I was playing around and decided to make /dev/hda1 an encrypted filesystem
via loopback. I did a 'losetup -e idea /dev/loop0 /dev/hda1'. Then I made
an ext2fs filesystem over /dev/loop0, which of course wound up on
/dev/hda1. Then I mounted the thing.
I set up some directories, and, playing around, decided to make another
encrypted filesystem on top of that. So I go into a directory under the
encrypted filesystem and make a 40MB file by loading in data from
/dev/urandom. Then I mounted this file under /dev/loop1 using IDEA
encryption.
When I went to make a filesystem on the 40MB file (/dev/loop1), it seemed
to go rather fast. Then mke2fs hung at "Writing superblocks and filesystem
accounting information." I sent it SIGINTs via CTRL-C to no avail. I sent
it a SIGTERM, but it did no good. I sent it a few signal 9's, but nothing
happened.
Seeing what would happen, I went onto another console and tried to
'losetup -d /dev/loop1'. I got this, of course:
root:~# losetup -d /dev/loop1
ioctl: LOOP_CLR_FD: Device or resource busy
Unfortunately, it then locked _that_ console hard. Signal 9's did nothing
for this.
Looking at my load factor:
10:34pm up 1 day, 5:46, 7 users, load average: 4.99, 4.38, 3.14
It seems to be getting higher. The load factor _should_ be at 1.00 all the
time, though, because I'm running a number crunching task in the
background.
'ps' reveals that both losetup and mke2fs are stuck in state 'D', which is
"uninterruptable sleep." Both the processes have also been swapped out (in
state 'W'), so it doesn't appear that they're actually doing anything.
Since it's been hung for quite a while, it's beginning to look like the
only way to fix this is to shutdown and reboot.
In preparation for reboot right now, I sent mprime, my number cruncher, a
SIGINT, which it is supposed to capture and exit on after dumping some
data. Instead, it promptly turned into a zombie process. I can't kill it
either. Signal 9's are ineffective.
Now 'sync' just locked up _another_ virtual terminal. And *any* process I
try to kill turns into a zombie.
Something is -really- hosed.
-- "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world; The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." -- "Second Coming" by Yeats.