topic "memory fault" error when trying to su in Operating System - HP-UX

"memory fault" error when trying to su

James Ellis_1 — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:04:52 GMT

A developer tried to
su userid

and a "memory fault" error appeared.

Also this error comes up,

"SEQ" variable - stack problem, variable loses its value when used by 8 user IDs simultaneously.

What is the cause of this error? I did not find any core dumps in the user's home dir.

Thanks.

Re: "memory fault" error when trying to su

Hai Nguyen_1 — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:09:34 GMT

James,

Does /var/adm/sulog give you anymore clues?

Hai

Re: "memory fault" error when trying to su

Bill McNAMARA_1 — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:10:47 GMT

ps -ef | grep userid

also just check your licence:
uname -a
kibo:ocmpadm> uname -a
HP-UX kibo B.11.00 U 9000/800 510710548 unlimited-user license

The unlim. lic. can be downloaded free from www.software.hp.com, but it's possibly a patch issue.

Later,
Bill

Re: "memory fault" error when trying to su

Bill McNAMARA_1 — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:14:10 GMT

attached is a strings /usr/bin/su
I don't see that as a possible error returned from su..

It could be a shell issue?

Later,
Bill

Re: "memory fault" error when trying to su

harry d brown jr — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:18:14 GMT

if they didn't use the "-" as in "su - userid" then it didn't "execute" their .profile, so that's ruled out.

Is this the only user having the issue?

Do you have any "limits" set?

live free or die
harry

Re: "memory fault" error when trying to su

S.K. Chan — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:20:07 GMT

As far as the "memory fault" error is concern, one posible cause is corrupted .sh_history file of that "userid". Try to remove that file and touch a new empty file and see if it helps.

Re: "memory fault" error when trying to su

harry d brown jr — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:35:42 GMT

Are you using NIS or LDAP for passwd authentication?

live free or die
harry

Re: "memory fault" error when trying to su

Thomas Schler_1 — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:37:57 GMT

James,

do you use HP-UX 11.00? Do you have PHCO_16127 installed?

The patch description says "Bug in su(1) causes core dumps on HP-UX 11.0". Install PHCO_16127.