Hello Klaus!

09 Feb 97 17:18, Klaus Mahlmann wrote to Francois Thunus:

 FT>> Here is something I don't understand. I have a
 FT>> piece of code here where the ONLY difference between a working
 FT>> version and a non working version is a write(''); The non working
 FT>> version just freezes (past the write(''), by the way). Can anybody
 FT>> give a beginning of explanation ?

 KM> 1) You've might have a stack problem. Do calls to other functions have the
 KM> same effect, or does _only_ write() change the behaviour of the program?

I haven't tried anything else than the write().
This bug is now gone for no apparent reason.

 KM> 2) In C, a call to printf() will result in calls to the floating
 KM> point libraries and change the status of the floating point

this is mostly a string handling app. As far as I know there is no call to
any floating point, I'm not even linking anything remotedly connected to
the floating point lib. (Unless the compiler does it without telling, it's
a DPMI app, I don't think it is relevant).

 KM> 3) In one case, I had strange effects because the linker didn't
 KM> include a module from the runtime library even though it was needed
 KM> by the program.

the linking stage is handled by the compiler. It's a pascal app, not a C app.

 KM> As long as that bug isn't fully understood, I would feel
 KM> uncomfortable in "shipping" that program - I hope it's
not a control
 KM> program for a nuclear power plant ?!?

it's a freeware soup/uucp/PKT convertor, nothing major.
I mean it was just slowing down slightly the Dos version, and that's it,
but since it's not a time critical app, a couple of seconds more didn't
change anything. It's just that I would like to understand...

 KM> Sounds like an interesting bug... best luck. IMHO, a good debugger
 KM> that enables you to single step that area of code might help ;-)

unfortunately, it is not possible to use the debugger with DPMI apps. for
some reason even thought BP ships with the ability to compile for
dos/dpmi/windows, you only have a debugger (or a profiler for that matter)
for dos and windows.
As said, the bug is gone as it came: for no apparent reason. I did work on
the code, but somewhere else.  So I guess it was some kind of side effect,
but I'll probably never find out from what.

                             -= Francois =-
                       Thunus{at}Club.TeleMatique.org
                      http://www.telematique.org/ft
A committe: a life form with 6 or more legs and no brain

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