the network counter /proc/net resets itself after 4,294,967,269 Bytes (32Bit) shouldn't it handle 64Bit (18,446,744,073,709,551,616 Bytes) Values? Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. use gentoo for amd64 2. produce traffic (more than 5GB) 3. check /proc/net Actual Results: results between 0 and 4,294,967,269 Bytes Expected Results: results between 0 and 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 Portage 2.0.50-r11 (default-amd64-2004.2, gcc-3.3.4, glibc-2.3.4.20040808-r1, 2.6.8-gentoo-r4) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.8-gentoo-r4 x86_64 4 Gentoo Base System version 1.5.3 Autoconf: sys-devel/autoconf-2.59-r5 Automake: sys-devel/automake-1.8.5-r1 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-pipe -O2" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" COMPILER="" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.2/share/config /usr/kde/3.3/env /usr/kde/3.3/share/config /usr/kde/3.3/shutdown /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/share/config /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-pipe -O2" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs ccache" GENTOO_MIRRORS="ftp://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/ ftp://mirrors.sec.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/gentoo/ http://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/ http://gentoo.zie.pg.gda.pl" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="" SYNC="rsync://rsync.digitized.lan/gentoo-portage" USE="X Xaw3d aalib alsa amd64 apm arts avi berkdb bitmap-fonts cdr crypt dedicated dvb encode esd f77 foomaticdb gdbm gif gnome gpm gtk gtk2 imlib ipv6 java jpeg kde leim libg++ libwww lzw-tiff mikmod motif mozdomi moznocompose moznoirc mpeg mysql nas ncurses nls nogcj oggvorbis opengl oss pam pdflib perl png python qt quicktime readline ruby sdl slang spell ssl tcpd tiff truetype xml xml2 xprint xv zlib"
I found out that there is also an entry for this on kernel.org's bugzilla wit patches http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=469
I think this is a decision the kernel guys would have to make.
Upstream issue, we'll need to wait until the correct patch is merged into the official kernel.
The upstream bug has been closed as it appears the current behavior is working and it's not worth increasing the general size of this field. If you can reproduce the 32bit wrapping problem on a recent kernel, please file a new bug.
