Re: LYNX-DEV /dev/null and the CERT bug

[Jim Dennis]

> On 1997-06-27T09:31:51,
>    H E Nelson <address@hidden> said:
> 
>>> you have tested the CERT bug with Lynx on your system, be sure to 
>>> check that /dev/null is correct and functional.
>> What is a "correct and functional" /dev/null, and how do you check to 
>> see that it is?  What exactly did the test of the CERT bug do to 
>> /dev/null?
> 
> You dump some gigabytes into it, and if it gets full, call the janitor.
> 
> (/dev/null should not be a regular file because the fs it is on would most
>  likely fill up real quick, also all kinds of programs start breaking,
>  'cause they MMAP /dev/null)

        This reminds me of a comment by a sys admin friend -- she
        found an alarming number of workstations at her new site that
        had huge /dev/rmt8 files on them.  Apparently many people would
        mis-type a tar command and never realize why there was no
        error and never realize where their bits went.

        (Note: on many systems /dev/rmt* are the magnetic tape device
         nodes -- 'tar' originally was short for "tape archive" and 
         many versions of it (most) default to using a system specific
         tape drive -- the name of which depends on your unix).
 
--
Jim Dennis,                                address@hidden
Proprietor,                          address@hidden
Starshine Technical Services              http://www.starshine.org

        PGP  1024/2ABF03B1 Jim Dennis <address@hidden>
        Key fingerprint =  2524E3FEF0922A84  A27BDEDB38EBB95A 
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