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Article #6986

Re: Strange problem with /etc/mtab

#6986
From: Bob Vernon
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1990 06:58
40 lines
1907 bytes
In article <1990Feb17.023003.7444@phri.nyu.edu> roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes:
>
>	Every once in a while, a strangeness shows up in my /etc/mtab file.
>Right now, it looks like:
>
>stdin: not in comprc7decode: 0 0
>/dev/ra0a / 4.2 rw 7 1
>/dev/ra0h /usr1 4.2 rw 1 5
>[etc]
>
>	Does anybody have any idea what might possibly be going on?

A customer of ours once had almost the same problem.  Not the same
strange message but one that just doesn't belong in the mtab file.
The mtab file looked like :-

	Current timezone -10:00 west, Australian style dst
		(-600 minutes west, dst style = 2)
	/dev/iop/pdisk00a / 4.2 rw,noquota 1 1
	/dev/iop/pdisk00d /usr 4.2 rw,noquota 1 2
	[etc]

Took ages to track it down but it was obvious once I realised what
had happened.

In our /etc/rc script the following sequence of commands occur :-

	/etc/timezone -600 2	>/dev/null
	[ about 2 screenfuls of comments and other commands ]
	cat < /dev/null > /etc/mtab

One day someone trashed /dev/null.  ("It looked like a silly name so I
I removed it").  So guess what happened on the next reboot.  I would
guess that it is some similar sequence of clearing mtab on your system.


      -m-------   Robert Vernon			  UUCP: pyramid!pta!bob
    ---mmm-----   Pyramid Technology (Australia)  ACSNET: bob@pta.oz.au
  -----mmmmm---   328 High Street		  PHONE: +61 2 415 0515
-------mmmmmmm-   Chatswood 2067 Australia	  FAX: +61 2 417 8636
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Message-ID: <574@pta.oz>
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!uokmax!munnari.oz.au!cluster!metro!pta!bob
References: <1990Feb17.023003.7444@phri.nyu.edu>

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!uokmax!munnari.oz.au!cluster!metro!pta!bob
From: bob@pta.oz (Bob Vernon)
Newsgroups: news.software.b,comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Strange problem with /etc/mtab
Message-ID: <574@pta.oz>
Date: 21 Feb 90 06:58:06 GMT
References: <1990Feb17.023003.7444@phri.nyu.edu>
Reply-To: bob@pta.oz.au (Bob Vernon)
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corporation, Sydney
Lines: 40