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ClamWin: can't update db 'cause of a \\ in the path

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skipc portable
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ClamWin: can't update db 'cause of a \\ in the path

This is an odd one I can't find any reference to anywhere... Calmwin 88.5, Win 2000 pro, sp4, no extra updates, FAT file system (a complete overwrite install over top of a freshly installed ME system - it deleted ME and any settings first, so it's fresh).

When it goes to update, or scan, it immediately finishes with an error that the parameters are wrong. Of course, I can't change them, and the displayed ones look fine. HOWEVER, when I look at the log left in the temp dir, it says it couldn't copy the file c:\temp\asdfg with what looks like an OS return reason that c:\\temp\\asdfg was a wrong filespec. If the OS was getting asked for something with a "\\" in it, of course it's wrong!

Now it works on my other 2000/sp4 systems, and this is a minimal one, so other than portable apps on c:, nothing much there. I have even changed the spec for the temp dirs to c:\temp and removed references in any environment variable for temp to anything bu c:\temp. Of course, that's what I do on all machines, and they all work but this one.

I've tried changing the file paths in clamwin, and of course there are no file security settings for a FAT filesystem (I also run XP on FAT and it's fine with clamwin) to play with.

Anyone have any ideas on why the extra backslashes are being added somewhere along the line from app to OS?? It seems particular to the temp dir, and I've even deleted it and let the OS recreate it when it needed it, but still no diff.

Thanks in advance.

John T. Haller
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Try 0.88.7

Try 0.88.7. And it could be your FAT file system. FAT32 is prefered as otherwise you can run into CaSE IssUES with apps like ClamWin.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

skipc portable
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Just did. The log left in

Just did. The log left in \temp is more informative on this version. NOTE that the command line formed by portable clamwin (or clamwin, depending on who's writing this logfile) is adding the double backslashes. And it is FAT32 (I don't have any old FAT ones around, so it's I get used to calling it just FAT or NTFS...):

System Locale: ('en_US', 'cp1252')
Default Encoding: cp1252
command line path:
Scanning: "D:\\"
clamscan.exe command line: ".\clamscan.exe" --tempdir "c:\temp" --keep-mbox --stdout --database="..\..\..\Data\db" --log="c:\temp\tmp91eutv" --max-ratio=0 --no-mail --infected --max-files=50000 --max-space=4194304 --max-recursion=999 --show-progress --recursive --exclude="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\config\\default" --exclude="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\config\\SAM" --exclude="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\config\\SECURITY" --exclude="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\config\\software" --exclude="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\config\\software.alt" --exclude="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\config\\system" --exclude="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\config\\system.alt" --exclude="[^\]*\.dbx$" --exclude="[^\]*\.tbb$" --exclude="[^\]*\.pst$" --exclude="[^\]*\.dat$" --exclude="[^\]*\.log$" --exclude="[^\]*\.evt$" --exclude="[^\]*\.nsf$" --exclude="[^\]*\.ntf$" --exclude="[^\]*\.chm$" --kill "D:\\"
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "wxDialogStatus.pyo", line 321, in OnThreadFinished
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'getpid'
Could not write to the log file ..\..\..\Data\log\ClamScanLog.txt. Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'c:\\temp\\tmp91eutv'

John T. Haller
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Command Line

Actually, that command line is generated by the ClamWin interface... not the ClamWin Portable launcher. The ClamWin Portable launcher only updates the ClamWin.conf file. Perhaps ClamWin doesn't like relative paths on Win2K anymore.

Try copying the ClamWinPortable.ini from the ClamWinPortable\Other\ClamWinPortableSource directory to the ClamWinPortable directory. That will force it to use full paths. If it still doesn't work, then something is wrong with the PC itself.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

skipc portable
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moved ini

Copied the ini (no ini with the clamwinportable.exe to begin with). No difference in the log left in \temp.

I've looked for case differences in the env vars, the command line, and the dir names and all is the same. Looks fine from a cmd box too.

I do notice that part of the command line looks fine, and only AFTER the --exclude param does it start using \\ everywhere. Then in the copy from \temp too.

I added the vmware player to use Linux concurrently, since it uses the temp dir heavily, and it's fine and depositing things there without a problem. Tried open office portable, NVU portable, gimp portable, and even loaded a few other things as installs and all works fine. Only clamwin seems to be doing this, but I won't count out the possibility that it's also a PC problem.

Any ideas on where to look for the broken piece if it is the PC? What tool might trace down what specific OS part is making clamwin put the dbl \\ in? I've not ever seen this and haven't had to go this deep to trace anything n a long while...

Thanks.

skipc portable
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fixed

Well, we'll never know where this boneheaded behaviour came from, but a format and clean install and reinstall of everything on it fixed it (rather than w2k over a new ME install).

I only wish Microsoft was forced to include all of THESE hours into their Total Cost of Ownership numbers they present to convince folks they're so great... It might turn out stone tablets would be more efficient than working with their OS! Wink

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