Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!ames!amdahl!drivax!braun
From: braun@drivax.UUCP (Kral)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: another INSTALLED IMAGE question
Message-ID: <3401@drivax.UUCP>
Date: 16 May 88 21:42:44 GMT
References: <3387@drivax.UUCP> <5241@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <4652@blia.BLI.COM> <4779@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: braun@drivax.UUCP (Kral)
Organization: Digital Research, Inc.
Lines: 45

We're talking about the drives getting in a mount/dismount state when you try
to dismount a drive with installed images on it.

Someone said:

>>> If you go into instal and remove the images, that is supposed to work.
>>> (That's what i've done with the problem before and it worked okay.)

To which someone else replied:
>>Last time I tried this, it didn't work. Install reported that the drive wasn't
>>mounted (at the same time, when trying to remount the drive, mount reported
>>that the drive was already mounted). Now this was under VMS 4.4 or 4.5 and on
>>a non-clustered, non-HSC disk. I would believe (and hope) that they have fixed
>>the problem in a later version.
>

And in article <4779@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> mitch@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu
(Mitch Collinsworth) added:
>Probably not.  I just got a disk stuck in this state last night on a LAVc'd
>VAXstation II running 4.7.  I wanted to do a backup of it.  When I tried to
>mount it, mount said it was 'already mounted.'  When I tried to run backup,
>backup said it wasn't mounted.  When I did a directory on it, directory
>worked.   Whew.   I rebooted.

and this is exactly the problem (I'm running 4.7 too).  We've talked to DEC
once, and they said to try a dismount/cluster which may or may not work, and if
not, rebootski time.  I'm not satisfied with this.

I can't really think of a reason why an installed image needs access to it's
home drive in order to be dismounted, unless there is a record of it being
installed somewhere on the drive (like in the directory or some peripheral
structure).  Anyway, one can think of uninstalling the image requireing a
closing of the file.  Now you can see the problem: you can't close the file
if the system thinks the drive is dismounted, and you can't mount the drive if
the system thinks it's already mounted.

This looks like a terribly big hole to me, and I would have thought it would
have been discovered and fixed by now.  I guess I'm just an idealist.  But I
would think there would be an (at least undocumented) dismount damnit command.


-- 
kral 	408/647-6112			...{ism780|amdahl}!drivax!braun
"I'll let you be in my dream                      If I can be in yours"
DISCLAIMER: If DRI knew I was saying this stuff, they would shut me d~-~oxx