Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!bu-cs!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!uw-june!uw-entropy!dataio!pilchuck!nwnexus!happym!kent
From: kent@happym.wa.com (Kent Forschmiedt)
Newsgroups: comp.bugs.misc
Subject: Re: Need help with C bug.
Keywords: pcc2 char array code generation
Message-ID: <765@happym.wa.com>
Date: 3 Apr 89 08:16:40 GMT
References: <349@iconsys.UUCP> <24971@pbhya.PacBell.COM> <1362@auspex.auspex.com>
Reply-To: kent@happym.UUCP (0000-Kent Forschmiedt)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Happy Man Corp., Seattle
Lines: 54

Somebody complained that his Motorola Unix compiler miscompiles the following:
>>	char	p[50];
>>	main()
>>	{
>>		printf("p = 0x%08X\n", p);
>>		if (p)
>>			printf("ok\n");
>>		else
>>			printf("bad berries\n");

Yes, indeed, it is a compiler bug.

Motorola's c compiler is broken in many, many places.  Don't hold your 
breath waiting for fixes unless you are particularly fond of cyanosis. 

I have been trying for over two years to get a working compiler out of 
Motorola. 

I have submitted many bug reports to Motorola, with many bugs shown in 
excruciating detail.  I have annotated hundreds of lines of assembly code. 
My compiler will not produce working 68881 code.  It will not properly 
compile the statement: 

p && free(p);

I reported an assembler bug.  I included the original C code, the compiler 
output, and a typescript of a debugger session in which I demonstrated the 
circumstances under which as would generate an incorrect branch 
displacement.  An "engineer" eventually informed me that there was no bug, 
that the assembler was functioning correctly.  I was comforted only 
momentarily, however, since the machine persisted in reporting an illegal 
instruction immediately after the branch was executed. 

I spent around 150 hours trying to produce a working gcc binary with the
Motorola compiler.  Unfortunately, it miscompiles the output of genrecog.c.
I finally gave up in disgust.


I submitted bug reports during the original warranty period, and refused 
to purchase a service contract until a working compiler was delivered.  I 
have spent many, many hours talking to many, many Motorola employees.  
Said employees are uniformly polite, eager to help, and produce very 
little that is of any use to me.  They do not follow up on their promises.  
They do not test their products (I was delivered a compiler and a long 
list of "bug fixes."   It would not compile all of the test programs 
included with the original bug reports which it claimed to answer). 

I eventually did purchase a service contract to avoid an exorbitant repair 
bill for a failed disk controller.  They refused to sell the hardware 
contract without the software contract.  Of course, as might be expected, 
they have displayed absolutely no inclination to honor the software 
contract. 
-- 
 kent@happym.wa.com, tikal!camco!happym!kent, Happy Man Corp 206-282-9598