From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 14 14:05:01 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1F50D106567E; Wed, 14 May 2008 14:05:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lidl@rox.fddx.com) Received: from rox.fddx.com (rox.fddx.com [71.241.230.59]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B5F4C8FC29; Wed, 14 May 2008 14:05:00 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lidl@rox.fddx.com) Received: from rox.fddx.com (localhost.pix.net [127.0.0.1]) by rox.fddx.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8) with ESMTP id m4EE50DQ022052; Wed, 14 May 2008 10:05:00 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from lidl@localhost) by rox.fddx.com (8.13.8+Sun/8.13.8/Submit) id m4EE4xKE022051; Wed, 14 May 2008 10:04:59 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 10:04:59 -0400 From: "Kurt J. Lidl" To: James Mansion Message-ID: <20080514140458.GB21370@pix.net> Mail-Followup-To: James Mansion , Jeremy Chadwick , Anthony Pankov , freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org References: <9FC19AC2-DAD8-418C-8B9C-F129DEC58CEF@gmail.com> <15336578.20080512123806@mail.ru> <200805121153.00809.jonathan+freebsd-hackers@hst.org.za> <1663320218.20080512223531@mail.ru> <20080512152430.3720683e@mbook.local> <2117635718.20080513154406@mail.ru> <20080513121452.GA70860@eos.sc1.parodius.com> <20080513154137.GA28842@pix.net> <482A02CD.7040308@mansionfamily.plus.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <482A02CD.7040308@mansionfamily.plus.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.16 (2007-06-09) X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV version 0.91.2, clamav-milter version 0.91.2 on rox.fddx.com X-Virus-Status: Clean Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org, Jeremy Chadwick , Anthony Pankov Subject: Re: BDB corrupt X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 14:05:01 -0000 On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 10:06:21PM +0100, James Mansion wrote: > Kurt J. Lidl wrote: >> There are known problems with certain keys corrupting the DB 1.8x >> series code. In fact, the "release" of the 1.86 was an attempt >> to solve this problem when the KerberosV people at MIT found >> a repeatable key insert sequence that would corrupt things. >> (Or at least that's what I remember, it was a long time ago, and >> I might have the details wrong.) >> > Have to say its a little concerning that such 'mature' code is actually > problematic. > Particularly since I'm not aware of a non-LGPL alternative. > > Do you have anything by way of a pointer? Google didn't help me here. This is somewhat alluded to here: http://www.mail-archive.com/kerberos@mit.edu/msg01560.html You might want to read the entire thread on that issue. There is the comment in the Oracle web pages about 1.86 vs 1.85: http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/berkeley-db/db/index.html "Do not upgrade to the 1.86 release other than to fix specific hash access method problems found in the 1.85 release." And in the "Berkeley DB: A Retrospective" paper (http://sites.computer.org/debull/A07Sept/seltzer.pdf), Margo notes: "Db-1.85 enjoyed widespread adoption after its release with 4.4BSD. In particular, both the MIT Kerberos project and the University of Michigan LDAP project incorporated it. A group at Harvard released a minor patch version db-1.86 for the Kerberos team in 1996." So, I think my recollection is correct. -Kurt