Description of Problem: The kernel gets in to a state where an NFS mounted directory appears to be empty when it's not, and whenever I attempt to access this directory, a message of this form is logged: NFS: giant filename in readdir (len 0x47a0c092) The NFS server is running HP-UX 10.20, NFSv2. Searching around on the web I found several instances of this readdir() error that were associated with HP-UX NFS servers, indicating a quirk in HP's NFSv2 implemenation. However, something on the Linux client side is also contributing because I was able to avoid the problem by upgrading to the 2.4.17 kernel from kernel.org. See entry 55864 which also involves readdir(). Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 2.4.9-21 How Reproducible: Get yourself an HP-UX NFS server running NFSv2. Populate a directory tree on that server. Mount that directory tree from Linux. Start accessing files and directories from Linux and see if you get any readdir() errors in /var/log/messages. With these messages you should observe that certain files or directories appear to be missing. Steps to Reproduce: 1. 2. 3. Actual Results: NFS files fail to appear in directory listings. Expected Results: Files should be in the directory listings. Additional Information:
I should have mentioned in the initial report that we also have some RH6.2 clients mounting the same directories from the same HP-UX NFS server. They do not have any issues with disappearing files on the NFS mounts.
2.4.17 has a workaround for the hp bug. The rawhide 2.4.17/2.4.18 kernels have that too....