i came home from dinner tonight, and found several pages of this in
the logs:

0x360f0a08 : fid = ((0x7f000001.0x1fffe.0x17dc2)), comp = sepia03.jpg, vol = 351
80988
        state = Normal, stat = { 49662, 1, 1052156559, 110, 0644, 1, File }, rc 
rights = 15
        VV = {[ 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ] [ 0x38e78527 8963 ] [ 0 ]}
        voltype = [0 1 0], fake = 0, fetching = 0 local = 0
        rep = 1, data = 1, owrite = 0, dirty = 0, shadow = 0
        mvstat = Normal
        parent = ((0x7f000001.0x1889.0x17cf4), 360f2288), children = 0
        priority = 25 (56121), hoard = [0, -2, 0], lastref = 354775822
        mle_bindings = (0, 0), cleanstat = [-1, -1]
        cachefile = [ 00/02/1D/B1, 983373, 49662/49662 ]
        refs = [0 0 0], openers = [0 0 0]       lastresolved = 0
0x35ff0788 : fid = ((0x7f000001.0x207fe.0x18242)), comp = 4358.jpg, vol = 351809
88
        state = Normal, stat = { 17272, 1, 1052226651, 110, 0775, 1, File }, rc 
rights = 15
        VV = {[ 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ] [ 0x762269a 8679 ] [ 0 ]}
        voltype = [0 1 0], fake = 0, fetching = 0 local = 0
        rep = 1, data = 1, owrite = 0, dirty = 0, shadow = 0
        mvstat = Normal
        parent = ((0x7f000001.0x1939.0x1818c), 35ffac08), children = 0
        priority = 25 (50191), hoard = [0, -2, 0], lastref = 380148865
        mle_bindings = (0, 0), cleanstat = [-1, -1]
        cachefile = [ 00/02/26/D7, 82424, 17272/17272 ]
        refs = [0 0 0], openers = [0 0 0]       lastresolved = 0
0x35ee3688 : fid = ((0x7f000001.0x20ffe.0x18682)), comp = 11.jpg, vol = 35180988
        state = Normal, stat = { 68273, 1, 1052328915, 110, 0644, 1, File }, rc rights = 15
        VV = {[ 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ] [ 0x38e78527 11739 ] [ 0 ]}
        voltype = [0 1 0], fake = 0, fetching = 0 local = 0
        rep = 1, data = 1, owrite = 0, dirty = 0, shadow = 0
        mvstat = Normal
        parent = ((0x7f000001.0x1a15.0x1851a), 35ee8388), children = 0
        priority = 25 (38162), hoard = [0, -2, 0], lastref = 395996284
        mle_bindings = (8209908, 0), cleanstat = [0, 1052328915]
        cachefile = [ 00/02/30/73, 966842, 68273/68273 ]
        refs = [0 0 0], openers = [0 0 0]       lastresolved = 0

followed by a bunch of stats:

VFS Operations
 Operation                 Counts                    Times
Root          :      0  [    0     0     0]  :    0.0 (  0.0)
OpenByFD      :      0  [    0     0     0]  :    0.0 (  0.0)
Open          :  13357503  [  162    30     1]  :    1.1 ( 79.9)
Close         :  13356008  [    0     0    73]  :    0.2 ( 36.6)
[...]

then it dies.

i tried to restart venus, and this happened:

[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:06 ] Coda Venus, version 5.3.20
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:06 ] Logfile initialized with LogLevel = 0 at Wed May  7 23:17:06 2003

[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:06 ] E StatsInit()
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:06 ] L StatsInit()
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:06 ] BeginRvmFlush (1, 60, F)
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:06 ] EndRvmFlush
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:06 ] BeginRvmTruncate (1, 220, F)
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:06 ] EndRvmTruncate

[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:52 ] BeginRvmFlush (1, 46476, F)
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:52 ] EndRvmFlush
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:52 ] BeginRvmTruncate (525, 46636, F)
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:54 ] EndRvmTruncate
[ X(00) : 0000 : 23:17:54 ] E adv_daemon::adv_daemon: AdviceServer

[ A(17) : 0000 : 23:17:54 ] adv_daemon::main()

[ H(06) : 0000 : 23:17:54 ] HDBDaemon about to sleep on hdbdaemon_sync

[ W(19) : 0000 : 23:17:54 ] FidToNodeid: called for volume root (7f000000)!!!

[ F(05) : 0000 : 23:17:59 ] *****  FATAL SIGNAL (11) *****
                   

it died right away:

23:17:59 Fatal Signal (11); pid 11743 becoming a zombie...
23:17:59 You may use gdb to attach to 11743


i attached gdb to the zombie, and here's what i found:

0x420292e5 in sigsuspend () from /lib/i686/libc.so.6
(gdb) where
#0  0x420292e5 in sigsuspend () from /lib/i686/libc.so.6
#1  0x080aa9cd in strcpy ()
#2  <signal handler called>
#3  0x4002b30b in coalesce (tid=0x8103810, err=0x15093ec0) at rds_coalesce.c:71
#4  0x4002bbbe in rds_do_free (list=0x811b754, mode=no_flush) at rds_free.c:204
#5  0x080c7365 in strcpy ()
#6  0x08085fd6 in strcpy ()
#7  0x0806d1e1 in strcpy ()
#8  0x080a12b8 in strcpy ()
#9  0x080a0b46 in strcpy ()
#10 0x40098f56 in Create_Process_Part2 () at lwp.c:796
(gdb)              


i hope this helps! i don't really know what to make of that, and i can't
tell what initially triggered it.

-- 

steve simitzis : /sim' - i - jees/
          pala : saturn5 productions
 www.steve.org : 415.282.9979
  hath the daemon spawn no fire?