GNU bug report logs - #7483
Tail claims bad file descriptor when following

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Johan Pretorius <pretoriusjf <at> gmail.com>
Subject: bug#7483: closed (Re: bug#7483: Tail claims bad file descriptor
 when following)
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:22:02 +0000

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Your bug report

#7483: Tail claims bad file descriptor when following

which was filed against the coreutils package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to 7483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.

-- 
7483: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=7483
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

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From: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
To: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: 7483-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Johan Pretorius <pretoriusjf <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#7483: Tail claims bad file descriptor when following
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:21:35 +0200

tags 7483 + notabug
close 7483
thanks

Paul Eggert wrote:
> On 11/26/2010 12:44 AM, Johan Pretorius wrote:
>> I use tail 5.3.0 in Windows 7.
>
> Hmm, that's rather old.  I suggest upgrading to a more-recent
> version before investigating further.  The current version is 8.7.
>
> Also, you might try reporting the bug to whoever built it on Windows
> rather than to bug-coreutils, as it could well be a property
> of the Windows port rather than a bug in coreutils itself.

Thanks for the report.
I'm closing this as "not a bug".
If you find evidence of a bug using the latest,
you might want to report it to whomever wrote packaged
coreutils for windows 7.

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From: Johan Pretorius <pretoriusjf <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Tail claims bad file descriptor when following
Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2010 10:44:28 +0200

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Hi there,

I use tail 5.3.0 in Windows 7.  It works fine unless I try to follow a file.

Here is my --version output:

C:\>tail --version
tail (GNU coreutils) 5.3.0
Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Ian Lance Taylor, and Jim Meyering.

Copyright (C) 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


The following works as expected with no error messages.

tail \\ssb-batman\logs\batman\build.log


However, if I try to follow, it gives output as follows.

C:\>tail -f \\ssb-batman\logs\batman\build.log
[INFO] Unpacking
C:\p4ws\depot_cfg\ssb\trunk\postilion\ssb\postgen\target\postgen-izpack.zip
to

  C:\p4ws\depot_cfg\ssb\trunk\postilion\ssb_installer\target\staging
   with includes null and excludes:null
[INFO] Unpacking
C:\p4ws\depot_cfg\ssb\trunk\postilion\ssb\scheduleinjector\target\scheduleinjector-izpack.zip
to
  C:\p4ws\depot_cfg\ssb\trunk\postilion\ssb_installer\target\staging
   with includes null and excludes:null
[INFO] Unpacking
C:\p4ws\depot_cfg\ssb\trunk\postilion\ssb\services\target\services-izpack.zip
to
  C:\p4ws\depot_cfg\ssb\trunk\postilion\ssb_installer\target\staging
   with includes null and excludes:null
tail: \\ssb-batman\logs\batman\build.log: Bad file descriptor
tail: no files remaining

Why is tail suddenly claiming that the file descriptor is bad, when clearly
it works just fine?

So I tried some different things to see if I could get it to work.

I tried

tail --follow=\\ssb-batman\logs\batman\build.log

but that just gives an even stranger error:

tail: invalid argument `\\\\ssb-batman\\logs\\batman\\build.log' for
`--follow'
Valid arguments are:
  - `descriptor'
  - `name'
Try `tail --help' for more information.


I thought at first that maybe tail does not like the UNC path, but that is
not the case - it does exactly the same when I use a local file.

If I add --retry to the mix, I get the following very interesting reaction:
 It prints out the last few lines, throws out the same error as before, then
prints out the entire file!  This is what it looks like:

C:\>tail -f "\\ssb-batman\logs\batman\build.log" --retry
tail: warning: --retry is useful only when following by name
[INFO] CfgSystemInfoExt ...................................... SUCCESS
[4.328s]
[INFO] SSB Installer ......................................... SUCCESS
[1:28.422s]
[INFO]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESSFUL
[INFO]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 22 minutes 54 seconds
[INFO] Finished at: Fri Nov 26 10:11:17 GMT+02:00 2010
[INFO] Final Memory: 66M/1016M
[INFO]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tail: \\ssb-batman\logs\batman\build.log: Bad file descriptor
tail: `\\ssb-batman\logs\batman\build.log' has become accessible
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] Reactor build order:
[INFO]   Postilion Parent POM

<snip snip...>


In the interests of brevity I cut out the rest of my 250KB log file :-)

Regards,
Johan

-- 
Johan Pretorius
Cell: 0829268327
pretoriusjf <at> gmail.com

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