Subject: Linux-Development Digest #823
From: Digestifier <Linux-Development-Request@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>
To: Linux-Development@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: Linux-Development@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU
Date:     Sun, 12 Jun 94 17:13:06 EDT

Linux-Development Digest #823, Volume #1         Sun, 12 Jun 94 17:13:06 EDT

Contents:
  Re: My problem? GCC problem? Linux problem? (Brandon S. Allbery)
  Re: My problem? GCC problem? Linux problem? (Al Longyear)
  Re: My problem? GCC problem? Linux problem? (Keith Smith)
  Re: Frustrated with new kernels (Hamish Coleman)
  Re: DOS program to read Linux EXT2FS partition? (Ulf Bartelt)
  Re: Filesystem semantics protecting meta data ... and users data (David Holland)
  Re: [Q] tracing I/O port activity ? (H Visage)
  Re: Making a Boot disk for Gateway 2000  (was LI040404) (Kirk Woerner)
  Re: ps: SIZE < RSS??? (Ledford George D)
  Re: Support for Intel Above B (Luc Suryo)
  Re: beginners question to Xlib programming (Elaine Walton)
  Re: WordPerfect printing (Mark A. Davis)
  IDE PERF. PATCH SECURITY HOLE (Frank Lofaro)
  Re: Buslogic 445S driver (Eric Youngdale)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: bsa@kf8nh.wariat.org (Brandon S. Allbery)
Subject: Re: My problem? GCC problem? Linux problem?
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 1994 13:34:26 GMT

In article <1994Jun12.041640.14823@ksmith.com>, keith@ksmith.com (Keith Smith) says:
+---------------
| In article <1994Jun11.040132.23564@kf8nh.wariat.org>,
| Brandon S. Allbery <bsa@kf8nh.wariat.org> wrote:
| 
| >SCO's cc is an obsolete Microsoft C port.  rcc is even worse; it's a
| 
| No it is _not_ obsolete.  It is generally 1 rev, behind the DOS version. 
+------------->8

Hm.  I may have to pick on my SCO contacts... they had left me with the
impression that they couldn't get MSC source any more, so they had to do their
own maintenance on an older version.

++Brandon
-- 
Brandon S. Allbery         kf8nh@kf8nh.ampr.org          bsa@kf8nh.wariat.org
The FUDs at Microsoft are shouting "Kill The Wabi!"

------------------------------

From: longyear@netcom.com (Al Longyear)
Subject: Re: My problem? GCC problem? Linux problem?
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 1994 00:42:24 GMT

jamesl@netcom.com (James Logajan) writes:

>Wayne Throop (throopw%sheol@concert.net) wrote:
>: ::     void main() { example("Hello!"); }

>: It probably doesn't cause your sigsegv on linux,
>: but it may be worth noting that defining main to return void
>: is illegal in C, and always has been.  Borrowing from the
>: comp.lang.c FAQ:

It has not "always been illegal". It _is_ invalid in ANSI, but if you follow
the original K&R specification, then there is no statement to the return
value of the main() procedure.

>: 5.12:        Can I declare main as void, to shut off these annoying "main
>:      returns no value" messages?  (I'm calling exit(), so main
>:      doesn't return.)

>: A:   No.  main must be declared as returning an int, and as taking
>:      either zero or two arguments (of the appropriate type).  If
>:      you're calling exit() but still getting warnings, you'll have to
>:      insert a redundant return statement (or use some kind of
>:      "notreached" directive, if available).

>Old K&R 'C' defined 'void' the same as 'int'. Lots of old code placed
>voids in front of a lot of things that properly returned 'int', like
>printf. This was done, obviously in bad form, to shut up lint.

That procedure is just as bad as declaring a procedure as returning an
"int" but not return anything. Lint also complains if you declare a
procedure as returning an "int" but do not return the "int".

>I'll have to take serious issue with the so-called "comp.lang.c FAQ"
>on what main takes as arguments: it can take 0, 1, 2, or 3 arguments. The
>common names and types of these arguments is left as an exercise for
>the reader.

Only the types are defined. Any name may be used.

>I've never read it, and after getting something as basic
>and simple as main() arguments wrong, I can't suggest it to anyone.

If you haven't read it then why do you feel that you can comment on
it? Go and read it, then come back and comment on it. Or better yet,
take this discussion to the comp.lang.c news group. It is that group's
FAQ.

>(I have no quarrel with its statements regarding the return type of
>main. But it should be noted that virtually all standard 'C' compilers
>are not as strident as the authors of this FAQ.)

>Just out of curiousity, anybody know of any systems where void main() {}
>causes problems?

This will cause problems on any "pure" stack machine. The processors
such as the iNTEL where the fixed point results are returned in
registers, then there is no problem. On machines such as Unisys
(Burroughs), then not returning what is declared will cause the stack
to creep.

"C" is a language designed to run on processors other than the iNTEL.
-- 
Al Longyear           longyear@netcom.com

------------------------------

From: keith@ksmith.com (Keith Smith)
Subject: Re: My problem? GCC problem? Linux problem?
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 94 04:16:40 GMT

In article <1994Jun11.040132.23564@kf8nh.wariat.org>,
Brandon S. Allbery <bsa@kf8nh.wariat.org> wrote:

>SCO's cc is an obsolete Microsoft C port.  rcc is even worse; it's a

No it is _not_ obsolete.  It is generally 1 rev, behind the DOS version. 
SCO also has a port of the INTEL or Microsoft c compiler for the Pentium
I think.  I threw most of the stuff away. 
-- 
Keith Smith aka Digital Designs                 keith@ksmith.com
5719 Archer Rd.                    Free Usenet News and Internet Mail Services
Hope Mills, NC 28348-2201                    (910) 423-4216/7389/7391
Somewhere in the Styx of North Carolina ...       PEP+14.4K/14.4/14.4

------------------------------

From: hamish@zot.apana.org.au (Hamish Coleman)
Subject: Re: Frustrated with new kernels
Date: 12 Jun 1994 22:07:50 +1000

In <2skp9a$lti@winx03.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de> tom@wpzd07.pzlc.uni-wuerzburg.de (Thomas Heiling) writes:
>  It is true, that's very vague, *but* have you tried to use on off the
>  newer ( Version >= 1.1.13 ) kernels ?
>  If you are on the Internet, you find very fast, that your old
>  net-0.32b Binaries doesn't work anymore. And there is no README,
>  which explains the Changes. ( There is a inet/README, but there is
>  no File, which says you must change your complete Net-Binaries ).
>  
>  The patch of the day - Syndrom is going on, I tried compiling 1.1.13,
>  Hey won't compile ! Cannot find ... Search the Sources, Makefile Change,
>  new Compile. O.K. Booting -> No network possible,no ping to localhost,
>  no Nfs. Immediately rebooted.
>  Tried the 1.1.16 Kernel yesterday - Same problems.
>  So on this Machine I 'll stay with 1.0.9 and at my Main Machine I go
>  with 1.1.12 until there is a stable kernel.

Just as an opposite experience :-   I have run every patchlevel since 1.1.0
(and many before, but thats got nothing to do with this) and have not had
any major problems with any of them.  

I havent had to upgrade any of my Networking binaries either (some of which
are probably still of the SLS 0.95 vintage too). Oh, ok, my arp command
broke - but how often do you use the arp command?  And just to ward off the
comments of "but you arent using your networking much", my linux machine is
serving as a local news/mail server and is the local router too.

I can only remember one other program that has broken in that period - and
that is my ps command,  and even then, it wasnt broken as such, just giving
me incorrect information as to the TTY of the processes  - not supprising
considering that _Major_ changes to the TTY code had been done.  Still, it
was a simple problem to fix too.

Also - complaints that 1.1.x is not stable are kind of silly, considering
that the 1.1.x series of patches are specifically earmarked as development,
unstable, beta-testing.  ..  etc, kernels.  (and a note on that topic, the
levels of stability that I have experienced with Linuxes "beta" versions is
higher than that which I have experienced with lots of "production" software.


-- 
Use Linux!                                         hamish@zot.apana.org.au
|-----------------| Bill posters will be shot on sight |-----------------|
``Life is like a grapefruit ... it's sort of orangey-yellow and dimpled on
the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle.  It's got pips inside too. Oh,
and some people have half a one for breakfast.'' -- Ford Prefect

------------------------------

From: stub@pce60.rz.tu-clausthal.de (Ulf Bartelt)
Subject: Re: DOS program to read Linux EXT2FS partition?
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 1994 13:23:05 GMT

JoSH Lehan (jlehan@galaxy.csc.calpoly.edu) wrote:
: Is there a MeSs-DOS program out there that will access Linux EXT2FS
: partitions?  This would be *very* useful...  I've trashed my /etc/passwd so
: many times I've memorized what cylinder, head, and sector the file's at
: (thank goodness for low-level disk editors that bypass DOS).

: I'm looking for info on how the EXT2 filesystem is laid out: where the
: superblocks are, the fields in them and how they are related to the rest of
: the filesystem, the inodes and how they map to the directory structure and
: the files, etc.  If there isn't a MeSs-DOS program to read Linux partitions
: already, this would be something more to add to my list of stuff I want to
: do when I finally get the time...  :-)

DOSish utils to access an ext2 filesystem would be nice - indeed !
But imagine the consequences: Just having these written, someone asks for
minix, minix2 (minix1-utils are somewhere on simtel if I remember it right),
xiafs, isofs, sysVfs, ..., and all these with support for the doubling
device driver...

The easier way to fix broken things on linux boot paritions is a bootable
rescue disk or (if not lilo is the broken thing) a small rescue partition...

Bye !
      Ulf.

--
Ulf Bartelt | 2:2437/120.666@fidonet.org | stub@zaphod.in.tu-clausthal.de
            |                            | stub@linux.rz.tu-clausthal.de

------------------------------

Crossposted-To: comp.benchmarks,comp.sys.sun.admin,comp.security.unix
Subject: Re: Filesystem semantics protecting meta data ... and users data
From: dholland@husc7.harvard.edu (David Holland)
Date: 10 Jun 94 10:25:22


neideck@nestvx.enet.dec.com's message of 9 Jun 1994 11:26:05 GMT said:

 > >                                    <--- file X is written, using
 > >                                         blocks formerly from file Y
 > 
 > Which are zero-filled at that time.

Are they? Is this *guaranteed*? Is there anything that insures that
these zeros are *written out* before the blocks can be reused? Suppose
the crash occurs after the old file's cleared inode has been written,
but before the zeroed blocks have been written out? Then a second
crash, at the wrong time, could have this same effect. Although I
suppose in this case fsck could take care of the problem.

Not having source handy, I don't know the answer to these questions. 

Nonetheless, the behavior you describe is still what I'd consider
broken: after the crash, the new file is found to exist and have the
correct length - but contain nothing. That is, the system fails
silently. 

Btw...

 > >    file Y's inode is written --->
 > 
 > Can't happen now (after all, Y was deleted and hence it's inode
 > is *gone*). 

...the inode has to be cleared or otherwise marked unused. Otherwise,
at fsck time, file Y will rise from the grave...

--
   - David A. Holland          | "The right to be heard does not automatically
     dholland@husc.harvard.edu |  include the right to be taken seriously."

------------------------------

From: s9121110@rkw-risc.cs.up.ac.za (H Visage)
Subject: Re: [Q] tracing I/O port activity ?
Date: 11 Jun 1994 07:07:07 GMT

Daniel Hirschberg (daniel@ing.puc.cl) wrote:
: I'd like to write a device driver for an internal UPS card I own, but there is
: no info about it specs so I would like to trace it's activity through
: the I/O ports it reports in use... in order to figure out the way in
: works!


: Is there any way for doing this ?

: any help is really appreciated... the card works great under DOS... but
: DOS... you know!

: by the way... does anybody know a way to reach a brand "The Complete PC"
: to try to get the specs for their Complete Answering Machine voice mail
: solution... It's really nice... that woud make possible a voice mail/email
: gateway... real nice!!

: best regards,
: --
:        _______________________
:       /\                      \
:       \_| Daniel Hirschberg J. |
:         | daniel@ing.puc.cl    |
:         | Santiago, CHILE.     |
:         |   ___________________|_
:        \_/____________________/

: PS: if possible send any answer via email... the local news server is a
: week late... but their working to bring it up to date :-) 

--


Good Bye

Hendrik Visage
=============================================
One satisfied LINUX user,
 VIVA SLACKWARE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
=============================================
 EMail:
   hvisage@rkw-risc.cs.up.ac.za
   9121110@rkw-lan.cs.up.ac.za


------------------------------

From: ckw@panix.com (Kirk Woerner)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: Making a Boot disk for Gateway 2000  (was LI040404)
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 1994 15:45:29 GMT

In article <GISLI.94Jun12090207@timoshenko.eecs.umich.edu> gisli@timoshenko.eecs.umich.edu (Gisli Ottarsson) writes:
>From: gisli@timoshenko.eecs.umich.edu (Gisli Ottarsson)
>Subject: Re: Making a Boot disk for Gateway 2000  (was LI040404)
>Date: 12 Jun 1994 13:02:07 GMT


> In article <LJS.94Jun9164435@gano.cs.brown.edu>,
> Lee J. Silverman <ljs@cs.brown.edu> wrote:

>  >> Well, I solved my problem with creating a boot floppy to get my
>  >> Gateway 2000 going.  I thought it would be appropriate for me to
>  >> share the recipe with everyone.  If anyone else is dealing with
>  >> this, I hope this helps!

>  >> The original problem is that Gateway's large IDE drives have more
>  >> than 1048 cylinders, which means you can't install LILO on them
>  >> easily.

>>>>>> "DE" == Drew Eckhardt <drew@kinglear.cs.colorado.edu> replies:

>  DE> There's no problem - you just have to use the BIOS mapping 
>  DE> returned by the drive when partitioning it and you need 
>  DE> a disktab entry reflecting the BIOS mapping.  

>Easier still: In DOS fire up the CMOS setup utility (ctrl+alt+S on my
>system), find the disk parameters and copy them to a user defined mode
>(USER1).  Linux doesn't seem to like the "Auto" feature.  On my
>Gateway 4DX2-66P with 1048 cyl, this works famously.

>                                        Gisli
>--
I seem to be getting a number of errors from my hard disk when using fdisk.  
I know some of this is in the FAQ but it's a little confusing because I think 
there are many problems at work

On occasion, I get the message that the disk is greater than 1024 sectors and 
some software may not handle it. My system seems to run fine anyway (I changed 
the CMOS setup to have (USER1 1048 ...) to get around the LILO prob. My 
question is if the end of this disk is not in my root Linux partion does this 
matter to Linux?  (I read some place that it wouldn't)  If not, is there a way 
to suppress this message?

I get another message saying my  "partition does not start on cylinder 
boundary" AND "Partition X has different phsyical/logical".  I think (can't 
remember) that these are BOTH on my first DOS partition..  Again, the system 
runs fine except for fdisk.  I can follow the directions in the FAQ, (run 
fdisk, delete and recreate the partitions in "sector mode")   The problem is 
that these directions assume 1) the first partition is a Linux partition, 
which in my case it's not, and 2) That I want to lose that data and all the 
data on my system (obviously I'd rather not).  Does Linux really care about 
this at all?  The system seems to work fine.

Thanks for any help and thanks to those that helped me before on the LILO/CMOS 
prob
Kirk
Name - Kirk Woerner
Work - ckw@secapl.com, http://www.secapl.com/secapl/Welcome.html
Play - ckw@panix.com, http:://ckw.dialup.access.net
Life - You can't reach me there from here

------------------------------

From: gdl297s@cnas.smsu.edu (Ledford George D)
Subject: Re: ps: SIZE < RSS???
Date: 12 Jun 1994 18:22:25 GMT

Robert Andrew Ryan (rr2b+@andrew.cmu.edu) wrote:
: I suspect that SIZE < RSS is a common situation when shared libraries
: are used.  (between SunOS, AIX 3, and HP-UX) I think shared library
: pages are usually counted in the resident segment size, but not in the
: process size.

: I don't know for a fact that this is what's going on but it fits all the
: facts I know.

: -Rob

Personally, it sounds to me like the program being used to gather information
about the RSS, be it in the kernel or ps or whatever, is most likely counting
dynamically allocated memory as part of the RSS ( I know I would ).  The means
if a program has a size of 32k on the drive, and when you run it, it allocates
a data array in memory of another 118k, then between those two and without
any shared programs you would have 150k RSS.  I looked at the man page for ps
and it was unclear to me whether or not the allocated memory would be counted
in the RSS figures, but I would venture to guess it is.  I say that because
I run some programs that don't use any shared code and they grow well above
their disk file size.

Doug Ledford


------------------------------

From: luc@pc-shop.twi.tudelft.nl (Luc Suryo)
Subject: Re: Support for Intel Above B
Date: 10 Jun 1994 07:52:38 +0200

John Will (john.will@dscmail.com) wrote:
: ES>I recently got a intel above board ISA card and want to use this with my
: ES>linux machine. When I install it, linux correctly recognizes the amount
: ES>of memory available in the machine (12Mb), but crashes during mem_init....

: If you ever find out, let me know. :-)  I tried a similar thing a long
: time ago with an ISA extended memory board, and got the same results.
: DOS ran fine with the card, but Unix crashed as soon as it attempted to
: use the memory board's memory.  I'm just curious at this point... :-)


Can somebody who has actualy got it working please post some info?

Thnx
Luc

------------------------------

From: ewalton@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Elaine Walton)
Subject: Re: beginners question to Xlib programming
Date: 12 Jun 1994 19:55:02 GMT

In article <2tdv36$mql@clark.edu>, PETERSEN KIRK A <un17@clark.edu> wrote:
>
>    I compile with the following command line:
>
>gcc -ansi -O2 -m486 -o prog -lX11 main.c
>
>Kirk Petersen

Libraries must be at the end of the line:

gcc -ansi -O2 -m486 -o prog main.c -lX11

[Why? I don't know.]
-Sean

------------------------------

From: mark@taylor.infi.net (Mark A. Davis)
Subject: Re: WordPerfect printing
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 1994 19:29:05 GMT

joel@wam.umd.edu (Joel M. Hoffman) writes:

>In article <2tcp64$o8c@bones.et.byu.edu> haymoree@newt.ee.byu.edu (Ed Haymore) writes:
>>Hui-Hui Hu (hdesiato@cs.umd.edu) wrote:
>>| As I'm anxiously waiting for a release of dosemu that works with
>>| new kernels, and being bothered by a stream of in-house DOS weenies :)
>>| I think that something I would *truly* be grateful for is
>>| something like 'wp2ps': convert WordPerfect files to PostScript,
>>| or actually anything, as long as I can print it.
>>
>>What about using WP's built-in postscript capability?  I installed a

>I think the original idea was to avoid having to fire up dosemu just
>to print a WP file.  (BTW, there is a wp2latex program, which works
>fairly well.)

>Can dosemu read from stdin? If so, that would also provide a way of
>doing what the poster wants.  E.g., something like:

Just upgrade the MS-"DOS" WordPerfect version to the Unix version and use
the COFF/IBCS compatibility.  The upgrade/crossgrade costs are actually
surprisingly low for a single license.

-- 
  /--------------------------------------------------------------------------\
  | Mark A. Davis    | Lake Taylor Hospital | Norfolk, VA (804)-461-5001x431 |
  | Sys.Administrator|  Computer Services   | mark@taylor.infi.net           |
  \--------------------------------------------------------------------------/

------------------------------

From: ftlofaro@unlv.edu (Frank Lofaro)
Subject: IDE PERF. PATCH SECURITY HOLE
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 94 20:38:22 GMT

The IDE performance patch has a serious security hole!  ANY USER can
set the multiple mode and irq unmasking if they have access to the
drive. Even if it is ONLY READ-ONLY access to one partition.

I have a Seagate 1239A (a total piece of crap), and a Samsung drive.
The Samsung works fine with the IDE patch, but the Seagate trashes
file systems badly if ANY IDE performance features are enabled. Now if
a user has even read-only access to any partition on /dev/hda (the
Seagate), they can trash all the filesystems there. NOT GOOD.

I think putting an suser() check on the setting ioctls would be the
best solution.


------------------------------

From: ericy@cais.cais.com (Eric Youngdale)
Subject: Re: Buslogic 445S driver
Date: 12 Jun 1994 20:48:47 GMT

In article <2tcoeg$83v@sundog.tiac.net>,
Bill Heiser <bill@bhhome.ci.net> wrote:
>I am replacing an Adaptec 1542b with a Buslogic 445S so I can take
>advantage of my shiny new VL bus :-)
>
>Which driver is best for me to use?  Is the new Buslogic driver "safe"
>yet?  i.e. is it causing anyone any filesystem problems?  Should I just
>(continue to) use the Adaptec driver for now?
>
>My buslogic card says it's a "Rev C".  (I've seen some recent posting
>concerning Rev D I think).  Should I contact Buslogic for an upgrade?
>Maybe this was old stock? (it came from Hard Drives Intl).

        I would talk to them about this.  The current rev is Rev E.

        The basic problem is that the 445S at revisions D and earlier is 
unreliable with memory accesses above 16Mb.  The fix is simple - enable 
the bounce buffers that linux uses for boards like the 1542.  If you have 
only 16Mb or less, it does not matter at all, of course.

        When the Buslogic driver was first added to the kernel we were
unaware of the problem, so there are patchlevels of kernel that will be
unreliable in > 16Mb systems.  Unreliable is understating it a bit - it
actually corrupts your disk quite severely.  Anyway, I think that with
pl18 we put in a patch to enable bounce buffers for all buslogic boards. 
Once we find out how to narrow this down to specific models/revision
levels of the board, we will relax this restriction, but for now stick
with pl18 or later.

        I should add that apparently it is not possible to get meaningful 
information from the board itself as to what revision level it is - we 
may be reduced to using bios signatures to determine which ones are "safe"
above 16Mb.

-Eric

-- 
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.  But I have promises to keep,
And lines to code before I sleep, And lines to code before I sleep."

------------------------------


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