Subject: slow processes
To: NetBSD List <port-mac68k@netbsd.org>
From: Ben Zeller <zeller@cif.rochester.edu>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 09/12/1999 18:54:50
Hello,

I have a somewhat strange problem.  Some processes on my IIci, NetBSD 1.4,
are incredibly slow.  The best examples are all network processes (telnetd,
ftpd, sshd), and the email client pine.  When I telnet into the machine,
for example, it takes 4 minutes, 13 seconds (average) for login to be
spawned.  Telnetd just sits in sleep mode the entire time. (I verified this
through "top".)  Likewise, when I fire up pine, the process sits in sleep
for _10 minutes!_ before going into run state.  By comparison, the email
client elm goes right into run and loads within a second.  Most programs,
like ps, grep, man, less, work fine.  All of the custom stuff I compiled
through the package system (compiled, not installed the binaries) work
fine, such as lynx, elm, joe, and pico, with the exception of pine.

The machine is never less than 90% idle, and there's never a signifigant
dent into the 32MB of physical RAM.  This problem has been occurring for
about four months -- I have tried upgrading from 1.3.2 to 1.4 and building
my own kernel.  Neither solution helped.

Has anyone experienced anything similar?  Does anyone have any suggestions?

TIA,

Ben