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Date:      Tue, 04 Feb 1997 13:48:04 -0800
From:      John Polstra <jdp@polstra.com>
To:        Joe Greco <jgreco@solaria.sol.net>
Cc:        gpalmer@freebsd.org, core@freebsd.org, security@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: 2.1.6+++: crt0.c CRITICAL CHANGE 
Message-ID:  <199702042148.NAA25064@austin.polstra.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 04 Feb 1997 11:27:39 CST." <199702041727.LAA01352@solaria.sol.net> 
References:  <199702041727.LAA01352@solaria.sol.net> 

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> In revision 1.21 of crt0.c, ache removed these bits of code, and
> several other sources indicate that removal of the locale code is
> a sufficient fix.  It therefore seems appropriate to move forward
> by removing this from crt0.c.

Nobody seems to dispute that.  But has the actual problem (the buffer
overflow) been fixed in the locale code?  That needs to be done too.

> If anyone is aware of any undesirable side effects

The thing to do when you're changing crt0.c is to think very carefully
about what will happen with all the combinations:

    new crt0, old libc.so.x.x
    old crt0, new libc.so.x.x
    new crt0, new libc.so.x.x

and test all the combinations too.  I have been burned by this more
than once, when I had thought I had it all figured out.  It's a
really unpleasant experience to wake up the morning after a commit
and find out you've broken make world for a few dozen people.  The
crt0 changes are particularly insidious, because they can be very
hard to back out again.

Anyway, I personally don't see such problems in your proposed change.

PS - Welcome to the development team!

John P.
--
   John Polstra                                       jdp@polstra.com
   John D. Polstra & Co., Inc.                Seattle, Washington USA
   "Self-knowledge is always bad news."                 -- John Barth



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