System on the blink

[Peter da Silva]

In article <1991Mar2.212243.1131 at rushpc> news at rushpc (Usenet news administrator) writes:
> I fixed the problem by removing the file /etc/default/cron.  I recently
> created this file with the sole contents of: CRONLOG=YES.

Background: /dev/console is only the control device if its "first open" is
for the leader of a process group. If it was already open it'll never become
a control terminal.

Theory: cron is printing a message about cron logging being on on the console,
and then never closes it. So no further "first open" occurs and there's no
/dev/tty, etc.

To test: does this happen on vt01, vt02, etc?

To fix: adb -w cron to make it open another file.
-- 
Peter da Silva.  `-_-'  peter at ferranti.com
+1 713 274 5180.  'U`  "Have you hugged your wolf today?"