Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!srhqla!demott!kdq
From: kdq@demott.COM (Kevin D. Quitt)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Crash a RISC machine from user-mode code:
Keywords: RISC
Message-ID: <477@demott.COM>
Date: 11 Aug 90 18:36:30 GMT
References: <49041@seismo.CSS.GOV>
Reply-To: kdq@demott.COM (Kevin D. Quitt)
Organization: DeMott Electronics Co., Van Nuys CA
Lines: 23

In article <49041@seismo.CSS.GOV> stead@beno.CSS.GOV (Richard Stead) writes:
>
>Do VAX-CISC programmers spend their days branching to random data?
>  Who could possibly care
>that a random instruction sequence crashes a risc box?

    You certainly have a colloquial attitude.  Do you, perhaps, work
only on single-user machines? Just because you can use something without
breaking doesn't mean it's seriously flawed.  If there is *any* set of
instructions that, from the user level, can crash a privelege-based
system, then that system is *broken*. 

    Again, just because it's broken doesn't mean it can't be useful for
limited applications - like single user operation.  But when you try to
stress the system, it's going to fail.

-- 
 _
Kevin D. Quitt         demott!kdq   kdq@demott.com
DeMott Electronics Co. 14707 Keswick St.   Van Nuys, CA 91405-1266
VOICE (818) 988-4975   FAX (818) 997-1190  MODEM (818) 997-4496 PEP last

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