pty and pipe problem

From: <tsh_at_mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 12:10:53 +0000 (GMT)

Hi all,

We occasionally get this error when using commands involving pipes:

alf1_tsh> echo hello | cat | cat | cat
setpgid child:
: Not owner.

alf1_tsh> echo hello | cat | cat | cat
hello

alf1_tsh> echo hello | cat | cat | cat
setpgid child:
: Not owner.
setpgid child:
: Not owner.
setpgid child:
: Not owner.

(This is a silly command, just to provoke the problem)
The errors aren't reproducible, and will usually succeed on a retry.

A possibly related problem, is that sometimes, attempts to
initiate a 'make' from within Emacs, will result in the error:

Opening pty or pipe: No such device or address

This error is usually much more persistent than the 'Not owner' one.
Any clues as to where we might start looking?

We have 368 pseudoterminal devices:

alf1_tsh> ls /dev/pts* | wc -l
       368

And when the problems occur, I dont see any evidence of pts exhaustion.

We're running 5.1 PK5

Cheers,
Terry.



Terry Horsnell (tsh_at_mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk)
I.T. Manager
Medical Research Council
Lab of Molecular Biology
Hills Road
CAMBRIDGE CB2 2QH
U.K.
Phone: +44 (0)1223 248011
Fax: +44 (0)1223 213556
Received on Fri Mar 28 2003 - 12:11:35 NZST

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