[SOLVED] blinking red symlinks

micxz · 07-02-2011, 04:19 PM

Some symlinks in my home dir are blinking red today.

Code:

[root@jam ~]# ls -la | grep ^l
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           31 Jul  1 15:31 cp-error_log -> /var/log/sw-cp-server/error_log
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           24 Jul  1 15:29 error_log -> /var/log/httpd/error_log
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           16 Jul  1 15:28 maillog -> /var/log/maillog
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           17 Jul  1 15:28 messages -> /var/log/messages
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           28 Jul  1 15:29 ssl_error_log -> /var/log/httpd/ssl_error_log

Ok here's the odd part they are there:

Code:

[root@jam ~]# ls -l `ls -la | grep ^l | awk '{print $11}'`
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root      1231224 Jul  2 15:30 /var/log/httpd/error_log
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root        22442 Jul  2 15:30 /var/log/httpd/ssl_error_log
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root            0 Jul  2 10:26 /var/log/maillog
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root            0 Jul  2 10:26 /var/log/messages
-rw-------   1 root     root       144656 Jul  2 15:30 /var/log/sw-cp-server/error_log

Then I tried:

Code:

[root@jam ~]# rm maillog 
rm: remove symbolic link `maillog'? y
[root@jam ~]# ln -s /var/log/maillog maillog
[root@jam ~]# ls -l | grep maillog
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           16 Jul  2 16:16 maillog -> /var/log/maillog

Stilling blinking red. Any ideas?

DJ Shaji · 07-02-2011, 06:44 PM

I'm thinking it has something to do with permissions. Can you read the files? Try 'less maillog' from your ~. Try 'ls -laL'.

micxz · 07-02-2011, 06:53 PM

Code:

[root@jam ~]# tail -1 error_log 
[Sat Jul 02 15:30:22 2011] [notice] Apache configured -- resuming normal operations
[root@jam ~]# ls -laL error_log 
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root      1231334 Jul  2 16:55 error_log
[root@jam ~]# ls -l error_log 
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           24 Jul  1 15:29 error_log -> /var/log/httpd/error_log
[root@jam ~]#

still blinking red

DJ Shaji · 07-02-2011, 07:31 PM

Maybe your computer has been invaded by zombies.

Quote:

Zombies are dead processes. You cannot kill the dead. All processes eventually die, and when they do they become zombies.

micxz · 07-02-2011, 07:38 PM

I thought I was losing my mind, that is got to be it. Thanks

MrCode · 07-02-2011, 08:19 PM

Have you tried doing file -b <symlink>? It's possible that the blinking red may indicate that it's broken… :-\

My

; hope it helps.

micxz · 07-02-2011, 08:50 PM

Code:

[root@jam ~]# file -b maillog 
symbolic link to `/var/log/maillog'

Always in the past blinking red symlinks indicated the the file moved or was deleted. But not this time.