🚀 go-pugleaf

Date:     Fri, 23 Jan 87 00:50 EST
From:     <LINDAHL@BRANDEIS.BITNET>
Subject:  RE: Malloc() Flame
To:       info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
X-Original-To:  info-atari16@score.stanford.edu, LINDAHL

In digest 87-35, imagen!atari!apratt@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Allan Pratt) writes:
> PLEASE don't go around publishing internal addresses like this requests,
> since such addresses are GUARANTEED to change and BREAK programs which
> count on them.  Some parts of an operating system are hidden from
> view ON PURPOSE, so the OS can be sure that its data structures will
> not be fooled with by user programs.
>
> The correct procedure in this kind of situation is to say, "Gee, Atari,
> I lose memory over time.. I wonder if there's a problem in the memory
> allocator?  Here is an example program which demonstrates the problem..."

Calm down, Allan. I am not planning on running out and distributing programs
which depend upon internal addresses, and then flame you when my programs
break! Rather, I intend to examine this problem very thoroughly. If I told
you, "well, I think that sort of, you know, I lose some memory sometimes
after running one of the myriad versions of micro-emacs and maybe at other
times with some combinations of a bunch of programs," then you would ignore
me. You would ignore me for good reason, because I haven't provided enough
information to find the bug.

My intent is to explore the problem, and see if I can find a good example.
If I can, you'll be the first to know. If I can come up with a fix, and you
guys can't/won't fix it, then I _might_ consider distributing a fix with
breakable code. But it _would_ be documented as such.

Finally, please do not assume that anyone is a moron who needs to have
these weighty "operating systems issues" explained to him. Undoubtedly 99.9%
of the programmers listening to this conversation realize the folly of
using internal addresses in publicly-distributed programs.

Greg Lindahl
brandeis radio astronomy group (BRAG)

bitnet: lindahl@brandeis     us snail: box 2522 brandeis university
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