Why /dev/kmsg was deleted from cygwin1.dll in git?

Takashi Yano takashi.yano@nifty.ne.jp
Thu Jul 5 15:29:00 GMT 2018


Hi Corinna,

On Wed, 4 Jul 2018 16:52:47 +0200
Corinna Vinschen wrote:
> Hang on.  /dev/kmsg was implemented using a mailslot and it was never
> accessible via the syslog(3) interface.  The code you removed has
> nothing to do with /dev/kmsg.

First of all, /dev/kmsg was not guilty. The real culprit is the code
I had removed by the previous patch.

However, the patch I posted was based on mis-understanding regarding
AF_UNIX implementation. I had checked fhandler_socket_unix.cc and
thought cygwin AF_UNIX socket is implemented not using AF_INET socket.
On the other hand, the code, I removed, checks existence of UDP socket
to determine whether syslogd is activated. So I thought this is no
longer correct and should be removed.

As a matter of fact, cygwin AF_UNIX socket usually use fhandler_socket_
local.cc, in which AF_UNIX socket is implemented using AF_INET socket.
That is, the obove understanding was incorrect.

> What the code does is to check if we have a listener on the /dev/msg UDP
> socket, otherwise log data may get lost or, IIRC, the syslog call may
> even hang.  So removing this code sounds like a bad idea.

In the case of syslogd is not activated, /dev/log does not exist.
So connect() results in an error. Therefore log data is directed to 
windows event logging mechanism even without the removed code. In
usual case, no problem happens. However if syslogd is killed by signal
9 or died accidently, /dev/log remains without listener. In this case,
the problem you mentioned may happen.

> Can you please explain *why* removing this code helps and what happens
> if syslogd is not running after removing the code?

OK. First, connect_syslogd() tries to connect to syslogd via /dev/log
which is created by syslogd. However, the code which I removed can not
perform checking existence of syslogd as expected.
Previously, get_inet_addr() is used to get name information of the socket
opened by syslogd. This was working correctly at that time. Currently,
getsockname() is used instead. This does not return name infomation of
the socket on syslogd side but returns that of client side. Since no
listener exists for this socket, it is not listed in the table returned
by GetUdpTable(). Therefore this check results in false.

As a result, current connect_syslogd() code gives up to connect to syslogd.

To fix this, I made a new patch attached. In this patch, get_inet_addr_local()
is used instead of getsockname() as in the past.

I will appreciate any comments.

-- 
Takashi Yano <takashi.yano@nifty.ne.jp>
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