Re: autoconf hangs due to autom4te.cache and NFS problem on AIX

[Chris Pickett]

Bob Proulx wrote:
> Chris Pickett wrote:
> > [[Please reply-all, I'm not subscribed.]]
> > I noticed that I couldn't delete my autom4te.cache directory:
> >
> > conftest $ ll autom4te.cache/
> > total 0
> > -rw-r--r-- 1 pickett xxx 0 Feb 23 00:27 .nfsCC131
> >
> > because of that .nfs file.  I don't really know how nfs works 
> > internally, but if I delete that file manually it just comes back.
>
> This is because of a problem known as the "NFS last close" problem.

[...useful background info...]

> You would need to find the process that has the file open and deal
> with it (probably by killing it) first.  Using tools such as 'fuser'
> and 'lsof' or their equivalents on your system can be useful here.

~/test $ rm -rf autom4te.cache
rm: cannot remove directory `autom4te.cache': File exists
~/test $ ll autom4te.cache/
total 12K
-rw-r--r-- 1 pickett xxx 12K Feb 23 10:39 .nfsD1831
~/test $ rm autom4te.cache/.nfsD1831
~/test $ ll autom4te.cache/
total 12K
-rw-r--r-- 1 pickett xxx 12K Feb 23 10:39 .nfsE1831
~/test $ fuser autom4te.cache/.nfsE1831
autom4te.cache/.nfsE1831:
~/test $ fuser autom4te.cache/
autom4te.cache/:
~/test $ fuser -d -u -V autom4te.cache/.nfsE1831
autom4te.cache/.nfsE1831:

~/test $ fuser -d -u -V autom4te.cache/
autom4te.cache/:

~/test $ lsof
-bash: lsof: command not found

I have nothing else besides login processes running.  It is possible 
that root has something, but I don't know what it is.

~/test $ ps auxww | grep root | grep nfs
root      508156  0.1  0.0 6888 6732      - A      Jan 02 555:06 nfsd
root      778472  0.0  0.0  612  616      - A      Jan 26  2:40 
./nfs_stat AIX 30
root      454720  0.0  0.0  156   20      - A      Jan 02  0:00 
/usr/sbin/nfsd 3891

> Dealing with NFS problems has been a long running problem.
>
> As a first pass I would try using a local directory instead of over
> NFS.  Then NFS problems will be removed from the environment.  Try
> building on the local disk, perhaps in /tmp or /var/tmp, and it is
> likely that you will avoid these problems.  If it works on the local
> disk but fails over nfs then it is likely to be an nfs bug.

Yes, building in /tmp works, but since I need NFS access the 
.autom4te.cfg trick is better for me.  Doesn't solve my svn problem, 
that required moving the repository somewhere a little more stable :)

Cheers,
Chris