RHBA-2004:226 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated mdadm package that fixes a few bugs is now available.

Description

The mdadm package is used to create, control, and monitor linux md software
RAID arrays.

This updated package includes the following fixes:

• - Building of the mdadm RPM would fail on a system without the groff RPM.

The output of nroff, part of groff, was not installed or included in the
final mdadm RPM. Resolution: The RPM build process was changed so it no
longer would invoke the nroff application.

• - The mdadm RPM includes the mdmpd daemon. However, there was no

documentation included for the mdmpd program. Resolution: A man page for
the mdmpd daemon that describes its operation and usage was added.

• - The mdadm program is used to monitor active md RAID arrays and

notifies the system administrator in the event of an error. When scanning
for arrays that should be monitored, the mdadm program opens a file
descriptor to each array. Due to a bug in the mdadm program, the file
descriptor failed to close each array after loading the array
configuration. The linux kernel will not allow a software RAID array to be
stopped by the system administrator so long as the array device file is
held open by any programs. Since the mdadm program always held the
array device file open, a system administrator would be unable to stop any
md RAID devices. The mdmonitor service needs to be stopped first for the
mdadm program to safely stop the device. Resolution: A bug was found in the
mdadm program. The addition of an fclose() on the array file descriptor
fixed mdadm file descriptors on monitored md RAID devices.

• - The mdmpd daemon is used to monitor multipath devices. On startup, the

mdmpd daemon did not properly close the standard input and output file
descriptors and detach from the controlling terminal. This could cause
other programs that wait for mdmpd to close it's output file descriptor to
hang. A call to the daemonize() function was added to the mdmpd startup
sequence so that all file handles would be properly closed and the mdmpd
daemon would properly detach from the controlling terminal.

All users of mdam should upgrade to this updated package, which
resolves these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:

rpm -Fvh [filenames]

where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are
not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the
desired RPMs.

Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network. Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

If up2date fails to connect to Red Hat Network due to SSL
Certificate Errors, you need to install a version of the
up2date client with an updated certificate. The latest version of
up2date is available from the Red Hat FTP site and may also be
downloaded directly from the RHN website:

https://rhn.redhat.com/help/latest-up2date.pxt

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 3 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 117160 - no documentation for mdmpd in mdadm package
• BZ - 119532 - mdmonitor prevents raidstop or mdadm --stop
• BZ - 123769 - mdadm should BuildRequires: groff

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)