[Lxc-users] tail -f (inotify) not working in container?

[Joshua Randall]

Papp/Dan,

>> Anyone run into this before?  I see a few lxc/inotify problem reports,
>> but nothing that seems related.
Yes, we saw exactly this problem a couple of weeks ago on our Ubuntu 12.04.1 machine, but have not yet had a chance to track it down.  We've confirmed it is not an issue in older or newer kernels -- the only thing we've confirmed it on is the kernel shipped with Ubuntu 12.04.1:

> $ uname -srv
> Linux 3.2.0-36-generic #57-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jan 8 21:44:52 UTC 2013

It appears that this kernel is incrementing the user_watches counter when inotify watches are opened, but forgets to decrement the counter when they are closed. We haven't reported it yet as we wanted to confirm whether it was an issue with Kernel 3.2.0 in general or with the Ubuntu-specific build of the kernel. 

In any case, it does not appear to be LXC specific as it occurs both on the host and within containers. 

Josh.



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