Bash using up system resources; makewhatis does not finish

["Sean Sowell" <sean at twin-dad dot com>]

Hello ---

Am returning to Unix/Linux after a long while under the spell of Emperor Gates
and Darth Ballmer.  But I'm stuck on two things.  Maybe they are related?

1.  In Bash, the command /usr/sbin/makewhatis does not complete - even after
thirty minutes - so I have to Ctrl-C back to a prompt.

2.  Bash itself launches alright.  It also completes the first two or three
commands that I invoke, albeit rather slowly (15 seconds or so for ls -l
/var/cache/man/whatis, with output redirected to a local text file).
Thereafter, Bash consumes +/- 70% of system resources on an ongoing basis, even
when it's not running anything.  As soon as I exit Bash and terminate
cygwin.bat, apparent system behavior returns to normal.  Relaunching Bash,
either in the same boot session or after a cold reboot, eventually results in
the same situation.

After several cold and warm reboots, and after completely reinstalling Cygwin,
this still occurs.  I have gone through a significant chunk of the Users Guide
and FAQ, but nothing appears to touch directly on these problems.

I carefully read http://cygwin.com/faq/faq0.html#SEC32 but I don't believe I
have a network share defined anywhere.  On my first install, man didn't work so
I followed the instructions at http://cygwin.com/faq/faq0.html#SEC43, and
discovered that /usr/sbin/makewhatis would not finish once launched.  After the
second installation, man works fine.  I found a 1784 byte copy of whatis in
c:\cygwin\bin.  However, postinstall must've created it; I did not.

And, /usr/sbin/makewhatis still hangs.

The most relevant archive threads seem to be at
http://sourceware.org/ml/cygwin/2003-05/msg00133.html and
http://sourceware.org/ml/cygwin/2005-03/msg00650.html.  However, neither one
resolves these problems.

My current cygcheck -svr is attached.  Munged a few things for privacy reasons,
but will provide details off-list if need be.  Nothing munged contains any
spaces.  I have also attached two jpeg screenshots of the top five active
processes per Windows Task Manager.  Bash is highlighted, and shows some systems
stats.

I have two versions of whatis in my Cygwin tree:

ls -l /var/cache/man/whatis gives
-rw-r--r--  1 Administrator None 0 Jun 23 09:22 /var/cache/man/whatis

ls -l /bin gives
...
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    1784 May  4 03:12 whatis
...

These are some other ls results that might help:

ls -ld /var/cache/man gives
drwxrwxrwx+ 2 Administrator Users 0 Jun 23 09:22 /var/cache/man

ls -l /usr/sbin gives
total 4746
drwxrwxrwx+ 4 Administrator Users       0 Jun 23 07:33 TeXmacs
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   41984 Mar  5 08:29 ab.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    4846 Mar  5 08:28 apachectl
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   24644 Mar  5 08:28 apxs
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   22528 Sep 14  2004 badblocks.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    7168 Dec 27 09:23 bigram.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   22528 Sep 14  2004 blkid.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   72192 Oct 27  2004
bonobo-activation-server.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    7168 Oct 27  2004
bonobo-activation-sysconf.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   25600 Nov 10  2002 chkconfig.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   46080 May 14 14:28 clamd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    4042 Jul 18  2002 cleanup-info
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    8704 Dec 27 09:23 code.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   24576 Jan 31 02:38 cron.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users  107008 May 25 16:39 cygserver.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users  133632 Sep 14  2004 debugfs.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    9723 Jul 18  2002 dpkg-divert
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    5100 Jul 18  2002 dpkg-statoverride
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   47616 Sep 14  2004 dumpe2fs.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users  185344 Sep 14  2004 e2fsck
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   40448 Sep 14  2004 e2image.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   80896 Sep 14  2004 e2label.exe
drwxrwxrwx+ 3 Administrator Users       0 Jun 23 01:49 emacs
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    5120 Sep 14  2004 filefrag.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   80896 Jun 23 01:48 findfs.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   12800 Dec 27 09:23 frcode.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   32768 Sep 14  2004 fsck.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users  185344 Jun 23 01:48 fsck.ext2
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users  185344 Jun 23 01:48 fsck.ext3
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    9216 Nov 23  2004 gconf-sanity-check-2.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   47616 Nov 23  2004 gconfd-2.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   14848 Sep 28  2004 gnome-keyring-ask.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   54784 Oct 27  2004 gnome-vfs-daemon.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    7168 Oct 29  2004 gnome_segv2.exe
drwxrwxrwx+ 2 Administrator Users    4096 Jun 23 01:56 gnupg
drwxrwxrwx+ 3 Administrator Users       0 Jun 23 01:56 gnuplot
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    5120 Mar  5 08:29 httpd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   46592 Apr 19 02:17 in.ftpd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   11264 Apr 19 02:17 in.rexecd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   15360 Apr 19 02:17 in.rlogind.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   13312 Apr 19 02:17 in.rshd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   13312 Apr 19 02:17 in.talkd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   66048 Apr 19 02:17 in.telnetd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   10752 Apr 19 02:17 in.tftpd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    9728 Apr 19 02:17 in.uucpd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   24576 Apr 19 02:16 inetd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   13373 Jul 18  2002 install-info
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   24576 Nov 15  2002 itox.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    7680 Mar  5 08:29 logresolve.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    7168 Sep 14  2004 logsave.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   11257 May  4 03:12 makewhatis
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   88064 Sep 14  2004 mke2fs.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   88064 Jun 23 01:48 mkfs.ext2.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   88064 Jun 23 01:48 mkfs.ext3.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   48128 Apr 29 12:29 mkfs.jffs2.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    6144 Sep 14  2004 mklost+found.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   34304 Mar 10 13:33 portmap.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   61440 Sep 14  2004 resize2fs.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   17408 Nov 10  2003 rmt.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    7168 Mar  5 08:29 rotatelogs.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   73216 Apr  6 14:55 rpc.mountd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   85504 Apr  6 14:55 rpc.nfsd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   33792 Apr  6 14:55 rpc.ugidd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   35840 Mar 10 13:33 rpcinfo.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    4608 Jun 26  2002 safe_finger.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   59904 Oct 13  2004 saslauthd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   12800 Oct 13  2004 sasldblistusers2.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    9216 Oct 13  2004 saslpasswd2.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   32768 May 26 08:53 sftp-server.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   29184 Apr  6 14:55 showmount.exe
lrwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users      19 Jun 23 06:59 slapadd.exe ->
/usr/sbin/slapd.exe
lrwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users      19 Jun 23 06:59 slapcat.exe ->
/usr/sbin/slapd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users 1027072 May  4 04:04 slapd.exe
lrwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users      19 Jun 23 06:59 slapdn.exe ->
/usr/sbin/slapd.exe
lrwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users      19 Jun 23 06:59 slapindex.exe ->
/usr/sbin/slapd.exe
lrwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users      19 Jun 23 06:59 slappasswd.exe ->
/usr/sbin/slapd.exe
lrwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users      19 Jun 23 06:59 slaptest.exe ->
/usr/sbin/slapd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   62976 May  4 04:04 slurpd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users  140800 May 26 08:53 ssh-keysign.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users  288256 May 26 08:53 sshd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   19968 Aug 27  2004 ssmtp.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    9216 Jan 12 16:08 strfile.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   61952 Jun 26  2003 stunnel.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   20480 Apr 19 02:17 syslogd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   13312 Jun 26  2002 tcpd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   18944 Jun 26  2002 tcpdchk.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   24064 Jun 26  2002 tcpdmatch.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    9216 Jun 26  2002 try-from.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   80896 Jun 23 01:48 tune2fs.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    6915 May  3 15:50 tzselect
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    6656 Jan 12 16:08 unstr.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   21354 Jul 18  2002 update-alternatives
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users    3185 Nov 15  2002 xconv.pl
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users  140800 Nov 15  2002 xinetd.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   24064 May  3 15:50 zdump.exe
-rwxrwxrwx  1 Administrator Users   45568 May  3 15:50 zic.exe

My cygwin.bat file contains:

@echo off

C:
chdir C:\cygwin\bin

bash --login -i

Finally, as a possible workaround, I did read in the FAQ about rxvt being a
'better' console than Bash (see http://cygwin.com/faq/faq0.html#SEC65).  So I
tried to launch rxvt from the Start Menu shortcut that postinstall created.
Problem is, it won't go.  The Target string is
C:\cygwin\usr\X11R6\bin\run.exe -p /usr/X11R6/bin rxvt -display 127.0.0.1:0.0,
starting in C:\cygwin\bin, with no shortcut key, as a normal window.  It just
fails to launch, for reasons unknown.

If I can't get Bash to run smoothly, maybe rxvt would fit the bill.  Either way,
I need some assistance getting things up and running.

Many thanks in advance,

Sean Sowell
www.twin-dad.com

Attachment: 20050623-1414-cygcheck-svr-[munged].txt
Description: Text document

Attachment: 20050623-1429-top-5-processes-part1.jpg
Description: JPEG image

Attachment: 20050623-1429-top-5-processes-part2.jpg
Description: JPEG image

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