GNU bug report logs - #7813
tail -f gives misleading error message when inotify limit is reached

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Package: coreutils;

Reported by: Bram Neijt <bneijt <at> gmail.com>

Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:39:02 UTC

Severity: normal

Done: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#7813: closed (tail -f gives misleading error message when
 inotify limit is reached)
Date: Tue, 08 May 2012 10:39:01 +0000
[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]
Your message dated Tue, 08 May 2012 12:36:49 +0200
with message-id <877gwn7yda.fsf <at> rho.meyering.net>
and subject line Re: bug#7813: [Bug 700958] Re: tail -f gives misleading error message when inotify limit is reached
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #7813,
regarding tail -f gives misleading error message when inotify limit is reached
to be marked as done.

(If you believe you have received this mail in error, please contact
help-debbugs <at> gnu.org.)


-- 
7813: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=7813
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems
[Message part 2 (message/rfc822, inline)]
From: Bram Neijt <bneijt <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: tail -f gives misleading error message when inotify limit is reached
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:20:00 +0100
Dear developers,

When tail -f has inotify enabled and hits the max_user_watches limit
of inotify, the resulting error message is very misleading.

To reproduce:
1) Make sure you will hit the limit if you try another inotify request
    sudo sh -c 'echo 10 > /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches'
2) Create a file:
    touch /tmp/hello
3) Follow it:
    tail -f /tmp/hello

Result:
tail: cannot watch `/tmp/hello': No space left on device

Expected result:
tail: cannot watch '/tmp/hello' because inotify reported: No space
left on device

It can be verified by using strace tail -f /tmp/hello:
inotify_add_watch(4, "/tmp/hello",
IN_MODIFY|IN_ATTRIB|IN_DELETE_SELF|IN_MOVE_SELF) = -1 ENOSPC (No space
left on device)

I've also submitted this bug to launchpad for easier tracking at
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/coreutils/+bug/700958

Greetings,

Bram Neijt


[Message part 3 (message/rfc822, inline)]
From: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
To: 7813-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#7813: [Bug 700958] Re: tail -f gives misleading error message
	when inotify limit is reached
Date: Tue, 08 May 2012 12:36:49 +0200
Jim Meyering wrote:
> A. Bram Neijt wrote:
>> http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=7813
...
> Thanks for the report.
> This was fixed for 8.6:
>
> commit 61b77891c2d9af299063850a0c4d1d721340cfff
> Author: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
> Date:   Tue Oct 12 01:39:58 2010 +0100
>
>     tail: fix checking of currently unavailable directories
...
> With coreutils-8.6 and newer, you'd see this:
>
>     tail: inotify resources exhausted
>     tail: inotify cannot be used, reverting to polling

Marked as done.


This bug report was last modified 13 years and 45 days ago.

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