When loading of the AppleTalk kernel module is caused by the Netatalk daemon starting up for the first time, the kernel reports several (usually 3 consecutively) "kmem_grow: Called nonatomically from int - size-32" error messages. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Stop the Netatalk daemon. 2. Remove the AppleTalk kernel module using 'rmmod'. 3. Re-insert the AppleTalk module using 'insmod'. 4. Re-start Netatalk. Actual Results: # /etc/rc.d/init.d/atalk stop Shutting down AppleTalk services: [ OK ] # /sbin/rmmod appletalk # /sbin/insmod appletalk Using /lib/modules/2.2.16-22/misc/appletalk.o # /etc/rc.d/init.d/atalk start Starting AppleTalk services: [ OK ] The following is logged to /var/log/messages: Jan 31 10:28:24 secure kernel: kmem_grow: Called nonatomically from int - size-32 Jan 31 10:28:24 secure last message repeated 2 times Expected Results: Well, no errors, obviously... This on a RH 6.2 system, onto which I have retrofitted the 2.2.16-22 kernel as distributed with RH7.0. The AppleTalk kernel module's version is "NET4: AppleTalk 0.18 for Linux NET4.0". Tests were performed using netatalk- 1.4.99-0.20001108mdk (http://sourceforge.net/projects/netatalk/) installed via RPM. Also, the functionality of the Netatalk daemon doesn't seem to be affected by the errors - all normal operations work as usual. Restarting Netatalk by itself doesn't cause any errors.
With a bit of digging around on the kernel development mailing list, I found out that this has been solved by a patch to 2.2.17pre13, thusly: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=96447317717627&w=2
OK, let's queue that patch for analysis for future 2.2 kernel releases.
I notice there is a new 2.2.17-14 kernel package out now: http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2001-013.html Has this issue been fixed in this release? I could find no mention of AppleTalk in the RPM's changelog. Or will it be resolved in a future release?
Thanks for the bug report. However, Red Hat no longer maintains this version of the product. Please upgrade to the latest version and open a new bug if the problem persists. The Fedora Legacy project (http://fedoralegacy.org/) maintains some older releases, and if you believe this bug is interesting to them, please report the problem in the bug tracker at: http://bugzilla.fedora.us/