Re: kern/51412: Syscall I/O race condition leads to deadlock and lost interrupts

>What are "kernel parameters"? Are you talking just about envstat? Or
>sysctl? Or the combination of the two? Or...?
My experience here comes from a sysadmin/hobbyist (not kern hacker) perspective, so I might be using the wrong terminology. I am referring to the kernel values and variables set/retrieved via ioctls from sysctl and envstat - such as those in the MIB for sysctl. I am not sure how sysctl and envstat vary about how they both interact with the kernel, so I can't pretend to have a more in-depth understanding than that above.

What I do know is that using one and/or the other command can influence the execution of the other. For example: if retrieving values with envstat deadlocks on I/O, calling sysctl can be enough to unblock envstat (and vice versa). In my experience, also running either program concurrent with another copy of the same has caused these I/O blocks. So to answer your question - either envstat, or sysctl, or a combination of the two is sufficient.

> Those aren't zombies; zombies have state 'Z'.
Yes; it just seemed like an appropriate way to compare them, since they were un-killable but still using up system resources.