Re: init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32 error

Re: init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32 error

[Christian Koessel]

In the meantime I took a look at the cygwin sources and I found the
reason for the error:

On Sep 09 2001 the etc_changed()-function was added to cygheap.cc. Its
purpose is to detect a change to the group or passwd files while cygwin
is running and it seems to be called every time when rights have to be
checked. This is achieved by using the Win32
FindFirstChangeNotification() method which monitors a directory (here
/etc) for changes. The function is called with the
FILE_NOTIFY_CHANGE_LAST_WRITE option.
The problem is that this function does not work on drives with a non
NTFS file system and returns INVALID_HANDLE. This leads to the error
message 'init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32
error 2'. After this the function returns 0, which means that there was
no change to /etc.

So the only thing that goes wrong is that you always get that error
message and that changes to /etc are not detected while cygwin is
running.
A possibility to fix the problem could be to use GetVolumeInformation()
to retrieve information about the file system when /etc is mounted and
to maintain a flag which tells if directory change notifications are
supported or not.

I will try to build my own personal patch of the cygwin1.dll which the
error message just commented out...

Regards,

Christian Koessel

Gmuender ErsatzKasse GEK
Abteilung Information und Kommunikation
Gottlieb-Daimler-Str. 19
D-73529 Schwaebisch Gmuend

E-Mail: christian.koessel@gek.de
Internet: http://www.gek.de

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Re: init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32 error

[Christopher Faylor]

On Tue, Sep 17, 2002 at 10:22:07AM +0200, Christian Koessel wrote:
>In the meantime I took a look at the cygwin sources and I found the
>reason for the error:
>
>On Sep 09 2001 the etc_changed()-function was added to cygheap.cc. Its
>purpose is to detect a change to the group or passwd files while cygwin
>is running and it seems to be called every time when rights have to be
>checked. This is achieved by using the Win32
>FindFirstChangeNotification() method which monitors a directory (here
>/etc) for changes. The function is called with the
>FILE_NOTIFY_CHANGE_LAST_WRITE option.
>The problem is that this function does not work on drives with a non
>NTFS file system and returns INVALID_HANDLE. This leads to the error
>message 'init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32
>error 2'. After this the function returns 0, which means that there was
>no change to /etc.

The function works on non-NTFS filesystems.  You, yourself, noted that
it works on directories exported from a Samba server.  It also works on
Windows 9x which doesn't natively understand NTFS filesystems.

It apparently doesn't work on a Novell netware drive.  That's been noted
repeatedly here.  It sounds like a netware bug to me.

cgf
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Re: init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32 error

[Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)]

At 09:10 PM 10/30/2002, Christopher Faylor wrote:
>On Wed, Oct 30, 2002 at 06:19:37PM -0500, lhall@pop.ma.ultranet.com wrote:
> >Sounds like there was more to this thread but I can't find it.
>
>The message that is being replied to is more than a month old and the
>mailing list archive seems to be screwed up again.
>
>It's the standard "patches gratefully accepted" scenario, though.



Ah, OK.  I thought it sounded somewhat familiar but wanted to review
the thread given the rather stern comment.    Seems Dennis was overstating
the status-quo a bit.

Thanks,



Larry Hall                              lhall@rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
838 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX


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Re: init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32 error

[Christopher Faylor]

On Wed, Oct 30, 2002 at 06:19:37PM -0500, lhall@pop.ma.ultranet.com wrote:
>Sounds like there was more to this thread but I can't find it.

The message that is being replied to is more than a month old and the
mailing list archive seems to be screwed up again.

It's the standard "patches gratefully accepted" scenario, though.

cgf

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Re: init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32 error

[lhall]

Sounds like there was more to this thread but I can't find it.
Anyway, I'm not sure where you got the idea that no one will be
fixing any issue in this regard.  Certainly if no one is going 
to fix the issue, no one is going to make a temporary fix. ;-)
Perhaps others aren't seeing the problem you're seeing.  Did 
the email thread of this issue contain any information about 
the details of the problem you saw?  Is this something that you're
willing to spend some time tracking down?  Sorry if I'm rehashing
things.  Perhaps a pointer to the start of this thread is all that's
needed.

Larry


Original Message:
-----------------
From: Dennis Heimbigner dennis@cs.colorado.edu
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 15:27:50 -0700
To: cygwin@cygwin.com
Subject: Re: init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32
error


The following does not appear to be correct.  I use Win98
and it has occurred since 1.13.6 when I am doing a normal
install into d:\tools\cygwin13 (a FAT32 file system).

It appears that no one is willing to actually
solve this problem.
Can we do a temporary fix by including a test for some
environment variable or something so that the error
gets suppressed?

> The function works on non-NTFS filesystems.  You, yourself, noted that
> it works on directories exported from a Samba server.  It also works on
> Windows 9x which doesn't natively understand NTFS filesystems.
> 
> It apparently doesn't work on a Novell netware drive.  That's been noted
> repeatedly here.  It sounds like a netware bug to me.
> 
> cgf
> 



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Re: init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32 error

[Dennis Heimbigner]

The following does not appear to be correct.  I use Win98
and it has occurred since 1.13.6 when I am doing a normal
install into d:\tools\cygwin13 (a FAT32 file system).

It appears that no one is willing to actually
solve this problem.
Can we do a temporary fix by including a test for some
environment variable or something so that the error
gets suppressed?

> The function works on non-NTFS filesystems.  You, yourself, noted that
> it works on directories exported from a Samba server.  It also works on
> Windows 9x which doesn't natively understand NTFS filesystems.
> 
> It apparently doesn't work on a Novell netware drive.  That's been noted
> repeatedly here.  It sounds like a netware bug to me.
> 
> cgf
> 



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init_cygheap::etc_changed: Can't open /etc for checking, Win32 error

[Christian Koessel]

Hello,

I had the often mentioned problem with the init_cygheap::etc_changed
error when I moved my cygwin installation from my local NT 4 drive to a
Novell netware drive. I experimented a little bit and the problem is
definitely caused by the netware drive. As soon as I'm mounting /etc on
a netware drive the error occurs. Mounting /etc on a NT/W2K server (or
Samba server) works fine.

I guess the /etc directory with the group and passwd file needs to be
opened with special access rights or methods which are not available on
netware drives (at least for normal users). Switching off NT security
(CYGWIN=nontsec) doesn't help.

My goal is to make cygwin available to all NT users in the network
without the need to install it on every machine. The only thing that has
to be done before the first use is to mount /, /usr/bin, /usr/lib (and
/etc on a non netware drive). This can be done by importing the
appropriate registry keys under HKLM/Software/Cygnus Solutions/Cygwin
with regedit.exe.

Regards,

Christian Koessel

Gmuender ErsatzKasse GEK
Abteilung Information und Kommunikation
Gottlieb-Daimler-Str. 19
D-73529 Schwaebisch Gmuend

E-Mail: christian.koessel@gek.de
Internet: http://www.gek.de

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