[gpm]Bug report for GPM 1.20: gpm doesn't delete /var/run/gpm.pid file when it terminates unsuccessfully

Antti Sykari jsykari@cc.hut.fi
Tue, 9 Jul 2002 22:24:47 +0300


When running GPM and it fails for some reason, it fails to remove its
PID file when it exits.  This is not fatal but certainly annoying, since
then gpm wrongfully thinks it is already running with the pid specified
in /var/run/gpm.pid.  Consequently, one has to manually 'rm
/var/run/gpm.pid' before being able to run gpm again.  gpm won't start
if /var/run/gpm.pid exists.

How to reproduce: ("Let's look at the typical novice's session with gpm:")

root@cs176058:/var/run# ls -l gpm.pid
ls: gpm.pid: No such file or directory
root@cs176058:/var/run# gpm
root@cs176058:/var/run# oops(): [/usr/src/gpm-1.20.0/src/gpm.c(932)]:
Since gpm-1.20.0 you need to specify themouse device. gpm -m device is
your friend

root@cs176058:/var/run# gpm -m /dev/mouse -t ps2
root@cs176058:/var/run# oops(): [/usr/src/gpm-1.20.0/src/gpn.c(195)]:
gpm is already running as pid 3119

root@cs176058:/var/run# ps xuwaf |grep 3119
root      3124  0.0  0.2  1604  536 /devices/vc/2 S 14:11   0:00  \_
grep 3119
root@cs176058:/var/run# ls -l gpm.pid
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            5 Jul  9 14:11 gpm.pid
root@cs176058:/var/run# cat gpm.pid
3119
root@cs176058:/var/run# rm gpm.pid
root@cs176058:/var/run# gpm -m /dev/mouse  -t ps2

Finally, I hope this reaches the right people.

Antti