Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!m2c!jjmhome!cloud9!bob
From: bob@cloud9.UUCP (Bob Toxen)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Trouble killing processes in SysV/AT
Message-ID: <347@cloud9.UUCP>
Date: 2 May 88 23:27:21 GMT
References: <3950@killer.UUCP> <3951@killer.UUCP> <468@micropen> <51443@sun.uucp> <51483@sun.uucp>
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc., Marlboro, MA
Lines: 17
Summary: PCATCH is a kludge around broken drivers ... fix the driver

In article <51483@sun.uucp>, guy@gorodish.Sun.COM (Guy Harris) writes:
> > >If the sleep priority is above PZERO, the [signalled] sleep() will return
> > >an error corresponding to "I was interrupted!".
> > 
> Sun [and AT&T created PCATCH to allow interrupting sleeps below PZERO]

If they didn't allow turkeys to write device drivers then there would
not be a problem.  Nothing that can sleep for more than a fraction of
a second should sleep at less than PZERO priority!  It's as easy to
fix the problem then to add the PCATCH kludge around it.

One most often observes this bug in tty drivers of cheap micro ports.
-- 

Bob Toxen	{ucbvax!ihnp4,harvard,cloud9!es}!anvil!cavu!bob
Stratus Computer, Marlboro, MA
Pilot to Copilot: What's a mountain goat doing way up here in a cloud bank?