Re: [BUG] Bash segfaults on an infinitely recursive funcion (resend)

[Shlomi Fish]

Hi all,

On Sun, 24 Sep 2017 19:24:10 +0300
Pierre Gaston <pierre.gaston@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Sep 24, 2017 at 5:01 PM, Shlomi Fish <shlomif@shlomifish.org> wrote:
> 
> > Hi all,
> >
> > With bash git master on Mageia v7 x86-64, bash on Debian Stable and other
> > reported sytems:
> >
> > shlomif@telaviv1:~$ /home/shlomif/apps/bash/bin/bash -c 'run() { run; } ;
> > run'
> > Segmentation fault (core dumped)
> > shlomif@telaviv1:~$
> >  
> 
> This, or some, variant has been reported multiple times.
> Like in most programming languages, you can easily write programs that
> behave badly,
> in this case you are exhausting the stack has there is no tail call
> optimization.
> 

I see. Well, the general wisdom is that a program should not ever segfault, but
instead gracefully handle the error and exit. Perhaps implement a maximal
recursion depth like zsh does. Also see the first item at
https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/02/19/seven-steps-to-remarkable-customer-service/
about permanently fixing reported problems at their core instead of dealing
with user reports and requests time and again.

Regards,

        Shlomi

> see for instance
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2012-09/msg00073.html
> and the following discussion
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2012-10/threads.html#00005



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