Re: Socket operation on non-socket with rsync/ssh

[Pablo Halpern <phalpern at halpernwightsoftware dot com>]

Larry Hall <lh-no-personal-replies-please <at> cygwin.com> writes:

> 
> At 11:14 PM 9/26/2005, Pablo Halpern wrote:
> >I'm having a similar problem.  The results of cygcheck.svr are at the end of
> >this message.
> >
> >The symptoms are this:
> >1. ssh-add gives these messages when trying to set a passphrase:
> >    bash% eval $(ssh-agent -s)
> >    Agent pid 908
> >    bash% ssh-add
> >    Enter passphrase for /home/Pablo/.ssh/id_dsa:
> >    Error reading response length from authentication socket.
> >    Error writing to authentication socket.
> >    Could not add identity: /home/Pablo/.ssh/id_dsa
> 
> I don't see that, although I'm using an RSA(2) key.  Do you see the same
> thing with RSA keys?  Also, I notice that your home directory is mounted as 
> text.  You might want to try mounting at least your .ssh directory as 
> binary.  It's not clear to me that either of these two things are very 
> significant but they are differences between our two environments.  If you 
> do go the binary mount route, make sure you run 'd2u' on the text files in 
> the affected directories.

I tried different key types and different mounting modes.  No help.

I figured out the problem (at last) by digging into the LSP stack
using Microsoft Anti-spyware.  The problem was caused by part of the
Earthlink Total-Access package I installed so that I could dial up
while away from home.  Most likely, it was the Anti-spyware part of
the package, although I wasn't able to do a partial un-install.  I
would guess that one of the following is happening:

1. Earthlink's Anti-Spyware LSP is badly written (most likely)
2. Earthlink's Anti-Spyware believes rsync and ssh-agent to be spyware but
   isn't telling me.
3. Earthlink's Anti-Spyware doesn't coexist peacefully with Microsoft
   Antispyware.

> >2. rsync hangs at random.  Most hangs appear to be with either
> >large files (15-20MB) or zero-length files.  If it hangs on a file
> >once, it will probably hang on the same file on the next try.  If I
> >delete or manually sync the file, rsync moves on and transfers more
> >files before succeeding or hanging again.  Intrestingly, it hangs
> >MORE often with local transfers than over ssh.
> 
> This sounds to me like the age-old rsync problems.  You can read about them 
> in the email archives.

Yes.  This problem also went away when I uninstalled Earthlink.  We can add
Earthlink Total-Access to the list of packages that are not compatible with
Cygwin.  (Is there such a list anywhere?)  When I get around to it, I'll try
re-installing Earthlink WITHOUT the anti-spyware component and see if it still
interferes.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to be able to do automatic synchronization
between my home PC and my laptop again.

[snip]
> >> That said, did you read and follow the following thread to it's 
> >> resolution?
> >> 
> >> <http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2004-09/msg00418.html>

This is the thread that got me wondering about what had installed
itself into my LSP stack.  I was fearing that it was Norton Antivirus
(which I would have been loath to abandon), but had an Aha! moment
when I saw the Earthlink entries.  The incompatible program was not
Aventail, as mentioned in the thread, but the concept was the same.  I
read that thread before posting but read it again after your response.
Thanks for the help.

> >Now, the result of cygcheck -svr:
> 
> We ask that you *attach* this to any problem reports you send to the list.
> Please don't embed it.

I couldn't figure out a way to create an attachment using the web interface to
this newsgroup.  Sorry.



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