Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!ig!ames!oliveb!sun!sally!plocher
From: plocher%sally@Sun.COM (John Plocher)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.microport
Subject: Re: ps *insists* on accessing floppy on Microport SysV/AT 2.4
Keywords: ps, /dev/swap, "is it safe?"
Message-ID: <102277@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 2 May 89 01:14:24 GMT
References: <291@tree.UUCP>
Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM
Reply-To: plocher@sun.UUCP (John Plocher)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 38

In article <291@tree.UUCP> stever@tree.UUCP (Steve Rudek) writes:
>It worked except that "ps" thereafter insisted on always accessing the floppy drive.
>I tried "ps -s /dev/null" and it does NOT try and read the floppy.  I don't
>"know why" though.  I gather I'm running the kernel still somehow rooted on
>the floppy (even though it isn't).  Based on the following "ls -la"s is it

There are 3 kernel variables that come into play here: (These may not be the real names)

	1) rootdev		# where / lives
	2) swapdev		# where *slow* process are found :-)
	3) pipedev		# where temp space for pipes is found

It looks like you have the following:
	rootdev = pipedev = harddisk
	swapdev = floppydisk

>safe to say tht the two devices are NOT linked?  (It appears that swap is

Yes, /dev/swap is on the hard disk.  But this doesn't mean that swapdev = /dev/swap!

>linked instead to /dev/dsk/0s25...yes?)  Is it "safe" to just
>"ln /dev/swap /dev/dsk/fd" ??

No you don't want to link it back to the floppy.
----
I don't have a 2.4 286 system anymore so I can't tell you specifics, but you should
be able to find something like this (rootdev, swapdev, and pipedev) somewhere in
/usr/linkkit (or in a script in /etc - like hdrtpatch).  When you do, use /etc/patch
to look at whatever swapdev is called, and if it isn't the same as rootdev, change
it so that it is.

BEFORE you do this, PLEASE back up your stuff on floppies (you can forget /bin, /usr/bin
and the like, just get /usr/{people}, /etc/passwd..., and all the stuff you loaded.

Murphy has given you one warning already, please don't ignore it
	(it's more than most of us get :-)

     -John Plocher