"sleep" command generates hardisk activity

[Jochen Baier]

hi,

i run in a weird problem: a script which use the "sleep" command, 
generates hardisk access every x seconds. this is really annoyning cause 
i can hear the harddisk sound.
an other user reported the same behavier.

the script:

while true; do
sleep 3
done


output from "strace  sleep 3":


address@hidden:~$ strace  sleep 3
execve("/usr/bin/sleep", ["sleep", "3"], [/* 35 vars */]) = 0
uname({sys="Linux", node="box", ...})   = 0
brk(0)                                  = 0x804c000
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or 
directory)
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY)      = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=84866, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 84866, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f01000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/lib/tls/libm.so.6", O_RDONLY)    = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0P3\0\000"..., 
512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=176352, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 
0) = 0xb7f00000
mmap2(NULL, 139424, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 
0) = 0xb7edd000
mmap2(0xb7efe000, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, 
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x20) = 0xb7efe000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/lib/tls/librt.so.1", O_RDONLY)   = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\340\34"..., 
512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=34582, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 29228, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) 
= 0xb7ed5000
mmap2(0xb7edb000, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, 
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x5) = 0xb7edb000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/lib/tls/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY)    = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\300P\1"..., 
512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1366940, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 1162428, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 
0) = 0xb7db9000
mprotect(0xb7ece000, 27836, PROT_NONE)  = 0
mmap2(0xb7ecf000, 16384, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, 
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x115) = 
0xb7ecf000mmap2(0xb7ed3000, 7356, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, 
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7ed3000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/lib/tls/libpthread.so.0", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0000H\0\000"..., 
512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=87827, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 70104, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) 
= 0xb7da7000
mmap2(0xb7db5000, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, 
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0xd) = 0xb7db5000
mmap2(0xb7db7000, 4568, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, 
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7db7000
close(3)                                = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 
0) = 0xb7da6000
mprotect(0xb7ecf000, 4096, PROT_READ)   = 0
set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6, base_addr:0xb7da6a20, 
limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0, 
limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0
munmap(0xb7f01000, 84866)               = 0
set_tid_address(0xb7da6a68)             = 24219
rt_sigaction(SIGRTMIN, {0xb7dab700, [], SA_SIGINFO}, NULL, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGRT_1, {0xb7dab780, [], SA_RESTART|SA_SIGINFO}, NULL, 8) = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_UNBLOCK, [RTMIN RT_1], NULL, 8) = 0
getrlimit(RLIMIT_STACK, {rlim_cur=8192*1024, rlim_max=RLIM_INFINITY}) = 0
_sysctl({{CTL_KERN, KERN_VERSION}, 2, 0xbfe27460, 32, (nil), 0}) = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT 
(No such file or directory)
brk(0)                                  = 0x804c000
brk(0x806d000)                          = 0x806d000
open("/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2586, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 131072, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 
0) = 0xb7d86000
read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.\n#"..., 131072) = 2586
read(3, "", 131072)                     = 0
close(3)                                = 0
munmap(0xb7d86000, 131072)              = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_IDENTIFICATION", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=378, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 378, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f15000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_MEASUREMENT", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=28, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 28, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f14000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_TELEPHONE", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=64, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 64, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f13000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_ADDRESS", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=160, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 160, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f12000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_NAME", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=82, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 82, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f11000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_PAPER", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=39, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 39, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f10000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=80, ...}) = 0
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/SYS_LC_MESSAGES", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=57, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 57, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f0f000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_MONETARY", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=291, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 291, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f0e000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_TIME", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2456, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 2456, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f0d000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_NUMERIC", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=59, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 59, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f0c000
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/lib/locale/en_US/LC_CTYPE", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=178476, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 178476, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7d7a000
close(3)                                = 0
clock_gettime(0, {1135091060, 840989000}) = 0
nanosleep({3, 0}, NULL)                 = 0
exit_group(0)                           = ?


i use slackware 10.2. i tested it with the latest coreutils. even a self 
made program with uses the "sleep() or usleep()" C function show the 
same behavier.

please help, cannot sleep with this sound if the computer is running 
during night ;(
(harddisk is new)


thank you very much, jochen