[Boost-users] Solaris Container

Subject: [Boost-users] Solaris Container
From: Bernhard Duebi (boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-09-07 16:06:26

Hello,

I'm not a programmer, I'm only a system engineer, so please be gentle.

One of our code producers compiled boost in a Solaris Zone/Container using
SUN Studio. For testing he used a program called test. I guess it is part
of the distribution. It tests if 2+2==4 with different calls to boost.
The test program runs on real machines, but not in Containers.

Looking at the output of truss I found a probable cause. The program
climbs up the process tree using the proc filesystem until it reaches the
root of the tree. In a real machine the init process has PID 1 and this
seems the sign for the program to stop climbing. In a Container the zsched
process has a random PID and its PPID is the same as the PID. This leads
to an endless loop.

In the test.cpp file there is not much code besides the add function and
some calls to the boost library. So, I guess the process tree walk is done
somewhere in the boost library. My fellow co-worker denies this strictly.

As we both have no clue about boost, I want to ask you to sched some light
on this incident.
- Is it possible that boost does that process tree walk ?
- Is this a known problem ?
- Are there any hints how to solve this problem ?

I talked to SUN and they say it's not their problem. There is no official
whitepaper that requires that the init process always has PID 1.

Any help is appreciated
Sincerely
Bernhard

-- 
Minds are like parachutes
They only function when open