Strange effect when stat-ing softlink to directory mounted from server

[Dr. Alexander Klein]

Hello,

I have encountered a strange error when I was trying to print() a  
figure to a file. I wanted it to go to a directory from which I had  
read dozens of gigabytes with load() and to which I had written  
hundreds of files with cvswrite() already, and never had a problem.

The directory is imported via a CIFS-mount, and is in turn referred to  
by a symbolic link (../EEG-Data) in the parent directory from which  
Octave is run.

Everything else I've done so far worked, but not printing, and stat- 
ing the link doesn't work either:

octave:2> set(gcf(),"visible",false)
octave:3> plot(sin(1:10))
octave:4> print ("../EEG-Data/test.png")
error: drawnow: nonexistent directory `../EEG-Data/'
error: called from:
error:   /usr/share/octave/3.2.3/m/plot/print.m at line 699, column 7
octave:4> [info,err,msg]=stat ("../EEG-Data")
info = [](0x0)
err = -1
msg = Value too large for defined data type


Then again, stat-ing directly from the shell isn't a problem:

address@hidden:~/Linux-Austausch/OctArt$ stat ../EEG-Data
  File: „../EEG-Data“ -> „/mnt/lan/PC8695XP/Linux-Austausch/EEG-Data/“
  Size: 43        	Blocks: 0          IO Block: 4096   symbolische  
Verknüpfung
Device: 801h/2049d      Inode: 540017      Links: 1
Access: (0777/lrwxrwxrwx)  Uid: ( 1000/administrator)   Gid: ( 1000/ 
administrator)
Access: 2011-09-30 11:01:49.919781047 +0200
Modify: 2011-09-28 10:00:32.178055266 +0200
Change: 2011-09-28 10:00:32.178055266 +0200

As you can see, the Octave on the machine is quite old (3.2.3), but  
that's the version coming with Xubuntu 10.04, and since it's a very  
old Pentium III machine, I haven't yet taken the time to compile  
anything newer.

Is this a known problem that was fixed in later versions?

Thanks in advance,

        Alex

--
          Dr. Alexander Klein, Diplom-Mathematiker

Physiologisches Institut       |               TransMIT Zentrum
Raum 543                       |        für Numerische Methoden
Aulweg 129                     |          Heinrich-Buff-Ring 44
35392 Giessen                  |                  35392 Giessen