On some systems (e. g. my notebook ;-) cdrecord needs all bus bandwidth when burning DVDs. If cron starts updatedb while cdrecord runs, a buffer underrun may happen. Reproducible: Sometimes Suggested patch for /etc/cron.daily/slocate: --- slocate 2006-09-08 10:45:35.000000000 +0200 +++ /etc/cron.daily/slocate 2007-04-14 12:11:34.000000000 +0200 @@ -1,5 +1,11 @@ #! /bin/sh +# make sure, ubdatedb is not run while cdrecord is active, may result +# in failing toasts +test -x /usr/bin/cdrecord && \ +fuser -s /usr/bin/cdrecord && \ +exit 2 + if [ -x /usr/bin/updatedb ] then if [ -f /etc/updatedb.conf ]
Joking, right? All current CD/DVD writers have burnfree/burnproof or equivalent buffer-underrun protection.
Sorry, not joking at all. All CURRENT CD/DVD writers have burnfree protection, but (a) not all writers have it, and (b) its usage results in decreased capacity of the media. The problem especially occurs on ill designed hardware, where the DVD writer and the hard disk are attached to the same IDE channel.
Yeah, we won't do this because it doesn't make sense; live with it. If you have a sucky CD/DVD writer, then change the cronjob yourself.
