HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: gnu@cygnus.com
Subject: Re: assembly
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 14:13:59 GMT

>           define sd
>            stepi
>            x/i <address of pc>
>           end
>    the problem is how to get <address of pc> into the x/i command.  

x/i $pc

> 1) Is there a better group for how-to questions than gdb.bug for gdb?

I don't know of one.

	John Gilmore

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: ian@agranat.com (Ian Douglas Agranat)
Subject: Looking for MS-DOS GDB960
Organization: Agranat Systems Inc.
Distribution: gnu
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 19:00:22 GMT

We are using GDB960 (from Intel) and are hoping to find a version running
under MS-DOS for debugging in a DOS-shop environment (sigh - not enough
Unix stations to go around...)

If such a thing exists, I would appreciate any pointers you may have.

Thanks,


Ian Douglas Agranat		Consulting at
Agranat Systems, Inc.		Ungermann-Bass, Inc.
ian@Agranat.COM			iagranat@andr.UB.com

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: grossman@cygnus.com (Stu Grossman)
Subject: assembly
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 17:14:32 GMT

There is a much easier way to do what you want by using the `display' command.
display causes GDB to automatically display an expression whenever you get back
to command level.  So, the command `display/i $pc' will cause the next
instruction to be printed out in assembly language every time you get back to
command level.  You can also use `si' as an abbreviation for `stepi'.

		Stu Grossman

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: rw@rational.COM (Bob Weissman)
Subject: Has anyone ported gdb to AIX 3.2?
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Rational, Santa Clara, CA
Distribution: gnu
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 16:59:11 GMT

I need a port of gdb 4.6 to AIX 3.2 for the IBM RS/6000.

Has anyone done this yet?

Thanks,

--
-- Bob Weissman
-- Internet: rw@rational.com
-- UUCP:     uunet!igor!rw
--

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: phr@napa.telebit.com (Paul Rubin)
Subject: "path" command doc bug
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 21:26:58 GMT

  (gdb) help path
  Add directory DIR(s) to beginning of search path for object files.
  $cwd in the path means the current working directory.
  This path is equivalent to the $PATH shell variable.  It is a list of
  directories, separated by colons.  These directories are searched to find
  fully linked executable files and separately compiled object files as needed.

"help path" doesn't mention that "path" with no argument prints
out the current path.

Also, GDB should have an "info version" command which prints out
the current GDB version. This bug is for GDB 4.5.5, but I had
to start up a new GDB to find out.

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: phr@napa.telebit.com (Paul Rubin)
Subject: disassembly suggestion
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 22:32:20 GMT

The "disas" command should let you specify a range of source
line numbers to disassemble.  Alternatively or in addition, "disas"
and maybe the x/i command should annotate its output with
source line numbers where appropriate.  This would be helpful
for debugging optimizized code, to see which variables
have ended up in registers, etc.

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Richard Stallman)
Subject: GDB 4.6 bug corrected
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 08:10:16 GMT

On apple-gunkies in /usr/gnu/gcc, I ran gdb on cc1
and did
disp loop_stack.data.loop.start_label

GDB stopped at a breakpoint when loop_stack was 0,
and it got an error (not surprisingly) computing that expression.
It then said "disablng display 1 to avoid infinite recursion".

It should not disable the display.  It should simply
ignore that display when it gets an error, but leave it
enabled so that it will display as requested whenever it
is valid.

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: rheiger@renext.open.CH (Richard H. E. Eiger)
Subject: Re: Problems building gdb-4.6
Reply-To: rheiger@renext.open.ch
Organization: Olivetti (Schweiz) AG, Branch Office Berne
Distribution: gnu
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 15:01:00 GMT

In article <9210051547.AA06928@shrew.sanders.lockheed.com>  
aldrich@shrew.ai.mit.EDU (Chris Aldrich) writes:
> I can't get a clean build of gdb-4.6 under Interactive Systems SysV 3.2 rel  
3.0
> using the configure i386v32 host option.
> 
> 1. It keeps using cc, I have gcc but there is no option for specifying the
> compiler without a hack to the configured Makefile.
> 
> 2. I have problems in readline/readline.c with some of the terminal control
> definitions.  Could this be because the configure is not setting up to use
> the POSIX environment?
> 
> Any hints would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> -Steve K.
> 
> reply to kimball@shrew.sanders.lockheed.com

I keep having the same problems. For me it's actually even worse in that after  
gdb is built when I try to really debug something with it my system crashes  
horribly - not even a panic just a dirty reboot.

My platform is an Olivetti LSX 5020 (i486 EISA system) running UNIX V.4. The  
small (3 lines or so) program to be debugged is compiled with gcc (version  
2.2.2) with -ggdb option. I had no problem running gdb 4.6 on my sun 3/60.

Any suggestions?

	Richard

--
                         
    ___           _____2
   /   )  /  /   /        Richard H. E. Eiger
  /_ _/  /__/   /__       Ing. Informatik HTL
 /\     /  /   /          Unregistered NeXT fan
/  \   /  /   /_____      rheiger@renext.open.ch (NeXT mail welcome)

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: ts@orthogo.UUCP (Thomas Sabock)
Subject: Installing GDB 4.6 on mips-sony-news
Organization: Orthogon System GmbH, Bremen, Germany
Distribution: gnu
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 13:57:44 GMT

There are no mh- and mt- files in ./gdb/config .
A Makefile in ./bfd is not generated .
Debugging output from gcc-2.2.2 and libg++-2.2
with dbx is not possible.
Help !
Does GDB 4.6 run under NEWS-OS 4.0 ?
Who can post me the location of the appropiate 
configuration files ?

So long and Thanks a Lot !
-- 
Thomas Sabock      Orthogon System GmbH
(ts@orthogo.uucp)  Linzer Strasse 4
Tel +49 421 219136 D-2800 Bremen 33
Fax +49 421 213093 Germany

Xref: sparky gnu.gdb.bug:1105 comp.unix.sysv386:15401
From: voder!wlbr!WLV.IIPO.GTEGSC.COM!amc@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Allen M. Cohen)
Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug,comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: gdb doesnt recognize ISC core dump
Keywords: gdb isc
Date: 13 Oct 92 23:44:30 GMT
Followup-To: gnu.gdb.bug,comp.unix.sysv386
Organization: GTE Government Systems
Apparently-To: voder!ucbvax!gnu-gdb-bug

In article <1992Oct9.090901.13991@eurotherm.co.uk> mt00@etherm.co.uk (Martin Tomes) writes:
>nat@egg.gg.caltech.edu (Nathan Inada) writes:
>
>
>uudecode and uncompress this.  It is the patches I have applied to gdb 4.6 and it works very well.  We use ISC 3.0.
>
I get a patch error from iscpatch:
  Patching file gdb/coffread.c using Plan A...
  Malformed patch at line 140: ame));
I'm using patch version 12u3.
-- 
<> Allen M. Cohen -- Autologic, Inc. 1050 Rancho Conejo Blvd.,T.O. Ca.91320 <>
<> 1853 Stonesgate St.             Internet:  amc@IIPO.GTEGSC.COM           <>
<> Westlake Village, Ca. 91361     Telephone: (805) 498-9611 ext. 195       <>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Richard Stallman)
Subject: GDB 4.6 bug
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 10:25:56 GMT

On mole, I typed p (float)1.0 + (float)1.0 / (float) (1 << 24) and got
a result which was not 1.  whatis said it was a double.  It ought to
be a float, if the rules of C are followed.

Then I typed p (float) $ and got 1.

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: nat@egg.gg.caltech.edu (Nathan Inada)
Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug,comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: gdb doesnt recognize ISC core dump
Keywords: gdb isc
Date: 7 Oct 92 14:10:39 GMT
Followup-To: gnu.gdb.bug,comp.unix.sysv386
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
To: gnu-gdb-bug@cis.ohio-state.edu

i keep getting "core" is not a core dump: File format not recognized
this has happens with gdb-4.[4-6].
sdb works fine (for what it is) on the core files. 
what am i doing wrong ? is there some switches in the compilation of gdb
that i need to flip ? has anyone ever read an ISC core file with gdb ?

thanks for any help or comments.
nathan

nat@gg.caltech.edu
Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: karl@claude.cs.umb.edu (Karl Berry)
Subject: gdb 4.6/ISC 2.2.1/.NOEXPORT
Reply-To: karl@cs.umb.edu
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 10:33:14 GMT

I tried to compile GDB 4.6 on Interactive Unix 2.2.1, a system
V-based-but-supposedly-POSIX system, and had a few troubles, which I
will detail in separate messages.

I did `configure i386-sysv', and compiled with
CC="gcc -O -posix -DHAVE_UNISTD_H -DUSG -DTIOCGETC_BROKEN -DTIOCGLTC_BROKEN"

GNU make 3.62 breaks compiling libiberty, mmalloc, and readline, since
the Makefiles don't contain the magic .NOEXPORT to stop exporting all
envvars.  Here is a patch.  (The ChangeLog entry applies to all three
directories!)

Fri Oct  2 14:59:26 1992  Karl Berry  (karl@cs.umb.edu)

	* Makefile.in (.NOEXPORT): New target.

*** libiberty/ORIG/Makefile.in	Fri Jun 19 18:18:14 1992
--- libiberty/./Makefile.in	Fri Oct  2 14:23:36 1992
***************
*** 79,84 ****
--- 79,86 ----
  # even if they are in libc. (Perhaps the libc version is buggy.)
  EXTRA_OFILES = 
  
+ .NOEXPORT:
+ 
  all:	$(TARGETLIB)
  .PHONY: check
  check:
*** mmalloc/ORIG/Makefile.in	Tue Apr 21 00:07:31 1992
--- mmalloc/./Makefile.in	Sun Oct 11 12:04:33 1992
***************
*** 84,89 ****
--- 84,91 ----
  
  STAGESTUFF =	$(TARGETLIB) *.o
  
+ .NOEXPORT:
+ 
  all:		$(TARGETLIB)
  
  info:
*** readline/ORIG/Makefile.in	Tue Apr 21 14:55:48 1992
--- readline/./Makefile.in	Sun Oct 11 12:04:33 1992
***************
*** 102,107 ****
--- 102,109 ----
  
  STAGESTUFF = *.o
  
+ .NOEXPORT:
+ 
  all: libreadline.a
  
  check:

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: fritz@mtl.mit.edu (Frederick Herrmann)
Subject: Unaligned access on suns
Reply-To: fritz@mtl.mit.edu
Organization: MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories
Distribution: gnu
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 20:04:05 GMT

I hesitate to report this as a bug, because some might well consider
it a feature...

The problem occurs with gdb 4.6, compiled with gcc 2.2.2 on a sun4
host.

It seems the sun requires doubles to be aligned to 8-byte boundaries,
violations result in bus errors.  That's fine, except that gdb allows
me to do unaligned accesses with the p command.  I was porting some
code from a decstation to a sun, and got very confused when I could
write to pointers from within gdb, but my program couldn't.
It would be nice if gdb warned me when it did an unaligned access.

I've appended a simple example program below.

				- Fritz


/* Illustrate funny byte alignment problem with gdb
 *
 *  F. Herrmann  fritz@mtl.mit.edu
 *
 */

int main( int argc, char **argv)
{
  double dblarray[2];
  double *goodptr, *badptr;

  /* Start with a good pointer to a double */

  goodptr = dblarray;

  /* Create an unaligned bad pointer */

  badptr = (double *) ( 1 + (int *) goodptr);

  /* Put a break point here.
   *
   *  The unaligned assignment below will cause a bus error on a sun.
   *  But GDB is perfectly happy to let you do:
   *
   *	 (gdb) p *badptr
   *
   *  or even:
   *
   *     (gdb) p *badptr = 2.718
   *
   *  I guess it's nice that gdb can do something the hardware can't, but
   *  I would have appreciated a warning that the operation was illegal.
   *  I was porting some code from a decstation to a sun and got stuck on
   *  this for some time.
   */

  /* Try to store a double */

  *badptr = 3.14159;

  /* Don't expect to get here */

  printf( "%f\n", *badptr);

  return 0;
}

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: xijin@iro.umontreal.CA (Xijin Shen)
Subject: Debugging C++ using Gdb
Organization: CRIM
Distribution: gnu
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 20:15:58 GMT

I begin to use Gdb 4.5 to debug c++ code, although I compiled these codes
using "-g", but I couldn't set breakpoints by functions:

(gdb) b draw::draw
The class draw does not have any method named draw

while I can set breakpoints by linenumbers:

(gdb) b draw.C:50
Breakpoint 2 at 0x21210: file draw.C, line 50.

Any ideas about this.


- Xijin

-- 
     Best Regards,

		        Xijin

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Richard Stallman)
Subject: GDB 4.6 bug
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 08:09:18 GMT

On apple-gunkies in /usr/gnu/gcc, I ran gdb on cc1
and did
dis loop_stack.data.loop.start_label

GDB stopped at a breakpoint when loop_stack was 0,
and it got an error (not surprisingly) computing that expression.
It then said "disablng display 1 to avoid infinite recursion".

It should not disable the display.  It should simply
ignore that display when it gets an error, but leave it
enabled so that it will display as requested whenever it
is valid.

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: pthomsen@us.oracle.COM (Per Thomsen)
Subject: gdb 4.6 on Amdahl UTS
Followup-To: gnu.gdb.bug
Keywords: UTS, gdb-4.6, configure
Organization: Oracle Corp
Distribution: gnu
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 17:29:34 GMT

Hi!
I'm having problems with running configure for the host name '580-amdahl-uts'.
It starts out fine,

Created "Makefile" in /home/pthomsen/gdb-4.6 using "config/mh-sysv"

but then it dies with 

*** Gdb does not support host 580-amdahl-sysv


There appears to be no amdahl or uts files anywhere, but the README mentions a 
580 CPU, an Amdahl vendor, and a UTS operating system.

Has the support been taken out again, or does anybody have a patch to gdb, so
I can get it running on UTS 2.1.4?

Please e-mail, since our newsfeed here at Oracle is kinda flaky.

Thanks a lot in advance!!


-- 
Per Reedtz Thomsen      All opinions stated here are mine, and do not in 
pthomsen@oracle.com     any way reflect the views of my employer.

"Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty." (Anne Herbert?)

Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: sommerfeld@apollo.hp.com (Bill Sommerfeld)
Subject: Re: assembly
Organization: Hewlett Packard
Distribution: gnu
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 17:04:36 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.144220.2790@unlinfo.unl.edu> romig@cse.unl.edu (Phil Romig) writes:

      I'd like a
      way to define a command that will step forward one instruction and
      disassemble the instruction at the pc.  I think I'm close with:
	     define sd
	      stepi
	      x/i <address of pc>
	     end
      the problem is how to get <address of pc> into the x/i command.  
      Anyone have any ideas?

You can get what you want much more easily by using "display/i $pc",
and then just stepping normally, setting breakpoints & continuing,
etc.

If you're working on a RISC machine on which the PC is a two-element
queue, you may also want to do something along the lines of:

display/i $npc
display/i $pc

or (on HP PA machines):

display/i $pcoqt	(that's "program counter offset queue tail")
display/i $pcoqh		and			      head")

to display the next two instructions. (you have to do the display of
$npc *before* $pc because displays show up in reverse order for some
reason).

					- Bill
From: tmcconne@sedona.intel.com (Tom McConnell~)
Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
Subject: Re: Has anyone ported gdb to AIX 3.2?
Date: 9 Oct 92 06:19:36 GMT
Distribution: gnu
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet

In article <1992Oct8.165911.11888@rational.com>, rw@rational.COM (Bob Weissman) writes:
> I need a port of gdb 4.6 to AIX 3.2 for the IBM RS/6000.
> 
> Has anyone done this yet?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> --
> -- Bob Weissman
> -- Internet: rw@rational.com
> -- UUCP:     uunet!igor!rw
> --
> 

  Sure. gdb-4.6 built and installed out of the box using xlc-1.2.0.6. The
system is an RS/6000 560 running AIX 3.2.2. I use gcc-2.2.2 with it, and
have not seen any problems using gdb-4.6.

    Cheers,

    Tom McConnell

 Tom McConnell          |     Internet: tmcconne@sedona.intel.com
 Intel, Corp. C3-91     |     Phone: (602)-554-8229
 5000 W. Chandler Blvd. | The opinions expressed are my own. No one in 
 Chandler, AZ  85226    | their right mind would claim them.
Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: mt00@etherm.co.UK (Martin Tomes)
Subject: Re: gdb 4.6 does not recognize ISC 3.0 core dump files
Organization: Eurotherm Limited
Distribution: gnu
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 08:25:32 GMT

voder!wlbr!WLV.IIPO.GTEGSC.COM!amc@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Allen M. Cohen) writes:

>After installing the ISC patch to gdb 4.6, I still
>can't get gdb to read a core file:
>e.g.: gdb a.out core
>      core is not a core dump: File format not recognized

>I did ./configure i386-isc-sysv32  (I'm using ISC 3.0)

>Notes:
>1) I added -D_XOPEN_SOURCE and -posix to CFLAGS
>1a) Also added -lcposix to CC loading command.
>2) in gdb/Makefile, ./munch invokes "head", which we don't have!
>   We have tail, but not head.
>-- 
><> Allen M. Cohen -- Autologic, Inc. 1050 Rancho Conejo Blvd.,T.O. Ca.91320 <>
><> 1853 Stonesgate St.             Internet:  amc@IIPO.GTEGSC.COM           <>
><> Westlake Village, Ca. 91361     Telephone: (805) 498-9611 ext. 195       <>
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I don't know why you added -D_XOPEN_SOURCE and -posix to CFLAGS,
-posix is already in my definition of CC. I have found it necessary to
be careful about these flags as they change the header files in
siginificant ways.

You will find 'head' in GNU file utils.  I am using version 1.4.

This is the make command I used:

$ /bin/make 'CC=gcc -posix -DISC -DTRAD_CORE -DHAVE_UNISTD_H -DHAVE_MEM_BREAKPOINT' HDEPFILES=trad-core.o

My understanding is that trad-core.c in bfd understands the core files
so the -DTRAD_CORE and HDEPFILES=trad-core.o bits are important.  If
they are not getting through to your make then you are in trouble.

Hope this helps.
-- 
Martin Tomes
Janet:    mtomes@uk.co.eurotherm
Internet: mtomes@eurotherm.co.uk
UUCP:     {uknet,uunet}!etherm!mtomes


Newsgroups: gnu.gdb.bug
From: gnu@cygnus.com
Subject: Re: "path" command doc bug
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 16:02:05 GMT

> "help path" doesn't mention that "path" with no argument prints
> out the current path.

It doesn't mention that "help path foo bar" prints the new path either.
The way to print the path is with "show path".  "path" alone happens
to print the new path after adding zero directories to it.

> Also, GDB should have an "info version" command which prints out
> the current GDB version. This bug is for GDB 4.5.5, but I had
> to start up a new GDB to find out.

"show version".

We rearranged the informational commands back in gdb-4.0.  "show" handles
things that refer to the GDB or debugging environment; "info" handles things
that refer to the target program.  We kept a few "info" aliases for things
that are more properly "show"s, to provide easier continuity for users.

	John

Newsgroups: gnu.utils.bug
From: root@cs.uwp.edu (System Account)
Subject: tar-1.11
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 18:22:17 GMT

In 'extract.c', line 351 should be

	namelen = strlen(skipcrud + current_file_name) + 1;
							^^^
since we should allocate space for and copy the null terminator
at the end of the string in the bcopy call.

Also, in 'extract.c', line 604 should be

	namelen = strlen(current_file_name + skipcrud) - 1;

instead of

	namelen = strlen(current_file_name) + skipcrud - 1;

I find it rather distracting to have 'skipcrud + current_file_name'
in some places and 'current_file_name + skipcrud' in others.  Since
this occurs so often in this file, why not make it a macro:

	#define CURRENT_FILE_NAME (skipcrud + current_file_name)

and use that instead???

BTW, here's a backtrace of when current_file_name gets clobbered by
extract_archive, as I noted in my previous posting.  I haven't been
able to track down the error yet.  Maybe this would help you...

(gdb) bt
#0  0x41a5b8 in read () at ../read.s:18
#1  0x4068e4 in fl_read () at buffer.c:893
#2  0x406e70 in flush_archive () at buffer.c:1051
#3  0x404f70 in findrec () at buffer.c:179
#4  0x404324 in extract_archive () at extract.c:377
#5  0x40a00c in read_and (do_something=0x403e3c <extract_archive>)
    at list.c:141
#6  0x400320 in main (argc=3, argv=0x7fffbdd4) at tar.c:252

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy Fossum -- UW-Parkside -- 900 Wood Road, Box 2000 -- Kenosha, WI 53141
Department of Computer Science and Engineering/fossum@cs.uwp.edu/414-595-2297

Newsgroups: gnu.utils.bug
From: neal@ctd.COMsat.COM (Neal Becker)
Subject: finger-1.36 install?
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 15:31:00 GMT

Who should run in.fingerd and in.cfingerd from /etc/inetd.conf?  Do
each of these require root privledge?  Can I install finger-1.36 to
use bin instead?  Do I need to set /usr/local/etc/fingerdir ownership?
Should I forget it and just use root?

Any suggestions appreciated.


Family is something which goes back to the nucleus of civilization.
 And the very beginnings of civilization, the very beginnings of this
 country, goes back to the family.
                -- Vice President Dan Quayle.

Newsgroups: gnu.utils.bug
From: malte@techfak.uni-bielefeld.DE (Malte Uhl)
Subject: Re: GNU su doesn't restrict root access?  Why?
Organization: Universitaet Bielefeld, Technische Fakultaet.
Distribution: gnu
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 09:06:20 GMT

In article <9210130527.AA02711@mole.gnu.ai.mit.edu>, rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Richard Stallman) writes:
|> What does it mean to resist fascism?
|> 
|> Sometimes a few of the users try to hold total power over all the
|> rest.  For example, in 1984, a few users at the MIT AI lab decided to
|> seize power by changing the operator password on the Twenex system and
|> keeping it secret from everyone else.  (I was able to thwart this coup
|> and give power back to the users by patching the kernel, but I
|> wouldn't know how to do that in Unix.)
|> 
|> However, occasionally the rulers do tell someone.  Under the usual su
|> mechanism, once someone learns the root password who sympathizes with
|> the ordinary users, he can tell the rest.  The "wheel group" feature
|> would make this impossible, and thus cement the power of the rulers.
|> 
[ ... ]

If this someone knows the root password, she or he will usually have the power
to change the members in the wheel group, especially to delete every member
in it. Then everyone is allowed to su to root.
So this is almost pointless.

Of course, it is a matter of policy to code su one way or the other. I'd just
be grateful if you wouldn't call me fascist for supporting the security
topic.

Malte


Newsgroups: gnu.utils.bug
From: cliff@cs.cornell.edu (Cliff Krumvieda)
Subject: sed-1.11 has problems with the character \377
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Distribution: gnu
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 15:20:43 GMT

Howdy:

GNU sed-1.11 isn't behaving like Sun sed (which, admittedly, may or
may not be wrong).  We're running sed on sparcstations under SunOS
4.1.1.

Consider the following two scripts, called "sedtest" and "sedtestgnu":
======================================================================
#! /bin/csh -f
/bin/sed -e "s/\377/newtext/g"
======================================================================
#! /bin/csh -f
/usr/local/gnu/bin/sed -e "s/\377/newtext/g"
======================================================================

The "\377" above isn't the four characters "\377"; it's what emacs
types when you enter "C-q 377".  Also, we keep sed-1.11 in
/usr/local/gnu/bin/sed.

Now:
======================================================================
[~] leo% echo abc | sedtest
abc
[~] leo% echo abc | sedtestgnu
/usr/local/gnu/bin/sed: Unexpected End-of-file
[~] leo%
======================================================================

It looks like sed-1.11 thinks that \377 is an EOF marker, which is
both wrong and inconvenient.  Is this a fixable bug?

						--Cliff Krumvieda

Newsgroups: gnu.utils.bug