i did not read the mdadm code. but i suspect there is a pointer misuse when there is no configuration file available. ming ---------------------------------------------------- [root@localhost ~]# strace mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 execve("/sbin/mdadm", ["mdadm", "--assemble", "/dev/md0"], [/* 23 vars */]) = 0 uname({sys="Linux", node="localhost.localdomain", ...}) = 0 brk(0) = 0x515000 mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x2aaaaaac0000 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=112968, ...}) = 0 mmap(NULL, 112968, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x2aaaaaac1000 close(3) = 0 open("/lib64/tls/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0`\305\1\0"..., 640) = 640 lseek(3, 624, SEEK_SET) = 624 read(3, "\4\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\1\0\0\0GNU\0\0\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\4\0\0\0"..., 32) = 32 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1488892, ...}) = 0 mmap(NULL, 2305992, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x2aaaaabc1000 mprotect(0x2aaaaaceb000, 1085384, PROT_NONE) = 0 mmap(0x2aaaaadea000, 24576, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x129000) = 0x2aaaaadea000 mmap(0x2aaaaadf0000, 16328, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED| MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x2aaaaadf0000 close(3) = 0 mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x2aaaaadf4000 mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x2aaaaadf5000 mprotect(0x2aaaaadea000, 12288, PROT_READ) = 0 arch_prctl(ARCH_SET_FS, 0x2aaaaadf4b00) = 0 munmap(0x2aaaaaac1000, 112968) = 0 brk(0) = 0x515000 brk(0x536000) = 0x536000 open("/dev/md0", O_RDWR) = 3 fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFBLK|0660, st_rdev=makedev(9, 0), ...}) = 0 ioctl(3, 0x800c0910, 0x7fffff98a6c0) = 0 open("/etc/mdadm.conf", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) --- SIGSEGV (Segmentation fault) @ 0 (0) --- +++ killed by SIGSEGV +++ [root@localhost ~]# mdadm --version mdadm - v1.6.0 - 4 June 2004 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html