[3816] in testers
IRIX makewhatis can leave bad whatis database
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert A Basch)
Tue Jul 21 12:22:05 1998
To: testers@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 12:21:54 EDT
From: Robert A Basch <rbasch@MIT.EDU>
On IRIX 6.x, the whatis database is (re)built at boot time when a script
notices that the installation history file is newer than the whatis file,
and invokes makewhatis as a low priority background process. makewhatis
initially touches the whatis file, to ensure write access. It then builds
a new database as whatis.NEW, which it moves into place upon completion.
The result is that if the system reboots again before makewhatis finishes,
we are left with an out-of-date whatis database, but which looks to be
up-to-date based on the mod time. And, in the worst case of a reboot
right after an initial install, we're left with an empty whatis file,
which the system considers up-to-date.
[makewhatis takes around 15 minutes or so on an O2, so we shouldn't see
a problem very often.]
A search of the SGI patch site for this problem came up empty, so I
will report it as a bug.
Bob
