[OpenWrt-Users] ps and top say "Segmentation fault"

[Stefan Monnier]

>> I have a kamikaze (compiled from the svn trunk a few days ago.
>> Uses kernel 2.6.23) running on a wrtsl54gs.  Overall it works OK, but
>> every once in a while, it gets into a state where `ps' and `top' do not
>> work and just segfault (after printing the first line header).

> 2.6 kernels have some bugs in cache-handling on the broadcom CPUs, as
> the cache on this CPUs is not 100% mips compliant. This results in

My segfaults are very specifically related to `ps' and `top', it seems,
and once they start, all subsequent `ps' and `top' crash in the exact
same way until I reboot.

Could this really be explained by the problem you describe (I'd expect
a cache handling problem to lead to less deterministic problems)?

> occasional segfaults.  It is not an OpenWRT specific problem but a known
> issue with the kernel on that platform.

Yould you happen to have a pointer to some linux-kernel discussion about
it, by any chance?

> The only way around is using 2.4.

But that would force me back to access my 3.5" drive over USB-1 ('cause
USB-2 makes the USB audio card inaccessible via the USB hub) :-(


        Stefan