list_expander command failed

[Janne_5]

My make_net_recovery fails with:

ERROR: The list_expander command failed. This could be due to a problem with the -x options specified - Check the existence of the included device(s).
03/16/09 14:44:23 MET make_net_recovery completed unsuccessfull

When I run list_expander I get this output:

n12904/:%~> /opt/ignite/lbin/list_expander
WARNING: The /dev/null file is not a character device file.
WARNING: The /dev/null file is not a character device file.
ERROR: 'all not': type 'all' not recognized.

What does it mean? How can solve the issue?
Ignite ver. C.7.4.157 on hp-ux 11.23

[Ganesan R]

Hi Janne,

Can you provide the full command syntax you have given?

[Janne_5]

/opt/ignite/bin/make_net_recovery -s $IGNITE_SERVER -n 2 -P s -x inc_entire=vg00
and
/opt/ignite/lbin/list_expander

[Steven E. Protter · Accepted solution]

Shalom,

The /dev/null file is not a character device file.

Might be a real message.

file /dev/null

Post output.

An Ignite upgrade might help. I would decide that after confirming the message is not accurate.

SEP

[Janne_5]

SEP, you are right. /dev/null had turned to an ascii file.
Solved with rm /dev/null ; mknod c 3 2 /dev/null ; chmod go+w /dev/null

Now it's character file again and ignite is running fine. Thanks!

file /dev/null
/dev/null: character special (3/2)

[Bill Hassell]

> The /dev/null file is not a character device file.

This is a fairly common root user problem. Only root can remove files in the /dev directory and once it is removed, the /dev/ directory may grow extremely large as data sent to /dev/null turns into a real file. The list_expander is particularly good at finding problem files and filenames.

> ERROR: 'all not': type 'all' not recognized.

This is probably a file that was created with a space in the name. You can find it by enclosing the name with double ", but if it does not show up, there may be some control characters imbedded in the file name. You can use the ll -b option to show special characters in filenames.

[Janne_5]

Solution included in thread.