Re: Message : "ls: .: Stale NFS file handle"

[Bob Proulx]

blackwhite wrote:
> when I run the following instructions:
> address@hidden work]# cp -a lcdshow linux/
> address@hidden work]# cd linux/lcdshow
> address@hidden lcdshow]# ls
> ls: .: Stale NFS file handle
> address@hidden lcdshow]# pwd
> /mnt/disk-e/work/linux/lcdshow

Thank you for the report.  But I was unable to recreate your failure.
I tested on a Debian GNU/Linux system running a 2.4.18 kernel.
Therefore I cannot explain it very well.  But it looks unusual to me
since the commands shown don't to me seem like they should be able to
produce any problems.  And that you are trying to use FAT32 which is
part of the kernel.  There is nothing the utilities can do about that
part of the kernel interface.

In a nutshell, NFS file handles are based on inode numbers.  If the
inode number of a file changes or goes away then clients accessing
that handle will get a "Stale NFS file handle".

The 'ls' command reads the directory.  Upon errors from the kernel
system call it prints out the error message that the kernel indicated
was the problem.  Here it is indicating that . is no longer a valid
NFS file handle.

> The enviroment of my computer is redhat9.0, kernel-2.4.20-9
> in file /etc/fstab:
> /dev/hda6        /mnt/disk-e        vfat    owner        0 0
> /mnt/disk-e is FAT32 filesystem created by WindowsXP

Now this is extra strange.  Why would a FAT32 filesystem ever return
an error indicating that it was an NFS filesystem?  It may be part of
the kernel's FAT32 filesystem conversion layer which makes it appear
to the linux kernel.  You are approaching the edge of the map of the
known world and entering the darker realms.

Sorry this was not more helpful.

Bob