[comp.unix.xenix] CNEWS2 and ELM2.2 PL10

steve@jack.UUCP (Dr. J. Steven Harrison) (08/21/89)

Help!

  I have been trying to bring up cnews2 and ELM2.2 PL10.  I am running into
all sorts of problems.  I thought I would try the net before plunging into
some odd patch!

  Here's the problem on cnews2 the build program returns a Stack Overflow
and then core dumps.  The same situation occurs when trying to run the
Configure program in ELM2.2 PL10. As usual and of course when SCO is asked
about a bug in sh or shV they have no comment.  

  I am running on SCO Xenix 2.1.3 on a PC/AT.  Can anybody help before I plunge
into yet another patch to these two programs so I can get them running on this
machine.  Has anybody even seen this problem?



-- 
J. Steven Harrison                          Systems'n'Software
(415) 623-8651                              45034 Imnaha Court
UUCP: pyramid!jack!steve                    Fremont, California  94539-6669
INTERNET: steve%jack.uucp@ucsd.edu

bob@rel.mi.org (Bob Leffler) (08/22/89)

In article <931@jack.UUCP>, steve@jack.UUCP (Dr. J. Steven Harrison) writes:
>   Here's the problem on cnews2 the build program returns a Stack Overflow
> and then core dumps.  The same situation occurs when trying to run the
>   I am running on SCO Xenix 2.1.3 on a PC/AT.  Can anybody help before I plunge
> into yet another patch to these two programs so I can get them running on this
> machine.  Has anybody even seen this problem?

The same thing happens with SCO Xenix/286 2.2.1.  

I starting working on cnews a couple weeks ago, but the birth of a son put
cnews on the bottom of my priority list for awhile.

bob


-- 
Bob Leffler - Electronic Data Systems, Financial Information Services Division
3044 West Grand Blvd., Room 11-101, Detroit, MI 48202 (313) 556-4474
bob@rel.mi.org or {uunet!edsews, rutgers, sharkey}!rel!bob
Opinions expressed may not be those of my employer.

chip@vector.Dallas.TX.US (Chip Rosenthal) (08/22/89)

In article <931@jack.UUCP> steve@jack.UUCP (J. Steven Harrison) writes:
>  Here's the problem on cnews2 the build program returns a Stack Overflow
>and then core dumps.  The same situation occurs when trying to run the
>Configure program in ELM2.2 PL10. As usual and of course when SCO is asked
>about a bug in sh or shV they have no comment.  

I find that hard to believe.  Anybody at SCO who has worked tech support
for more than 6 hours must know what this problem means.  Sh isn't broke,
it's just your cpu is brain dead.

286 executables run with a fixed stack space.  This stack is allocated
when the executable image is loaded.  The program specifies the size of
the desired stack in the x.out header extension.  If you do a "hdr" on an
executable file, you will see that a "stack size" is specified.

OK...program dies because the stack overflows?  How do you fix it?
Increase the stack size!  (amazing...)

The "fixhdr" command can poke the various values in the x.out header,
including the amount of stack which must be allocated.  RTFM.

At first thought, it might seem ugly that you need to go in and patch
vendor distributed executables this way.  Not especially.  The problem
with fixed limits is sometimes you exceed them.  Back in the bad old days
when "vector" was an AT, I bumped into the stack limit a couple of times.
Making the stack a wee bit larger always fixed this problem.
-- 
Chip Rosenthal / chip@vector.Dallas.TX.US / Dallas Semiconductor / 214-450-5337
"I wish you'd put that starvation box down and go to bed" - Albert Collins' Mom