Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!uhnix1!sugar!splut!jay
From: jay@splut.UUCP (Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.games.bugs
Subject: Wanderer 2.2 dumps core if $NAME is too long
Message-ID: <872@splut.UUCP>
Date: 21 Feb 89 05:34:46 GMT
Reply-To: jay@splut.UUCP (Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard)
Organization: Confederate Microsystems, League City, TX
Lines: 26



I just isolated a bug in Wanderer 2.2 (the version that just came across
the net). It only occurs if the value of your $NAME environment variable
is longer than 19 characters (as mine is).
The symptom is that in curses mode, it dumps core as it writes the
message about "$NAME killed by a something-or-other with score 999 on
level 2"; the actual dump is in show_scores, but the error is in
savescore; the 80-character buffer is overrun, trashing the number of
prior entries to print. In EGA mode, the error is more pernicious: here,
instead of running through core until it takes a memory access error, it
runs off the end of the EGA memory, causing a memory fault. The only way
out of that situation is to kill -9 the shell from another console
screen.
 
The bypass is obvious: set $NEWNAME to a shorter value before invoking
wanderer.

This one could probably use some integrated fix in the actual program,
but that's an issue of style best left to the author.

-- 
Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL   | Never ascribe to malice that which can
uucp:        uunet!nuchat!   (eieio)| adequately be explained by stupidity.
    hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!splut!jay +----------------------------------------
{killer,bellcore}!texbell!          | "Less great!" "Tastes filling!"