Re: Can't Locate binfmt... something to worry about?
On Tue, 27 Feb 2001 at 09:10:27 +0100, Jonathan Gift wrote:
(Please, please don't cc me on list mail. I have over 2000 items in my
inbox, and people filling it up even more with four e-mails in a row
about the same post on the same problem just makes me less inclined to
do anything about it! I'm perfectly capable of following a thread I've
posted to.)
> Colin Watson wrote:
> > binfmt_misc isn't his problem, it's trying to execute random other files
> > for some reason, at which point the kernel constructs a module name
> > based on the first two bytes of the file and tries to modprobe it; it
> > only goes near binfmt_misc if that module has specifically registered
> > itself as knowing about the binary format in question. I haven't worked
> > out exactly what's causing it for him yet.
>
> I'm including a sample of the daemon.log. I haven't yet been able to see
> what causes it. But it usually happens once a day, but then 2 days can
> go by without anything...
>
> The only thing I can think of is that a month or so back I recompiled my
> kernel adding synthesizer suport for my SB card (op13). But in none of
> the occasions where I received the error have I been making use of any
> sound card...
>
> So, any help on what is causing this. Or how I can track down the app
> that is trying to open this non-recognized or zero length file is
> appreciated...
It's almost impossible to work out what's happening just from that log;
the errors are well separated in time from the log entries surrounding
them. Are there any applications that are failing mysteriously? Or do
you know what you were doing at the times mentioned in the logs?
If no applications are failing, I would say it isn't something to worry
about. Otherwise you'll have to look in the first couple of bytes of
executable files that might be related to the application in question
for those things.
Possible causes might be scripts that don't begin with a #! line, or old
a.out programs still lying around when you've removed support for a.out
in your kernel. The 'file' program will tell you what type a file is. If
it doesn't know, then either there's a bug in 'file' or there'll be a
problem executing that file.
> > >You can remove one entry or all entries by echoing -1 to
> > >/proc/.../the_name or /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/status."
> >
> > <plug> Try the binfmt-support package in unstable, which should make
> > things a little easier to manage. </plug> :)
>
> What is this? And will it work on my potato system or do I have to get
> souref and compile
It's nothing to do with your problem, it's a cleaner means of managing
the binfmt_misc kernel module referred to by the poster I was replying
to. That module has nothing to do with your problem either.
--
Colin Watson [cjw44@flatline.org.uk]
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