Chapman
>chapmra@u.washington.edu



------------------------------

From: peckham@drei.enet.dec.com (Alan D. Peckham)
Subject: Re: NFS hangs system 1.1.16 & 1.1.17
Date: 6 Jun 1994 16:33:32 GMT
Reply-To: peckham@drei.enet.dec.com (Alan D. Peckham)


I just got the 1.1.18 patch and nfs now stays up on my 386, Thank You!

I am still getting a situation with fsck hanging sometimes trying
to recover my scsi/ultrastor, and if I back off to 1.0.9 it
comes up without a hitch (clearing whatever error there was).

Thanks, again!
Alan Peckham
peckham@drei.enet.dec.com (until friday)

------------------------------

From: mike@MooCow.math.nat.tu-bs.de (Mike Dowling)
Subject: Re: Linux game development (Was Re: Why [DOS, W
Reply-To: on.dowling@zib-berlin.de
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 14:49:40 GMT

>>> On Mon, 6 Jun 1994 09:42:01 GMT, iiitac@uk.ac.swan.pyr (Alan Cox) said:

Alan> In article <2ssktr$j5m@hippo.shef.ac.uk> ac3slh@sunc.sheffield.ac.uk
Alan> (Stuart Herbert) writes:
>> This one sounds like a holy war :) All I can say is that I hope some
>> company, like Watcom, gets round to porting some real compilers over to
>> Linux/UNIX - Linux would really fly then :) I agree with how good gdb is,
>> however.
>> 

Alan> We've been using gcc under DOS for a long time simply because its about
Alan> 15% faster output code than Watcom was. All I want to see is a decent C++
Alan> compiler.

More important is the philosiphical aspect; I'm the proud owner of not a single
DOS byte, and would hate it if I had to have DOS to run Linux.  Besides, the
games argument can hardly be taken seriously.

BTW, when I tested the WATCOM compiler in the bad old days when I had to use
DOS, WATCOM was running neck and neck with High C, which, for unoptimised code,
and significantly faster than gcc.  If you write good, well optimised c code,
there is very little difference.



--
Dr. Michael L. Dowling                    (__)       on.dowling@zib-berlin.de
Abteilung fuer Mathematische Optimierung  (oo)
Institut fuer Angewandte Mathematik        \/-------\
TU Braunschweig                             ||     | \
Pockelsstr. 14                              ||---W||  *
38106 Braunschweig, Germany                 ^^    ^^    Ph.: +49 (531) 391-7553


------------------------------

Crossposted-To: comp.benchmarks,comp.sys.sun.admin
From: idletime@netcom.com (Totally Lost)
Subject: Filesystem semantics protecting meta data ... and users data
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 16:18:21 GMT

In article <1994Jun6.073403.4235@wavehh.hanse.de>,
Martin Cracauer <cracauer@wavehh.hanse.de> wrote:
>SunOS-4.1.3 has a policy to have asynchronous writes for data, but
>inodes and other superinformation is always written immedeatly. So, a
>crash could only affect files that a written at that moment. I think
>Solairs 2 does this, too. Does anybody know?
>
>There was a patch for SunOS 4.1.3 to make the BSD-Filesystem writing
>inodes async, too. That speeds up writing a large number of little
>files by a factor of 2 to 3. Of course, a crash could really hurt now
>that superinformation could be damaged.

Both of these policies are stupidly wrong from a security stand point,
which is a significant case requiring orderly filesystem updates.
Actually both are wrong form ANY stand point, except to stupid sysadmins
and shit head systems programmers that don't give a damn about users data.

Take the case where a sensitive file {passwd, payroll data, next weeks
final exam} is is copied/compressed/crypted and the original deleted.
These same blocks are allocated to a new file, the idnodes and directory
information are written before the new data for the same blocks, the machine
crashes at just the right time {hostle user is watching the jobs run with hand
on power swtich} leaving the sensitive data in the hostile users file and
fsck will be stupidly happy on the crash recovery reboot.

I've raised this point a dozen times, even at the usenix meeting where the
Berkeley guys first presented their concept of sync written meta data ...
and they didn't have a clue since they were one-tracked on making the
system clean from fsck point of view ... not from the users or data base
managers point of view. If the users/production data is corrupt, the
filesystem is corrupt!! PERIOD!!

I'd much rather have a totally unsafe filesystem that trashed on crash
and required a known good backup recovery over one that is guarenteed
to do the wrong thing and have dumb sysadmins think that just because fsck
ran fine all users/production data was fine too.

There are only two acceptable strategies:

        1) require that all data be written prior to the referencing
           meta data. File data blocks first, followed by Nth level
           indirect blocks, ...., 1st level indirect blocks, inode.

           If a file is open for writing, and written other than at
           EOF, the disk inode is updated with a a dirty flag, which
           is cleared when the file is closed or specifically "sync'ed".
           
           All filesystem file data and meta data will be clean at any
           interruption of service, with the detectable exception that
           a file/database may be internally inconsistant.

        2) any other write policy requires a filesystem to be reload
           from backup media if service is interrupted while mounted.

Item one can be extended to require updates to existing filedata be done with
new data blocks, and new meta data, which only is reflected to the
disk inode when the file is closed or a commit operation performed.
When done properly with locking operations this makes a system database
safe as well.

This policy is neither difficult to implement, nor a significant performance
hit ... and in fact when done with better algorithms than UFS can be
3-10X faster.

John

------------------------------

From: grif@tempest.ucr.edu (Michael Griffith)
Subject: Re: Qlogic Scsi driver?
Date: 6 Jun 1994 16:40:22 GMT

In article <2sort2$p27@crl2.crl.com>, Adam Silverthorne <welkin@crl.com> wrote:
>
>I heard that someone is currently working on a driver for the Qlogic
>SCSI card... Does anyone know where I can find it?  Source, or whatever.

I'm been working on the driver.  Unfortunately, I work very 
slowly.  You can find an (unworking) snapshot of my progress
on:

        cs.ucr.edu:/pub/linux/qlogic

Remember, this code doesn't do all that much, so don't get
your hopes up.
-- 
Michael A. Griffith (grif@cs.ucr.edu)
Department of Computer Science
University of California, Riverside


------------------------------

From: hzingler@informatik.uni-rostock.de (Henning Zingler)
Subject: problem programming Tcl/Tk + C application
Date: 6 Jun 1994 18:42:40 GMT


Hello!
I have some problems programming a Tcl/Tk + C application on my pc
(running linux 1.1.8).
I get the following errors from my compiler:
gcc dbprog.c -I/usr/include/tcl -ltcl -ltk -o dbprog
/usr/lib/libtcl.sa(__T00002.o): Undefined symbol "__NEEDS_SHRLIB_libm_4" referenced
/usr/lib/libtcl.sa(__T00009.o): Undefined symbol "__NEEDS_SHRLIB_libm_4" referenced
/usr/X386/lib/libtk.sa(__T00131.o): Undefined symbol "__NEEDS_SHRLIB_libX11_3" referenced
/usr/X386/lib/libtk.sa(__T00131.o): Undefined symbol "__NEEDS_SHRLIB_libm_4" referenced

I didn't find the undefined symbols anywhere. What can I do?

                               Henning



--
********************************************************************************
* Henning Zingler                              /   Es ist einfach              *
* Informatik                                   /      dahinzureden,            *
* Universitaet Rostock                         /         aber es ist           *
* email: hzingler@informatik.uni-rostock.de    /            schwer etwas       *
*        tfb613@hp1.uni-rostock.de             /                 zu sagen.     *
******************************************************************************** 


------------------------------

From: wilsonj@alum01.its.rpi.edu (John Wilson)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Receiving raw ethernet packets
Date: 6 Jun 1994 17:12:19 GMT

How do I open a handle to receive all ethernet packets with a particular
ethernet protocol number (not part of IP or any other supported protocol)?
I want to write a server for a nonstandard protocol.  The man page for socket()
alludes to SOCK_RAW but doesn't explain it, anyway I don't know what
address family to ask for when I want "none of the above".

Is this even possible?  If it makes things any clearer I want to be able
to downline-load DEC computers from my Linux machine using DEC's MOP
protocol (which is built into the ethernet controller's own firmware on
a DEC machine so it's very convenient on that end, no boot ROM is even
needed since the controller force-feeds the boot program into host memory
via DMA and then fakes a power failure after resetting the vector).

John Wilson


------------------------------

From: bushman@june.che.utexas.edu (Scott Bushman)
Subject: WANTED: Linux boot disk to allow tar to tape and mount
Date: 6 Jun 1994 15:35:55 GMT

I am a user of Linux and really enjoy the flexability that it gives
me.  However, resently I have found that I am using my Linux partition
as a means to back-up my Dos partitions to a remote tape device.
Essentially I mount my Dos partitions to my Linux partition using
"mount -t msdos /dev/hda2 /mnt/kazoodos/" or similar command.  Then I
use the feature of gnu-tar which allows me to use a tape device
located on a remote machine.  In my .rhosts file on the remote machine
I include my Linux machine and the root user.  Then I log on as root
on my Linux machine and execute the command
"tar cvf user@machine:/dev/rmt1h /" and this archives my Linux
partition, with the mounted Dos partitions to tape, giving me a backup
of my Dos partitions.

Believe it or not I am still using Linux ver. 0.99 pl 6, and would
like to continue to use this technique for backups, but I can think of
a number of improvements.

I would like to have a Linux boot disk which contains the necessary
utilities such as the network files, password files, and some
utilities like tar.  This would allow me to move the floppy disk to
any Dos machine, mount the hard drives to the Linux floppy, and then
back-up to remote tape the entire Dos machine.  In a more advanced
version, I could also see mounting Dos partitions off of several
machines and using a single tape for the entire backup or the Dos
network.

What I would like is for someone to help me make the boot disk to
perform this function.  As I mentioned, I am still using Linux ver.
0.99 pl 6, and am not interested in upgrading to the newer version
because it would require reformating the disk and other work.  I am
wondering if anyone is interested in creating a disk like the one I
described above and making it available on sunsite or tsx-11??  Or, if
someone could send me instructions on how to make a boot disk to
perform this function, even using my current version, I would
appreciate it.  I think other people would find this type of disk to
be a very nice utility and would likely increase the number of people
interested in using Linux.  I will summarize the information received
in reference to this post and will post to the same news group in
about 2 weeks.

I recognize there may be a significantly better way to perform this
backup operation and would certainly take comments about how best to
go about this task.


Thank You very much,

Scott Bushman
Dept. of Chemical Engineering 60400        phone:   (512) 471-1046
University of Texas @ Austin               FAX:     (512) 471-7060
Austin, TX  78712-1062                     e-mail:  bushman@che.utexas.edu

PGP ver 2.3 public key
begin 600 keypubbushman.pgp
MF0!-`BWF7I0```$"`+X7QT&4Y1&[^68,>NK,JF*&/!^EL\C9J6>-5+A?!&GO
M_&8X^$')EFZ@'%BOLEL#TGFDU4QU8;'I9H3?#8(ZVP$`!1&T)E-C;W1T($)U
><VAM86X@/&)U<VAM86Y`8VAE+G5T97AA<RYE9'4^
`
end
-- 
Scott Bushman
Dept. of Chemical Engineering 60400        phone:   (512) 471-1046
University of Texas @ Austin               FAX:     (512) 471-7060
Austin, TX  78712-1062                     e-mail:  bushman@che.utexas.edu

------------------------------

From: uri@watson.ibm.com (Uri Blumenthal)
Subject: Re: DIP: Aborts with Errors. Help!
Date: 6 Jun 1994 19:04:08 GMT

1. Upgrade your DIP ("sunsite.unc.edu", "dip337b-uri.tgz").
2. Make a link
        ln -sf /usr/sbin/dip /usr/sbin/diplogin
3. Put that into your /etc/passwd instead of dip-i.

It should work.

------------------------------


** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **

The service address, to which questions about the list itself and requests
to be added to or deleted from it should be directed, is:

    Internet: Linux-Development-Request@NEWS-DIGESTS.MIT.EDU

You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux.development) via:

    Internet: Linux-Development@NEWS-DIGESTS.MIT.EDU

Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
    nic.funet.fi				pub/OS/Linux
    tsx-11.mit.edu				pub/linux
    sunsite.unc.edu				pub/Linux

End of Linux-Development Digest
******************************
