[cvsnt] Error reading from server

Tony Hoyle tmh at nodomain.org
Mon Aug 18 12:25:54 BST 2003


chris.roberts at ubs.com wrote:

> I've also experienced a problem that is reported as "Error reading from
> server"
> 
> I tracked through the source and it would appear this this message will be
> generated for various error conditions. I don't program c/c++ anymore and
> do not have a dev environment that I can easily diag the problem.
> 
> Would it be possible to enhance the error message to include more
> information? eg: what file/resource it was trying read. (tried strace but
> this does not follow child processes)

Pretty much the only time the error will be generated is if the entire
TCP/IP communication has broken down at the start of the session - AV was
notorious for doing that in the past, although recent versions have largely
fixed this.  In that case there isn't any more context that can be given -
it's just dead.  What happens is basically:

Connection is made to via client to port 2401.
cvsservice.exe picks up the connection, spawns a cvs.exe and duplicates
it to stdin on the new process.
cvs.exe starts reading stdin and finds it closed due to AV, broken TCP/IP
stack or whatever.  Dies.

Since the passing of socket->stdin isn't that common (although it is
documented in MSDN and supposed to work) some AV writers cut corners and
break the ability to do it.  Over time reporting bugs against the offending
software seems to have most of them fixed... most people don't see the
problem any more.

Tony



More information about the cvsnt mailing list