Subject: Warning at Startup

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 15:12:58 -0500

Hello,
I recently installed version 1.5pre3 and it seems to be working OK. However,
when I boot up my machine (Red Hat 7.0) I get an warning (perhaps error)
"kmem-grow: called nonatomically from init - size -32"
this message appears multiple times and finally I get the [OK] and then
everything appears to be working fine?

any idea what this is, and should i be worried?

-Steve

---

From: Basil Hussain <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 09:52:21 +0000

Hi,

> everything appears to be working fine?

I have experienced just the same thing. I bet you're running kernel
2.2.16-22 - if so, the blame lies solely at the feet of the AppleTalk kernel
module (AppleTalk.o), which contains a slight programming mistake. It's
nothing to do with Netatalk.

If you read the bug report I filed with RedHat, it'll explain further:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=25379

In particular, check the link to the kernel development mailing list thread.
That shows the precise problem (and a patch). RedHat have recently brought
out a new kernel package (2.2.17) that may solve the problem, but no-one
there has confirmed this to me yet.

> any idea what this is, and should i be worried?

I wouldn't worry about it. My servers have been running with this warning
for over a month now, with no adverse effects. No crashes, hangups, etc. -
nothing.

Regards,

------------------------------------------------
Basil Hussain ([email-masked])

---

From: Bob Rogers <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 11:03:51 -0500

From: Basil Hussain <[email-masked]>
   Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 09:52:21 +0000

I didn't see this "kmem-grow: called nonatomically" thing when I
installed the Red Hat 2.2.17 upgrade recently.  But then, I never saw it
on 2.2.16 (but I was running 2.2.16-3, so that may have been before the
bug was introduced).

					-- Bob Rogers

---

From: Basil Hussain <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 17:35:38 +0000

Hi,

> on 2.2.16 (but I was running 2.2.16-3, so that may have been before the

Could you test to confirm this? If you can find a convenient moment to
perform the procedure in my bug report to check (see URL below), that'd be a
great help!

Basically, just stop Netatalk, remove the AppleTalk module from the kernel,
re-insert it and re-start Netatalk. The warning only occurs upon loading of
the kernel module, y'see.

BTW, have you experienced any troubles at all with the 2.2.17 kernel? I want
to upgrade my servers if it cures the small Netatalk problem, but I'm
slightly suspicious as to it's quality - aren't odd-numbered kernel releases
supposed to be testing releases? Or is it just the secondary version number?

Regards,

---

From: Bob Rogers <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 13:06:06 -0500

From: Basil Hussain <[email-masked]>
   Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 17:35:38 +0000

   Hi,

Just tried it; it comes back up without the error.  (Though if loading
the module is all that is necessary to trigger this, then rebooting
after the kernel upgrade should have been a sufficient test.)

Just the second number; the third number is to distinguish different
2.2.x (or whatever) releases, and just defines the sequence.

					-- Bob

---

From: Sak Wathanasin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 18:28:09 +0000

In reply to Bob Rogers's message of the 21/02/2001 at 13:06 -0500,

>2.2.x (or whatever) releases, and just defines the sequence.

Besides, 2.2.18 has been out for a while...
-- 
Sak Wathanasin
Network Analysis Limited
178 Wainbody Ave South, Coventry CV3 6BX, UK

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