Bug#388815: linux-2.6: [sparc] /proc/fb cannot be read in some cases

[Frans Pop <aragorn@tiscali.nl>]

Package: linux-2.6
Version: 2.6.17-9
Severity: normal

$ cat /proc/fb
0 ATY Mach64
$ od -cx /proc/fb
0000000   0       A   T   Y       M   a   c   h   6   4  \n  \0
        3020 4154 5920 4d61 6368 3634 0a00
0000015

So /proc/fb actually does contain data, but:
$ grep "ATY" /proc/fb
$ echo $?
1
$ echo "$(cat /proc/fb)" # returns empty line

$ echo "$(< /proc/fb)"   # does work...
0 ATY Mach64

I discussed this on #debian-devel and the opinions were this is either a
kernel or a libc bug, with the kernel being the most likely.

Note that the same commands on i386 and powerpc _do_ work.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: sparc (sparc64)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.17-2-sparc64
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)