Bug#312646: kernel-source-2.4.27: kernel locks up hard when do a "grep -r <some-string> *" at root(/)

[clayton <claytonk@hotpop.com>]

Package: kernel-source-2.4.27
Version: 2.4.27-10
Severity: normal


While logged in as root, cd to /, three successive attempts to
"grep -r <some-string) *" resulted in my system being completed locked
up with no keyboard, mouse, or network response (ie. could not login
over network). Forced to remove power and reboot.

I am running with a custom kernel, would be happy to provide any other
information for debugging.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.4.27-a21m.2
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Versions of packages kernel-source-2.4.27 depends on:
ii  binutils                      2.15-6     The GNU assembler, linker and bina
ii  bzip2                         1.0.2-7    high-quality block-sorting file co
ii  coreutils [fileutils]         5.2.1-2    The GNU core utilities
ii  fileutils                     5.2.1-2    The GNU file management utilities 

-- no debconf information