Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!ucbvax!ANDREW.CMU.EDU!mss+
From: mss+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Mark Sherman)
Newsgroups: comp.soft-sys.andrew
Subject: Re: Sun 4 AMS oddity
Message-ID: <gZYYQua00VsAE8kWJC@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 22 Dec 89 15:24:42 GMT
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Organization: The Internet
Lines: 33

Excerpts from mail: 22-Dec-89 Re: Sun4 AMS oddity Nathaniel
Borenstein@thu (402+0)

>> Excerpts from mail: 21-Dec-89 Re: Sun4 AMS oddity Mark
>> Sherman@andrew.cmu. (147)

>> You might have hit the font cache bug. That is one effect. DOes the name
>> return when you select the message (thereby using another font?)
>> 		-Mark

> No, this has nothing to do with ATK or X, I think -- the caption is
> actually being constructed wrong.  I'm sure it is a SPARC-specific bug
> in the messageserver code.  -- NB


If it really only occurs on Sparcstations, then I have a hunch. Nearly
all the SPARC specific problems like this in the past have resulted from
a misdeclaration/use of the union:

    union environmentcontents {
        struct style *style;
        struct viewref *viewref;
    };

Typically, one side "knows" that it is really a struct style *  while
the other side is declaring the full union. Hence it is passed one way
and expected the other (I believe the usual scenario is that the
argument is passed as a union but the parameter is declared as a pointer
-- isn't C type checking wonderful.) Apparently, union
environmentcontents and struct style * are not interchangable on
Sparcstations but works just fine on Sun-3s and RTs.

		-Mark