Kernel panic on SMP systems with ext3 file systems is now fixed.

A few bugs, including one in ext3 that could cause a kernel panic
on SMP systems, are fixed in this kernel errata.

In the 2.4.18-3 kernel, a timing change exposed a previously-unseen
race condition in ext3 which could occasionally cause the kernel
to panic on SMP systems. The 2.4.18-4 kernel corrects this problem.

In addition, under the 2.4.18-3 kernel it was not possible to build modules
for the bigmem kernel (used for machines with memory with
addresses higher than 4GB) due to a typo in its header file
(__module_bigmem should have been __module__bigmem in the file
linux-rhconfig.h). This is now fixed.

Finally, bugs in the vsnprintf implementation and in the way the kernel
reads the /proc/stat file are now fixed.

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

The procedure for upgrading the kernel manually is documented at:
http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/howto/kernel-upgrade/
Please read the directions for your architecture carefully before
proceeding with the kernel upgrade.

Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network. Many
people find this to be an easier way to apply updates. To use Red Hat
Network, launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system. Note that you need to select the kernel
explicitly on default configurations of up2date.


If you experienced the filesystem panic, you are recommended to
check filesystem consistency. This bug will show up as one of
"kernel BUG at journal.c:406" or "kernel BUG at commit.c:535"
(The check is done in two places in the source code, and either
of them might show up.)

To force the filesystem check, log in as root, run
touch /forcefsck
and then reboot the system. It will check all the filesystems
after rebooting. This needs to be done only once after you
experience the panic.

64107 - Kernel Panic when running sendmail test

ext3, filesystem, kernel, panic, SMP