[ale] slocate updatedb locked files?

[Jeff Lightner]

Some time back (mid-October) we noticed a dramatic increase in CPU load
during a weekend.   On researching this we were able to trace it back to
a file on an ext3 filesystem that would cause any process that attempted
to access it to hang (thereby adding to the runq).  Since the slocate
cron job ran every day as did an incremental or full backup they too
would get hung and add to the runq.  This was the first time such an
issue had been noted in over a year of running this RH AS 3 system.
The issue was solved by rebooting the server.   The file in question was
easily accessible after the reboot.

Overnight our incremental backup failed and I see once again that
slocate/updatedb has hung on a file but it is not the same file nor even
the same filesystem as the prior one though it is an ext3 filesystem.

We're going to reboot to clear the problem but I'm wondering if this is
being caused by slocate/updatedb or is it just the first thing that
finds it.  If the latter; what is causing the initial file lock.

P.S.  Before anyone suggests it - of course we have tried doing
progressive kills on all processes referencing the file - the kills
including kill -9 do not work.
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