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Subject: Re: AW: Too many open files error when sending to large list
From: Wietse Venema (wietseporcupine.org)
Date: Fri Aug 25 2000 - 13:24:17 CDT

Does the mailing list have an owner alias?

        Wietse

Walter Obergehrer:
> Hi Lutz,
>
> I did a truss -f -t open,close -o /tmp/x postfix start and I can see that
> there are .forward's opened 1023 times, then EMFILE (Too many...) occurs and
> then they are closed again:
>
> ...
> 10606: open("/users/mikesch/.forward", O_RDONLY) = 1022
> 10606: open("/users/mikesch/.forward", O_RDONLY) = 1023
> 10606: open("/users/mikesch/.forward", O_RDONLY) Err#24 EMFILE
> 10606: open("/etc/.syslog_door", O_RDONLY) Err#24 EMFILE
> 10606: open("/var/mail/mikesch.lock", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_EXCL, 0) Err#24
> EMFILE
> 10606: open("private/defer", O_WRONLY|O_NONBLOCK) Err#24 EMFILE
> 10606: open("/etc/.syslog_door", O_RDONLY) Err#24 EMFILE
> 10606: open("/etc/.syslog_door", O_RDONLY) Err#24 EMFILE
> 10606: close(1023) = 0
> 10606: close(1022) = 0
> ...
>
> The contents and owner seems ok, I think!?
>
> # cat /users/mikesch/.forward
> Mikescht-online.de, \mikesch
> # ls -l $_
> -rw-r--r-- 1 mikesch other 30 Aug 25 13:41
> /users/mikesch/.forward
>
> BTW: There is no problem sending mail to mikesch - except when mikesch is in
> a mailing list.
>
> how2goonnow?
> /Walter
>
> > On the risk of creating a quite large file:
> > Use "trace" or a similar program (depending on your platform), to trace
> > all system calls. Whenever a file is being opened, you should see the
> > corresponding "open()" call.
> > Use it like
> > trace -f -o /tmp/tracefile postfix start
> > The "trace" command might not return, as children of the "postfix start"
> > command are still running, so you might have to use another terminal
> > to issue the "postfix stop" command.
> >
> > Once you have the tracefile, check for "strange" files that are being
> > opened or a process that is opening a lot of files but does not close
> > them (files are also closed on exit).
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Lutz
> > --
> > Lutz Jaenicke Lutz.Jaenickeaet.TU-Cottbus.DE
> > BTU Cottbus http://www.aet.TU-Cottbus.DE/personen/jaenicke/
> > Lehrstuhl Allgemeine Elektrotechnik Tel. +49 355 69-4129
> > Universitaetsplatz 3-4, D-03044 Cottbus Fax. +49 355 69-4153
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>