2.4.23/others and ip_conntrack causing hangs

[James Bourne]

Hi all,
I wanted to bring up an issue with ip_conntrack in 2.4.23, 2.4.22, and at
least 2.4.21 (sorry, didn't try 2.4.20).

The issue is that as long as there are connections being tracked, the
ip_conntrack module will not unload.  I can understand why this might be,
but the problem is that ip_conntrack will hang rmmod and modprobe -r until
such time as all the connections have been closed.

I think we need something like an ip_conntrack_flush or else completely drop
the connections when the module is unloaded (as previously done) as this
becomes an issue for people who need to drop their ip_tables and reload the
modules (perhaps to correct other issues) especially ip_conntrack...  

The only way to reload the modules right now (yes, I know removing modules
from a running kernel is dodgey anyway) is to completely drop the network
interfaces which kills off the connections *anyway*.  So, dropping the
connections shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for the consideration.

Regards
James

-- 
James Bourne                  | Email:            jbourne@xxxxxxxxxxxx          
Unix Systems Administrator    | WWW:           http://www.hardrock.org
Custom Unix Programming       | Linux:  The choice of a GNU generation
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 "All you need's an occasional kick in the philosophy." Frank Herbert  

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