[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Russ Allbery) wrote on 22.05.06 in <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> Bruce Korb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > I do that also, but I am also careful to prune repository > > directories (CVS, .svn or SCCS even). I rather doubt it is my RAM, > > BTW. Perhaps a disk sector, but I'll never know now. (Were it RAM, > > the failure would be random and not just the one file.) The original > > data were rm-ed and replaced with a new pull of the Ada code. > > Yup, I've seen change of capitalization of a single letter in files due to > bad disk sectors before, even on relatively modern hardware. It's a > single bit error, so it's an explainable failure mode. And there's enough involved so that a disgnosis is almost impossible until you get a lot more errors. Memory. Disk. Controller. Cpu ... ... or it could just be a lone alpha particle hitting the bit in one of those places. Could also be a software error. A stray pointer in the kernel, being used to set a flag, and happening to point into a buffer for that disk block. Until it gets reproducible - or reproduces itself ... no way to tell. MfG Kai
