Sarathy posts a patch to fix a bug that most people didn't know existed. Someone proposes a fix for a long-standing bug. Tom cites a four-year old article of Larry's proposing a different fix. The original person asks why it would be done that way. Larry replies enigmatically, giving you the impression that it was just the first solution that came to him.
Discussion peters out.
Sarathy posts a patch to fix a bug that most people didn't know existed. Jarkko forwards bug reports for five obscure platforms. Someone suggests one of them is an overflow problem in the integer arithmetic. Jarkko posts an analysis of the code in question and observes where it might generate an overflow if the hardware in question didn't behave like every other machine in existence. Someone suggests a configure test, and Jarkko submits a patch.