[Info-vax] Beyond Open Source

[Neil Rieck]

On Monday, May 11, 2015 at 12:29:41 PM UTC-4, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> On 2015-05-11 15:59:45 +0000, David Froble said:
> 
> > John Reagan wrote:
> >> On Monday, May 11, 2015 at 7:51:26 AM UTC-4, Neil Rieck wrote:
> >> 
> >>> I heard (third hand) about problems using Linux on multi-CPU x86-64 
> >>> where one cpu will occasionally "get locked into a tight loop" and no 
> >>> one knows how to fix it. The customer who continually experiences the 
> >>> problem contacted "the curator" only to be told that the problem might 
> >>> have something to do with the quality of the code generated by the gcc 
> >>> compiler. Huh?
> >> 
> >> That feels more like a system spinlock problem or somebody decided to 
> >> "write their own".  gcc doesn't know from spinlocks.  ...
> > 
> > It doesn't really matter how wide-spread a problem is, if it is YOUR problem.
> > ...
> 
> So far, we have an unsubstantiated third-hand report of an unspecified 
> looping issue, involving unspecified x86-64 hardware, with no 
> attribution, no bug number, and potentially questionable allegations of 
> gcc code-generation involvement?
> 
> If nothing else, this does make a decent case for improved error 
> reporting and better diagnostics, irrespective of the identity of "the 
> curator" or of the particular application or system platform.    Also 
> that outsourcing the risk and the blame can sometimes still blow up on 
> you.
> 
> ps: if you think OpenVMS hasn't had a few of these weird 
> instruction-level locking bugs, you've probably not recently 
> contemplated on the origin of the the SRM_CHECK tool.   Yes, that did 
> get fixed.   As for the above report, I'm *certain* we'll learn what 
> happened with the unattributed bug in the unspecified application with 
> the unknown issue and the unidentified customer and the mystery support 
> and reputedly with the involvement of the gcc compiler, of course.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC

I was deliberately cagey in my original post for the following reason: I will post first-hand information; I might post second-hand information depending upon the source (many people are only able to pass on crud); I almost never post third-hand information because I have been burned too many times with hearsay.
 
The "Linux curator" is an American company offering support to Big Enterprise. When I heard that they had blamed gcc I didn't know if they were talking about the product itself or how it was being used (compiler directives spring to mind). But I think we all agree that if something similar had happened with OpenVMS on multi-core Itanium that there would be a lot more people at "VMS Engineering" (whoever they are working for) who can spring into action because they wrote most of the code in question (as opposed to what happens with Linux where the broth may have too many chefs).
 
Neil Rieck 
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.