Re: bash in malloc(): warning: recursive call

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <200111262123.fAQLNY168386@c1742628-a.vncvr1.wa.home.com>,
chk no <chuck@c1742628-a.vncvr1.wa.home.com> quoted Chet Ramey who
said:

>> Try configuring --enable-bash-malloc and see if the crash still happens.

Actually, please *don't* do this.  The error message in question
almost always indicates that the application is doing something
erroneous (and non-portable) in a signal handler.  Switching to a
malloc() implementation which does not diagnose this programming error
is not an appropriate solution to the problem.

If bash uses the standard GNU xmalloc() wrappers, modifying xmalloc()
to block SIGINT (and any other signals that bash normally catches)
using sigprocmask(2) *might* reduce the window in which the bug is
noticeable, but keep in mind that other C library state might still
get trashed.

-GAWollman

-- 
Garrett A. Wollman   | O Siem / We are all family / O Siem / We're all the same
wollman@lcs.mit.edu  | O Siem / The fires of freedom 
Opinions not those of| Dance in the burning flame
MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA|                     - Susan Aglukark and Chad Irschick