Dave Laird
2004-09-27 13:13:15 UTC
Good morning, Netizens...
After a series of minor glitches in Mandrake Linux using the KDE Desktop
and The Kontact all-in-one mail and Usenet agent, I recently discovered
that Kontact sometimes will leave a LOCK file sitting in one of a number
of directories. In fact, what makes tracking this minor glitch down so
interesting is the variety of directories where the LOCK file may be
located.
For example, in Mandrake 10.0 (updated) for Intel processors, the temp
network files are often as not located in the user's home directory, and
I'll leave that debate open for discussion, as I am not certain that is
the best place for them or not. However, the LOCK file, which is how
Kontact prevents multiple instances for the same user, is either located
in .kde/share/apps/kontact, if you are using Mandrake defaults. However,
I have seen it in the wild in .kde/share/apps/kmail/LOCK upon several
occasions.
However, what made this so challenging recently on an AMD 64-bit Mandrake
installation was that both the LOCK files and the temporary Internet
connection links have moved from this location (above) within the last 30
days, perhaps due to the automatic updates, which have been studiously
performed. What I suspect is that one of the updates to the network
libraries has substantially altered how temporary files are stored, and
the security features which prevent them from being world-readable has
been changed.
I vaguely recall seeing a security advisory a few weeks back where systems
running 64-bit hardware were advised to upgrade to the latest security
patches, and being a good little admin-type person, I did so on the two
64-bit servers/workstations I maintain for others. However, on *both*
systems, the other day I encountered a situation where, when a proper
shutdown order was given from the command prompt (as opposed to from
within the KDE GUI, the lock files went stale, and thus the user(s) could
no longer fire off a copy of Kontact, and they received the ubiquitous
statement that they could run only *one* copy of Kontact per user.
If anyone else runs Kontact, I'd appreciate some input about the location
of the LOCK file for Kontact, regardless of what distribution you may
run. Being that it is Monday, although I filed a query with Mandrake
regarding this minor bug, I don't expect an answer much before the end of
the week, although it is a troubling little thing.
Comments or input regarding this, of course, are always appreciated.
Dave
After a series of minor glitches in Mandrake Linux using the KDE Desktop
and The Kontact all-in-one mail and Usenet agent, I recently discovered
that Kontact sometimes will leave a LOCK file sitting in one of a number
of directories. In fact, what makes tracking this minor glitch down so
interesting is the variety of directories where the LOCK file may be
located.
For example, in Mandrake 10.0 (updated) for Intel processors, the temp
network files are often as not located in the user's home directory, and
I'll leave that debate open for discussion, as I am not certain that is
the best place for them or not. However, the LOCK file, which is how
Kontact prevents multiple instances for the same user, is either located
in .kde/share/apps/kontact, if you are using Mandrake defaults. However,
I have seen it in the wild in .kde/share/apps/kmail/LOCK upon several
occasions.
However, what made this so challenging recently on an AMD 64-bit Mandrake
installation was that both the LOCK files and the temporary Internet
connection links have moved from this location (above) within the last 30
days, perhaps due to the automatic updates, which have been studiously
performed. What I suspect is that one of the updates to the network
libraries has substantially altered how temporary files are stored, and
the security features which prevent them from being world-readable has
been changed.
I vaguely recall seeing a security advisory a few weeks back where systems
running 64-bit hardware were advised to upgrade to the latest security
patches, and being a good little admin-type person, I did so on the two
64-bit servers/workstations I maintain for others. However, on *both*
systems, the other day I encountered a situation where, when a proper
shutdown order was given from the command prompt (as opposed to from
within the KDE GUI, the lock files went stale, and thus the user(s) could
no longer fire off a copy of Kontact, and they received the ubiquitous
statement that they could run only *one* copy of Kontact per user.
If anyone else runs Kontact, I'd appreciate some input about the location
of the LOCK file for Kontact, regardless of what distribution you may
run. Being that it is Monday, although I filed a query with Mandrake
regarding this minor bug, I don't expect an answer much before the end of
the week, although it is a troubling little thing.
Comments or input regarding this, of course, are always appreciated.
Dave
--
Dave Laird (***@kharma.net)
The Used Kharma Lot / The Phoenix Project
Web Page: http://www.kharma.net updated 04/02/2004
Usenet News server: news.kharma.net
An automatic & random thought For the Minute:
He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.
-- Lao Tsu
Dave Laird (***@kharma.net)
The Used Kharma Lot / The Phoenix Project
Web Page: http://www.kharma.net updated 04/02/2004
Usenet News server: news.kharma.net
An automatic & random thought For the Minute:
He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.
-- Lao Tsu