We have a machine that has been running as a server running 5.2 for about a year under heavy use. We upgraded it to 6.0. During a restoration of files from our backups, we experienced spontaneous reboots or hard freezes. We were able to repeat the problem reliably and narrowed it down to an untarring of selected files from an archive. Details: The command that kills the machine is: as root: cd / tar xvpzf /backups/piano-home.tgz -T /backups/t2 where /backups/piano-home.tgz is a 2 GB file (slightly under 2^31 bytes, so it fits within the size limits) that is a tarred and gziped file of the home directories. /backups/t2 is a selected list of files, including dot files, for a particular user. If that user uses KDE as their desktop, and is using NFS/NIS for their home directories on another server, and they restore their dot files, then the system will either freeze hard (no pings, no ctrl alt del, must reset to reboot) or spontaneously reboot. There are no relevant core dumps, kernel panics, or log messages of note. Curiously, the reboot/freeze seems to happen well before any of the files are found in the archive, so the problem seems unrelated to the actual restoration of files, but to the process of going through the big tar file. Mike Ciholas (812) 858-1355 voice CIHOLAS Enterprises (812) 858-1360 fax 5855 Fiesta Drive mikec Newburgh, IN 47630 mikec
please try the kernel and tar packages from RawHide (rawhide.redhat.com) and report if the problem persists.