Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 09:12:40 -0800 (PST) From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@transmeta.com> To: David Greenman <dg@root.com> Cc: John Kelly <jak@cetlink.net>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: (fwd) Re: F00F bug *fixed* in 2.0.x kernels Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971212085448.11316A-100000@penguin.transmeta.com> In-Reply-To: <199712120608.WAA01136@implode.root.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Thu, 11 Dec 1997, David Greenman wrote: > On 8 Dec 1997 23:11:24 GMT, in comp.os.linux.development.system > torvalds@transmeta.com (Linus Torvalds) wrote: > > > >If they are indeed still using that fix, they are a sorry lot of > >incompetent idiots. > > The fix that Linus is refering to is one of several that were evaluated > and rejected. The fix that we finally adopted in FreeBSD is the one that > involves making the IDT to read-only and catching the write fault that > occurs. Good. And I think I should clarify my position a bit - people did obviously not find my statement about "sorry lot of incompetent idiots" to go over well in some circles. Strange ;) Anyway, first I'd like to point out the "if .. indeed" clause of that part, just in case somebody missed it. I was personally involved with that particular fix, primarily as the one who de-bunked it. I was possibly not the only one, but I was at least one of the ones who spent time chasing down intel people and actually writing a test program that conclusively showed that the fix was bogus. I suspect that I was the first one to show it to be bogus. So imagine _my_ reaction when I am told by a third party that FreeBSD is still using the fix that I spent time _proving_ was wrong. In that context, "sorry lot of incompetent idiots" probably sounds a lot more understandable. Because a sorry lot you would have been. I'm happy that the third party was confused, but he had enough knowledge of the fix existing in the first place that I just assumed that he was right. Sorry for any ruffled feathers, and I guess I should have checked, but I don't think my reaction was completely unreasonable. Linus
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.LNX.3.95.971212085448.11316A-100000>