[comp.sys.amiga.tech] Two bug reports

danbabcock@eklektik.UUCP (/dev/ph1) (08/15/90)

The following are two bug/feature reports that I emailed to Commodore. I'm
posting them because I'm sure some other people are interested, and I'm not
sure if Commodore received my email (no response as of this writing).

I noticed a problem with task exceptions while writing a program that uses
them (a serial.device compatible driver for a super-cheap multiserial,
multiparallel board that works with any Amiga - I use a task exception to handle
non-queued breaks). I hear you groaning already. Yes, I *have* read the
warnings about using task exceptions, but this code only uses Exec - and
Exec supports exceptions internally, right?

Well, I found a case where it (Exec) doesn't. Exceptions fail to work when
the task is (at the time of the exception) in Wait() and the exception
routine itself uses Wait(). The problem is that Wait() writes over
tc_SigWait. The solution is very simple: the exception code should save
tc_SigWait before calling Wait(), and restore it afterwards.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found a bug in the skeleton device driver. The bug appears in both the
printed 1.3 RKM and the latest (to the outside world, at least)
electronicly distributed version (as well as the earlier versions).

The problem is in the flush routine. In the following code (the tail end of
the flush routine)...

   tst.b   d0
   beq.s   1$
   bsr	 InternalStart
1$:
   bra TermIO

...the BEQ should be a BNE. I could explain the "why", but you probably
won't understand (or trust me :-)) until you look at the code for yourself
anyway. I'm surprised that no one reported this one before, although I
assume many people noticed it and fixed it in their own drivers.

-- Dan Babcock
People/Link: DANBABCOCK
Internet: danbabcock@eklektik.pgh.pa.us <-- Note: Invalid on August 17+
Voice: (412)-373-1753 <-- up to and including August 17
New Voice: (814)-862-2931 <-- August 19+
(I'm going off to college...)

valentin@cbmvax.commodore.com (Valentin Pepelea) (08/18/90)

In article <5177@eklektik.UUCP> danbabcock@eklektik.UUCP (/dev/ph1) writes:
>
> The following are two bug/feature reports that I emailed to Commodore. I'm
> posting them because I'm sure some other people are interested, and I'm not
> sure if Commodore received my email (no response as of this writing).

If you mailed the bug reports to bugs@cbmvax, hances are the mail was received.
But you did not get a reply, because no reply was ever sent to you. It would be
ideal for bugs@cbmvax to reply to you with the bug number that was assigned to
your report, but alas that is not the case.

I'm resubmiting your reports to bugs, just in case.

Valentin
-- 
The Goddess of democracy? "The tyrants     Name:    Valentin Pepelea
may distroy a statue,  but they cannot     Phone:   (215) 431-9327
kill a god."                               UseNet:  cbmvax!valentin@uunet.uu.net
             - Ancient Chinese Proverb     Claimer: I not Commodore spokesman be

andy@cbmvax.commodore.com (Andy Finkel) (08/21/90)

In article <13867@cbmvax.commodore.com> valentin@cbmvax (Valentin Pepelea) writes:
>In article <5177@eklektik.UUCP> danbabcock@eklektik.UUCP (/dev/ph1) writes:
>>
>> The following are two bug/feature reports that I emailed to Commodore. I'm
>> posting them because I'm sure some other people are interested, and I'm not
>> sure if Commodore received my email (no response as of this writing).
>
>If you mailed the bug reports to bugs@cbmvax, hances are the mail was received.
>But you did not get a reply, because no reply was ever sent to you. It would be
>ideal for bugs@cbmvax to reply to you with the bug number that was assigned to
>your report, but alas that is not the case.

Sorry, he has no idea what he's talking about.  We do a reply
on emailed bug messages as an ACK before its entered in the database,
but rely on the return address being accurate.  They seem to bounce
a lot :-(

			andy
-- 
andy finkel		{uunet|rutgers|amiga}!cbmvax!andy
Commodore-Amiga, Inc.

"Of course it's the murder weapon.  Who would frame someone with a fake?"

Any expressed opinions are mine; but feel free to share.
I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors.

xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (08/21/90)

andy@cbmvax (Andy Finkel) writes:
>valentin@cbmvax (Valentin Pepelea) writes:
>>danbabcock@eklektik.UUCP (/dev/ph1) writes:
>>>
>>> The following are two bug/feature reports that I emailed
>>> to Commodore. I'm posting them because I'm sure some other
>>> people are interested, and I'm not sure if Commodore
>>> received my email (no response as of this writing).
>>
>> If you mailed the bug reports to bugs@cbmvax, chances are
>> the mail was received.  But you did not get a reply,
>> because no reply was ever sent to you. It would be
>> ideal for bugs@cbmvax to reply to you with the bug number
>> that was assigned to your report, but alas that is not the
>> case.
>
> Sorry, he has no idea what he's talking about.

Now children, don't quarrel in-house; go out on the net to
play.

Oops!  Wrong newsgroup!  Thought I was in misc.kids.  ;-)

> We do a reply on emailed bug messages as an ACK before
> it's entered in the database, but rely on the return
> address being accurate.  They seem to bounce a lot :-(

Now there at least is an easy problem to solve!  Take a
page from the vote takers' manual; if your ACKs bounce,
bulk post them!

I think _everybody_ would like to see a monthly posting
of new bug-number, bug-reported-by, bug-assigned-to,
bug-priority, bug-one-line-descriptions from CBM show up
in comp.sys.amiga.tech, and the load as a percent of the
newsgroup volume would be infinitessimal.

Add to that a list of known outstanding bugs, and known fixed
bugs with fixes not yet released, and it would be a lot easier
to decide whether to report the latest quirky behavior seen in
AmigaDOS 1.1.  ;-)

If someone at CATS has the time, that would be a good PR and
public service kind of a thing to do on USENet, and would
save developers and users mountains of time figuring out that
the problem is in the OS, and not in our stars.

Kent, the man from xanth.
<xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us>