Patch-ID# 100347-04 Keywords: fifo named pipe panic Synopsis: SunOS 4.1.1;4.1.2;4.1.3: panics using fifo's (named pipes) under load Date: Dec/19/94 Solaris Release: 1.1 SunOS release: 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.3, 4.1.3C Unbundled Product: Unbundled Release: BugId's fixed with this patch: 1065543 1050077 1071706 Changes incorporated in this version: 1071706 Architectures for which this patch is available: sun4 sun4c sun4m Patches accumulated and obsoleted by this patch: Patches which may conflict with this patch: Obsoleted by: 4.1.3_U1 Problem Description: Under a heavy load, writing to a named pipe (fifo) can cause a kernel panic, if one doesn't have the definition in fifo.h set up correctly. Specifically, the definition for FIFOBUF must be greater than FIFOBSZ. Otherwise, you end up using a union instead of a structure, and the union pointer gets overwritten. Exceptions are not generated properly to the processes doing select on a fifo. INSTALL: As root: Make a backup copy of the files to be installed: mv /sys/`arch -k`/OBJ/fifo_vnodeops.o /sys/`arch -k`/OBJ/fifo_vno.FCS mv /usr/include/specfs/fifo.h /usr/include/specfs/fifo.h.FCS mv /usr/kvm/sys/specfs/fifo.h /usr/kvm/sys/specfs/fifo.h.FCS Now install the patched files: cp `arch -k`/{OS Release}/fifo_vnodeops.o /sys/`arch -k`/OBJ cp fifo.h /usr/kvm/sys/specfs cp fifo.h /usr/include/specfs Rerun /etc/config and make and install the new kernel. Please refer to the system and networking administration manual for details on building and installing a new kernel.