The system always crashed after Udev started. I had the same problem using all of the following kernels (all compiled with udev support): linux-2.6.18-gentoo-r4, linux-2.6.20-gentoo-r6, linux-2.6.22-gentoo-r9, linux-2.6.23-gentoo-r3

The system was working fine before upgrading udev, but I had the same problem with udev-115-r1 and udev-114 (baselayout-1.12.9-r2). I got a variety of different error messages each time the system booted and crashed:

highmem.c error:
"Oops" with segfault:
BUG: Scheduling while atomic:
Recursive die() failure:
...endless scrooling text:

The workaround (removing coldplug)

I re-installed udev and set RC_COLDPLUG="no" in the script:

/lib/rcscripts/addons/udev-start.sh

I suspect this is related to a faulty kernel module being loaded, but when the situation began, my kernel and modules were all working OK (I had not just re-compiled my kernel). The diverse error messages haven't helped me identify the problem.

If I find a true fix, I'll post it here. Feel free to add comments or suggestions to this page. ]]> Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00 PDT http://www.cgstock.com/blog/2007-12-21 http://www.cgstock.com/blog/2007-12-21 Save ALL your images Other than out-of-focus or badly exposed images, hard drive space is cheap enough now that you should save all your images. Years into the future, shots that seemed worthy of deletion have greater significance.

As one example, I photographed several dozen kids for months in the Philippines, after which one of the children died in a handgun accident. Otherwise unremarkable photos of the boy were now very important to me and his family (one rode on his hearse in his funeral procession, see photo).

Save files in folders named for the date using year-month-day ("2007-12-21")

/2000

|

+----2000-01-01

     2000-02-01

     2000-03-01

     ...



/2001

|

+----2001-01-01

     2001-02-01

     2001-03-01

     ...

etc.

#mount the flash card reader (this will be different for your system)

system("mount -t vfat /dev/sdd1 /mnt/flash")

#the below is based on Canon's particular directory structure

@files = glob("/mnt/flash/dcim/???canon/*");



foreach $filename(@files) {

    $out = `jhead $filename`;



    #the jhead command will return, in part, the following:

    #Date/Time    : 2005:08:18 02:16:53



    $out =~ /Date\/Time.*(\d\d\d\d:\d\d:\d\d) /;

    $date_taken=$1;

    $date_taken =~ s/:/-/g;

    $date_taken =~ /(\d\d\d\d)/;

    $year_taken = $1;



    unless(-e "/digicam/$year_taken/$date_taken/") {

         system("mkdir /digicam/$year_taken/$date_taken");

     }

    system("cp -v $filename /digicam/$year_taken/$date_taken/");

}

Use an SQL database to keep track of your original image files

+--------------+-----------------------+------+-----+------------+

| Field        | Type                  | Null | Key | Default    | 

+--------------+-----------------------+------+-----+------------+

| id           | mediumint(8) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL       |

| folder       | date                  | NO   | MUL | 0000-00-00 |                

| filename     | varchar(100)          | NO   |     |            |                

| archive_no   | tinyint(3) unsigned   | YES  |     | NULL       |                

+--------------+-----------------------+------+-----+------------+

Make backups

When there are enough images not backed up that would fill a DVD, I make a new backup and update the files table to reflect which images are on that backup disc.

I haven't lost my original archive due to fire, theft, or catastrophic system failure yet, but I'm ready for it when it happens. I try to keep my backup in a separate location from my original archive, but they are in the same building (in a coal bin, which seems fire proof). ]]> Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00 PDT http://www.cgstock.com/newest http://www.cgstock.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?pdate=2008-02-14 ]]> Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:00 PDT http://www.cgstock.com/newest http://www.cgstock.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?pdate=2008-02-15 ]]> Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00 PDT http://www.cgstock.com/blog/2008-02-15 http://www.cgstock.com/blog/2008-02-15 On Feb. 15th judge Ann B. Montgomery rendered her verdict in a copyright trial in which I was the plaintiff (the trial was held last November 5th and 6th, 2007). The court dismissed all the claims against me, and I was awarded $19,462 in damages against the defendant. They had downloaded photos from this website and used them in advertising.

The full text of the ruling is Verdict in copyright lawsuit.