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Conference turris::digital_unix

Title:	DIGITAL UNIX(FORMERLY KNOWN AS DEC OSF/1)
Notice:	Welcome to the Digital UNIX Conference
Moderator:	SMURF::DENHAM

Created:	Thu Mar 16 1995
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	10068
Total number of notes:	35879

9216.0. "Too many levels of symbolic links" by PERFOM::HENNING () Tue Mar 18 1997 17:43

What have I done wrong?
    
    rlogin prf04
    Password:
    Login incorrect
    login: john
    Password:
    Can't open /var/adm/lastlog
    Digital UNIX V4.0B  (Rev. 564); Tue Mar 18 16:16:37 EST 1997
    
    The installation software has successfully installed your system.
    
    There are logfiles that contain a record of your installation.
    These are:
    
            /var/adm/smlogs/install.cdf     - configuration description file
            /var/adm/smlogs/install.log     - general log file
            /var/adm/smlogs/install.FS.log  - file system creation logs
            /var/adm/smlogs/setld.log       - log for the setld(8) utility
            /var/adm/smlogs/fverify.log     - verification log file
    
    
    login: no shell: Too many levels of symbolic links.
    rlogin: connection closed.
    (2) perf.zko.dec.com:henning...
    
This is a freshly-installed Rawhide with serial console.  

A still-logged in window was giving the same message (Too many levels of
symbolic links) on vi, vipw, and ex.  

The first symptom that I recall which seemed odd was that 

	zcat mumble.tar.Z | tar xvf -

failed - I think it said it couldn't find tar.  "whereis tar" said it was
in sbin, but

	zcat mumble.tar.Z | /sbin/tar xvf -

also couldn't find tar.  Uncompress followed by tar worked fine.

Unfortunately I don't have to offending system in front of me right now,
but that's some of what I can recall.

Oh yes.  The system disk is on an HS-something controller which has it as a 
stripe set.  The install procedure appears to have configured the disk
as a fairly small / partition, a 128mb b partition, and the remaining space
(12GB?) as the g partition.

This is ufs.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
9216.1		VAXCPU::michaud	Jeff Michaud - ObjectBroker	`Tue Mar 18 1997 18:04`	12
	> What have I done wrong? > login: no shell: Too many levels of symbolic links. > rlogin: connection closed. sounds like you have an infinite loop using symbolic links (for example, "link -s foo foo" will create an infinite loop). In your case it's probably with your directory structure. To find the problem look at your passwd file entry for the user you are trying to login as note the full filename of the shell. Then following each directory level one by one until you find where the loop starts.
9216.2	anyone heard this problem before?	PERFOM::HENNING		`Tue Mar 18 1997 18:21`	4
	thanks Jeff - did try some basics like that, nothing obvious yet... I was hoping someone would recognize this evil situation that I seem to have painted myself into. Ring any bells, anyone?
9216.3	/bin vs. /usr/bin/ ?	RHETT::PARKER		`Wed Mar 19 1997 09:29`	36
	/bin should be a sym link to /usr/bin and tar is normally found there. Maybe /usr/bin is a link to /bin or something else? If you can get down to single-user mode, which you should be able to, I'd check / and /usr to make sure the sym links are ok... Here is what mine are: In / : lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 7 Dec 22 1997 bin -> usr/bin lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 7 Dec 22 1997 lib -> usr/lib lrwxr-xr-x 1 root system 7 Dec 22 1997 var -> usr/var In /usr (if /var is NOT a seperate file system) : lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 10 Dec 22 1997 adm -> ../var/adm lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 10 Dec 22 1997 tmp -> ../var/tmp lrwxrwxrwx 1 root system 5 Dec 22 1997 ucb -> ./bin Are interesting ones - is ucb in the search path? The default path for sh is : PATH=$HOME/bin:${PATH:-/usr/bin:.} I would try to recreate the problem myself but I'd rather not! :-) Hth, Lee
9216.4	Did I break it myself? but how? & how do I fix it?	PERFOM::HENNING		`Wed Mar 19 1997 09:52`	354
	.0 was done over a dial-up line. I'm back at work now, and fortunately my windows on this system survived the night. Here's a bit more detail. This is the current state of /etc/passwd # cat passwd root:b7jvN7ETrGBVQ:0:1:system PRIVILEGED account:/:/bin/csh nobody:Nologin:65534:65534:anonymous NFS user:/: nobodyV:Nologin:60001:60001:anonymous SystemV.4 NFS user:/: daemon::1:1:system background account:/: bin::3:4:system librarian account:/bin: uucp:Nologin:4:2:UNIX-to-UNIX Copy:/usr/spool/uucppublic:/usr/lib/uucp/uucico uucpa:Nologin:4:2:uucp adminstrative account:/usr/lib/uucp: auth::6:11:Authentication Subsystem:/tcb/bin: cron::7:14:Cron Subsystem:/usr/adm/cron: lp::8:12:Line Printer Subsystem:/users/lp: tcb::9:18:Trusted Computing Base:/tcb: adm::10:19:Administration Subsystem:/usr/adm: ris:Nologin:11:21:Remote Installation Services Account:/usr/adm/ris:/bin/sh wnn:Nologin:12:1:Wnn System Account:/tmp:/bin/sh john:p0sq5c1031x.U:13:15:johnh:/usr/users/john:/bin/csh And the priv'd window is still misbehaving this morning: # pwd / # cd etc # ex fstab "/var/tmp" Too many levels of symbolic links # vi fstab "/var/tmp" Too many levels of symbolic links # vipw "/var/tmp" Too many levels of symbolic links # more /var/adm/messages /var/adm/messages: Too many levels of symbolic links # tail /var/adm/messages /var/adm/messages: Too many levels of symbolic links # whereis tail tail: /usr/bin/tail # /usr/bin/tail /var/adm/messages /var/adm/messages: Too many levels of symbolic links But cat gives a slightly different message: # cat /var/adm/messages cat: cannot open /var/adm/messages Walking down the directory tree looks like this.... # cd / # ls -ld var lrwxr-xr-x 1 root system 7 Mar 18 15:39 var -> usr/var Now the link for var is no different from what I see on a normally functioning unix system: dstant.zko.dec.com> ls -ld var lrwxr-xr-x 1 root system 7 Jan 9 16:54 var -> usr/var By doing it one step at a time, I can get to messages and cat it: # cd var # ls -ld adm drwxr-xr-x 10 adm adm 512 Mar 18 16:19 adm # cd adm # ls -ld messages -rw-r----- 1 root adm 4718 Mar 18 16:23 messages # cat messages Mar 18 16:18:53 prf04 vmunix: Alpha boot: available memory from 0xb8a000 to 0x17 ffe000 Mar 18 16:18:53 prf04 vmunix: Digital UNIX V4.0B (Rev. 564); Tue Mar 18 16:16:3 7 EST 1997 Mar 18 16:18:53 prf04 vmunix: physical memory = 384.00 megabytes. Mar 18 16:18:53 prf04 vmunix: available memory = 372.45 megabytes. Mar 18 16:18:53 prf04 vmunix: using 1466 buffers containing 11.45 megabytes of m emory Mar 18 16:18:53 prf04 vmunix: Master cpu at slot 0. Mar 18 16:18:53 prf04 vmunix: Firmware revision: 3.0 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: PALcode: Digital-UNIX/OSF version 1.21 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: AlphaServer 4X00 5/400 4MB Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: pci1 at mcbus0 slot 5 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: psiop0 at pci1 slot 1 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: Loading SIOP: script c0000d00, reg 4222000, data c 000ccf0 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: scsi0 at psiop0 slot 0 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rz5 at scsi0 target 5 lun 0 (LID=0) (DEC RRD45 (C) DEC 1645) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: pza0 at pci1 slot 2 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: pza0 firmware version: DEC L01 A10 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: scsi1 at pza0 slot 0 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: pza1 at pci1 slot 3 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: pza1 firmware version: DEC L01 A10 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: scsi2 at pza1 slot 0 Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rz18 at scsi2 target 2 lun 0 (LID=1) (DEC HSZ4 0 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rzb18 at scsi2 target 2 lun 1 (LID=2) (DEC HSZ 40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rzc18 at scsi2 target 2 lun 2 (LID=3) (DEC HSZ 40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rzd18 at scsi2 target 2 lun 3 (LID=4) (DEC HSZ 40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rze18 at scsi2 target 2 lun 4 (LID=5) (DEC HSZ 40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rzf18 at scsi2 target 2 lun 5 (LID=6) (DEC HSZ 40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rzg18 at scsi2 target 2 lun 6 (LID=7) (DEC HSZ 40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rz19 at scsi2 target 3 lun 0 (LID=9) (DEC HSZ4 0 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rzb19 at scsi2 target 3 lun 1 (LID=10) (DEC HS Z40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rzc19 at scsi2 target 3 lun 2 (LID=11) (DEC HS Z40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:54 prf04 vmunix: rzd19 at scsi2 target 3 lun 3 (LID=12) (DEC HS Z40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: rze19 at scsi2 target 3 lun 4 (LID=13) (DEC HS Z40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: rzf19 at scsi2 target 3 lun 5 (LID=14) (DEC HS Z40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: rzg19 at scsi2 target 3 lun 6 (LID=15) (DEC HS Z40 V27Z) (Wide16) Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: gpc0 at eisa0 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: pci0 at mcbus0 slot 4 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: eisa0 at pci0 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: ace0 at eisa0 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: ace1 at eisa0 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: lp0 at eisa0 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: fdi0 at eisa0 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: fd0 at fdi0 unit 0 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: tu0: DECchip 21040-AA: Revision: 2.4 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: tu0 at pci0 slot 2 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: tu0: DEC TULIP Ethernet Interface, hardware addres s: 00-00-F8-21-73-3D Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: tu0: console mode: selecting 10Base2 (BNC) port Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: pza2 at pci0 slot 3 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: pza2 firmware version: DEC L01 A10 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: scsi3 at pza2 slot 0 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: pza3 at pci0 slot 4 Mar 18 16:18:55 prf04 vmunix: pza3 firmware version: DEC F01 A10 Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: scsi4 at pza3 slot 0 Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: pza4 at pci0 slot 5 Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: pza4 firmware version: DEC N01 A10 Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: scsi5 at pza4 slot 0 Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: No FRU table entry found in console-rpb Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: --Not creating a FRU table errorlog packet Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: kernel console: ace0 Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: dli: configured Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: Starting secondary cpu 1 Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: Starting secondary cpu 2 Mar 18 16:18:56 prf04 vmunix: Starting secondary cpu 3 Mar 18 16:19:17 prf04 vmunix: Can't find an OSF-BASE, UNIX-WORKSTATION, or UNIX- SERVER license PAK Mar 18 16:21:16 prf04 vmunix: Can't find an OSF-BASE, UNIX-WORKSTATION, or UNIX- SERVER license PAK Mar 18 16:23:30 prf04 vmunix: Can't find an OSF-BASE, UNIX-WORKSTATION, or UNIX- SERVER license PAK There doesn't seem to be anything unusual in install.log: # cd smlogs # cat install.log Creating the root file system on device rz18a * * Creating the usr file system on device rz18g * * Creating the swap1 file system on device rz18b * * Loading the operating system software subsets * The installation procedure will now load the software on your disk partitions. This process will take from 45 to 120 minutes to complete depending on your distribution media and processor type. Checking file system space required to install specified subsets: File system space checked OK. 33 subset(s) will be installed. Loading 1 of 33 subset(s).... Base System Copying from /ALPHA/BASE (disk) Working....Tue Mar 18 15:40:46 EST 1997 Working....Tue Mar 18 15:42:47 EST 1997 Verifying Loading 2 of 33 subset(s).... . . . Loading 33 of 33 subset(s).... Ref Pages: Programming Copying from /ALPHA/BASE (disk) Working....Tue Mar 18 16:00:00 EST 1997 Verifying 33 of 33 subset(s) installed successfully. Install start: Tue Mar 18 15:31:58 EST 1997 Install finish: Tue Mar 18 16:01:40 EST 1997 Here's the disk structure: # df -k Filesystem 1024-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on /dev/rz18a 63311 45613 11366 81% / /proc 0 0 0 100% /proc /dev/rz18g 11992287 363868 10429190 4% /usr # cd /dev # ls rz* rz18a rz19e rzb18a rzb19e rzc19a rzd18e rze18a rze19e rzf19a rzg18e rz18b rz19f rzb18b rzb19f rzc19b rzd18f rze18b rze19f rzf19b rzg18f rz18c rz19g rzb18c rzb19g rzc19c rzd18g rze18c rze19g rzf19c rzg18g rz18d rz19h rzb18d rzb19h rzc19d rzd18h rze18d rze19h rzf19d rzg18h rz18e rz5a rzb18e rzc18a rzc19e rzd19a rze18e rzf18a rzf19e rzg19a rz18f rz5b rzb18f rzc18b rzc19f rzd19b rze18f rzf18b rzf19f rzg19b rz18g rz5c rzb18g rzc18c rzc19g rzd19c rze18g rzf18c rzf19g rzg19c rz18h rz5d rzb18h rzc18d rzc19h rzd19d rze18h rzf18d rzf19h rzg19d rz19a rz5e rzb19a rzc18e rzd18a rzd19e rze19a rzf18e rzg18a rzg19e rz19b rz5f rzb19b rzc18f rzd18b rzd19f rze19b rzf18f rzg18b rzg19f rz19c rz5g rzb19c rzc18g rzd18c rzd19g rze19c rzf18g rzg18c rzg19g rz19d rz5h rzb19d rzc18h rzd18d rzd19h rze19d rzf18h rzg18d rzg19h Now I should mention that the unusual behavior started AFTER I tried to add another swap partition. Here's some of what I had done (cut/paste from windows that also survived the night). First, I tried to add a swap partition on h, but that didn't work because apparently h was not created: # vi /etc/fstab "/etc/fstab" 4 lines, 113 characters /dev/rz18a / ufs rw 1 1 /proc /proc procfs rw 0 0 /dev/rz18g /usr ufs rw 1 2 /dev/rz18b swap1 ufs sw 0 2 /dev/rz18h swap2 ufs sw 0 2 # swapon -a swapon: /dev/rz18h: No space left on device # swapon -s Swap partition /dev/rz18b (default swap): Allocated space: 16384 pages (128MB) In-use space: 1 pages ( 0%) Free space: 16383 pages ( 99%) So I tried to disklabel the other disk but the manpage wasn't available. I also tried to display the label on the system disk - I thought I remembered that -r would just display the existing label, but was that incorrect? # man disklabel /usr/lib/terminfo/.: No such file or directory # disklabel -r rz19 Disk is unlabeled or, /dev/rrz19a does not start at block 0 of the disk # disklabel -r rz18 # /dev/rrz18a: type: SCSI disk: HSZ40 label: flags: dynamic_geometry bytes/sector: 512 sectors/track: 113 tracks/cylinder: 20 sectors/cylinder: 2260 cylinders: 11121 sectors/unit: 25134084 rpm: 3600 interleave: 1 trackskew: 7 cylinderskew: 26 headswitch: 0 # milliseconds track-to-track seek: 0 # milliseconds drivedata: 0 8 partitions: # size offset fstype [fsize bsize cpg] a: 131072 0 4.2BSD 1024 8192 16 # (Cyl. 0 - 57) b: 262144 131072 swap # (Cyl. 57- 173) c: 25134084 0 unused 0 0 # (Cyl. 0 - 11121) d: 0 0 unused 0 0 # (Cyl. 0 - -1) e: 0 0 unused 0 0 # (Cyl. 0 - -1) f: 0 0 unused 0 0 # (Cyl. 0 - -1) g: 24740868 393216 4.2BSD 1024 8192 16 # (Cyl. 173- 11121) h: 0 0 swap # (Cyl. 0 - -1) # # disklabel -rw rz19 HSZ40 HSZ40: unknown disk type So I gave up on disklabelling for now and decided to try to live with only a 128 MB swap partition. I left root and did an ftp -which worked - but it was at the zcat where things began to seem wierd: prf04.zko.dec.com> zcat ~/spec95_v1.13/pexeZ \| tar xvf - No match. tar: Command not found. prf04.zko.dec.com> whereis tar tar: /sbin/tar /usr/bin/tar prf04.zko.dec.com> /sbin/tar tar: you must specify exactly one of the c, t, r, u or x options (etc) prf04.zko.dec.com> prf04.zko.dec.com> zcat ~/spec95_v1.13/pexeZ \| /sbin/tar xvf - /sbin/tar: Command not found. prf04.zko.dec.com> cp ~/spec95_v1.13/pexZ . prf04.zko.dec.com> ls 101.tomcatv 104.hydro2d 125.turb3d 146.wave5 102.swim 107.mgrid 141.apsi bench.lst 103.su2cor 110.applu 145.fpppp pexes_18mar.tar.Z prf04.zko.dec.com> uncompress Z prf04.zko.dec.com> ls 101.tomcatv 104.hydro2d 125.turb3d 146.wave5 102.swim 107.mgrid 141.apsi bench.lst 103.su2cor 110.applu 145.fpppp pexes_18mar.tar prf04.zko.dec.com> tar xvf pexes_18mar.tar blocksize = 256 x applu.pexe, 360448 bytes, 704 tape blocks x hydro2d.pexe, 196608 bytes, 384 tape blocks x mgrid.pexe, 81920 bytes, 160 tape blocks x su2cor.pexe, 245760 bytes, 480 tape blocks x swim.pexe, 81920 bytes, 160 tape blocks x tomcatv.pexe, 49152 bytes, 96 tape blocks x turb3d.pexe, 106496 bytes, 208 tape blocks x wave5.pexe, 663552 bytes, 1296 tape blocks And then right after this I tried to become superuser again and first ran into the really strange behavior: prf04.zko.dec.com> cd .. prf04.zko.dec.com> su Password: No shell prf04.zko.dec.com> su Password: No shell prf04.zko.dec.com> su -f Password: No shell prf04.zko.dec.com> ls /bin/csh /bin/csh not found So did I break it by trying to use h as the swap partition? Or by the disklabel -r ? Or by trying to switch to the C shell (this has always worked before...)??
9216.5		PERFOM::HENNING		`Wed Mar 19 1997 09:53`	9
	re: .3 # sh # echo $PATH /sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11 # csh # echo $PATH /sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11
9216.6		COL01::LINNARTZ		`Mon Mar 24 1997 09:40`	14
	due to the ex/vi/... problems, I would check all where all /tmp links points to. as an aid, I use truss or trace like trace [-o tt] /sbin/ls -l /usr/var and grep for readlink syscall as to other, a fverify on the installed modules would make me feel safer, as the subset uses something like cat <kit> \| uncompress -d \| tar xvf - and if tar doesn't work right, I wouldn't be sure if I could trust the installation Pit