NFS client screwy directories.

[Douglas Eck <doug@idsia.ch>]

I am running debian sid. I am on a network with my homedirectory
served via NFS by a Dell intel box (note, not IRIX) running Redhat 7.1.

Under kernels 2.4.14 [patched with sourceforge NFS patch linux-2.4.14-seekdir.dif]
and also with unpatched 2.4.7 I have problems with screwed up file
reading and writing under nfs. Here's what happens:

If I create a large number of files very quickly... for example
by untarring an archive or running a fast script over a directory
mounted via NFS, the ls command cannot find the files recently written to:

in tcsh I see this:

tcsh>ls
ls: a.txt: No such file or directory
ls: b.txt: No such file or directory
ls: c.txt: No such file or directory
tcsh>ls *.txt
ls: No match.

In bash the behavior is different but similar

bash>ls
a.txt
b.txt
c.txt
bash>ls *.txt
ls: a.txt: No such file or directory
ls: b.txt: No such file or directory
ls: b.txt: No such file or directory

Those tests come from this kernel:
Linux version 2.4.14 (root@ruchetta) (gcc version 2.95.4 20011006 (Debian prerelease)) #1 Thu Nov 15 12:48:08 CET 2001
with this /proc/mount line:
timo:/idsia/home /home nfs rw,v2,rsize=4096,wsize=4096,acregmin=0,acregmax=0,acdirmin=0,acdirmax=0,hard,udp,lock,addr=timo 0 0

No files are corrupted in the end: If I umount and mount the partition, the files are
in place and are ok. But this problem is beginning to drive me nuts. Any suggestions?
It's especially weird that the patch from NFS sourceforge didn't work.

Regards,
Doug
--
Dr. Douglas Eck, http://www.idsia.ch/~doug
Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull'Intelligenza Artificiale (IDSIA)
Neural Networks, Rhythm Perception and Production, Dynamical Systems