Advice requested regarding strange rdist error messages

[Phil Pfeiffer]

The incident that prompted this message happened under Ultrix, but I think
I've also seen this problem up under 4.3BSD Unix.

Problem:  rdist occasionally quits with strange error messages. 
This output fragment, for example, is from an rdist job I ran today:

> updating host boursin.wisc.edu
> need to remove: work/Wonly
> need to update: /usr/pfeiffer/pfeiffer/mainl/travel
> need to update: /usr/pfeiffer/pfeiffer/mainl/Earthwatch
> need to install: /usr/pfeiffer/pfeiffer/mainl/Monly
> need to install: /usr/pfeiffer/pfeiffer/mainl/LOCK
> need to update: /usr/pfeiffer/pfeiffer/mainl/muzak/badmusic
> need to update: /usr/pfeiffer/pfeiffer/mainl/muzak/lyrics
> need to update: /usr/pfeiffer/pfeiffer/mainl/muzak/misc
> need to update: /usr/pfeiffer/pfeiffer/mainl/muzak/weasels
> rdist: /usr/pfeiffer/pfeiffer/mainl/muzak/rdist010562: No such file or directory
 
rdist exited with a "1" status.  A second run produced the same messages and
same exit status;  a third run finally succeeded.  

I was wondering whether the problem was write-access conflicts.  Even though 
I am running rdist with the "v" switch on  (don't output changes, just report
them), the program may still be trying to write-access files it touches. 
Furthermore, when this problem cropped up today, I was running another
simultaneous rdist that touched the same files, but from "the other side"
(for my application, I need to know what entries are only in A, what entries
are only in B, and what files have been changed between A and B).  In the
past, I think this rdist problem has cropped up when I was manually scanning
files at the same time an rdist job was touching them.

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Any suggestions or comments would be most appreciated.
-- 
-- Phil Pfeiffer

...!{harvard,ihnp4,seismo,topaz}!uwvax!pfeiffer
(608) 263-7308