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From: ok@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Subject: Re: Ariane 5 failure
Date: 1996/10/03
Date: 1996-10-03T00:00:00+00:00	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <52vaj6$nh@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 52p49m$kug@beyond-software.com


"Wayne L. Beavers" <wayneb@beyond-software.com> writes:

>I have been reading this thread awhile and one topic that I have not
>seen mentioned is protecting the code area from damage.

I imagine that everyone else has taken this for granted.
UNIX compilers have been doing it for years, and so I believe have VMS ones.

>When I code in PL/I or any other reentrant language I always make sure
>that the executable code is executing from read-only storage.

(a) This is not something that the programmer should normally have to be
    concerned with, it just happens.
(b) It cannot always be done. Run-time code generation is a practical and
    important technique.  (Making a page read-only after new code has been
    written to it is a good idea, of course.)

>There is no way to put the data areas in read-only storage (obviously)

It may be obvious, but in important cases it isn't true.
UNIX (and I believe VMS) compilers have for years had the ability to put
_selected_ data in read-only storage.  And of course it is perfectly
feasible in many operating systems (certainly UNIX and VMS) to write data
into a page and then ask the operating system to make that page read-only.

>but I can't think of any reason to put the executable code in writeable
>storage.

Run-time binary translation.  Some approaches to relocation.  How many
reasons do you want?

>I one had to port 8,000 subroutines in PL/I, 24 megabytes of executable
>code from one system to another.

In a language where the last revision of the standard was 1976?
You have my deepest sympathy.

-- 
Australian citizen since 14 August 1996.  *Now* I can vote the xxxs out!
Richard A. O'Keefe; http://www.cs.rmit.edu.au/%7Eok; RMIT Comp.Sci.




  parent reply	other threads:[~1996-10-03  0:00 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 105+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
     [not found] <agrapsDy4oJH.29G@netcom.com>
1996-09-25  0:00 ` Ariane 5 failure @@           robin
1996-09-25  0:00   ` Michel OLAGNON
1996-09-25  0:00     ` Chris Morgan
1996-09-25  0:00     ` Byron Kauffman
1996-09-25  0:00       ` A. Grant
1996-09-25  0:00         ` Ken Garlington
1996-09-26  0:00         ` Byron Kauffman
1996-09-27  0:00           ` A. Grant
1996-09-26  0:00         ` Sandy McPherson
1996-09-25  0:00   ` Bob Kitzberger
1996-09-26  0:00     ` Ronald Kunne
1996-09-26  0:00       ` Matthew Heaney
1996-09-27  0:00         ` Wayne Hayes
1996-09-27  0:00           ` Richard Pattis
1996-09-29  0:00             ` Chris McKnight
1996-09-29  0:00               ` Real-world education (was: Ariane 5 failure) Michael Feldman
1996-09-29  0:00             ` Ariane 5 failure Dann Corbit
1996-09-29  0:00             ` Alan Brain
1996-10-01  0:00             ` Ken Garlington
1996-09-27  0:00         ` Ronald Kunne
1996-09-27  0:00           ` Lawrence Foard
1996-10-04  0:00             ` @@           robin
1996-09-28  0:00           ` Ken Garlington
1996-09-28  0:00             ` Ken Garlington
1996-09-29  0:00           ` Alan Brain
1996-09-29  0:00             ` Robert A Duff
1996-09-30  0:00               ` Wayne L. Beavers
1996-10-01  0:00                 ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-01  0:00                   ` Wayne L. Beavers
1996-10-01  0:00                     ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-02  0:00                       ` Sandy McPherson
1996-10-03  0:00                 ` Richard A. O'Keefe [this message]
1996-10-01  0:00             ` Ken Garlington
1996-09-28  0:00         ` Ken Garlington
1996-09-27  0:00       ` Ken Garlington
1996-09-27  0:00       ` Alan Brain
1996-09-28  0:00         ` Ken Garlington
1996-09-29  0:00       ` Louis K. Scheffer
1996-09-27  0:00   ` John McCabe
1996-10-01  0:00     ` Michael Dworetsky
1996-10-04  0:00       ` Steve Bell
1996-10-07  0:00         ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-09  0:00         ` @@           robin
1996-10-09  0:00           ` Steve O'Neill
1996-10-12  0:00             ` Alan Brain
1996-10-04  0:00     ` @@           robin
1996-10-04  0:00       ` Joseph C Williams
1996-10-06  0:00         ` Wayne Hayes
1996-10-04  0:00       ` Michel OLAGNON
1996-10-09  0:00         ` @@           robin
1996-10-17  0:00       ` Ralf Tilch
1996-10-17  0:00         ` Ravi Sundaram
1996-10-22  0:00           ` shmuel
1996-10-22  0:00             ` Jim Carr
1996-10-24  0:00               ` hayim
1996-10-25  0:00                 ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-25  0:00                 ` Michel OLAGNON
1996-10-01  0:00 Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-02  0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1996-10-04  0:00   ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-05  0:00     ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-06  0:00       ` Keith Thompson
1996-10-10  0:00       ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-14  0:00       ` Matthew Heaney
1996-10-15  0:00         ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-16  0:00         ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-18  0:00           ` Keith Thompson
1996-10-18  0:00             ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-18  0:00             ` Samuel T. Harris
1996-10-21  0:00               ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-23  0:00           ` robin
1996-10-02  0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1996-10-02  0:00   ` Ken Garlington
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1996-10-01  0:00 Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-02  0:00 ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-01  0:00 Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-02  0:00 ` Alan Brain
1996-10-02  0:00   ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-02  0:00     ` Matthew Heaney
1996-10-04  0:00       ` Robert S. White
1996-10-05  0:00         ` Alan Brain
1996-10-06  0:00           ` Robert S. White
1996-10-05  0:00         ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-03  0:00     ` Alan Brain
1996-10-04  0:00       ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-03  0:00 Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-03  0:00 Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-03  0:00 Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-14  0:00 Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-15  0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1996-10-15  0:00   ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-16  0:00     ` Michael F Brenner
1996-10-16  0:00       ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-23  0:00 ` robin
1996-10-16  0:00 Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-18  0:00 ` Ken Garlington
1996-10-19  0:00   ` Frank Manning
1996-10-21  0:00     ` Norman H. Cohen
1996-10-21  0:00 Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-22  0:00 ` Adam Beneschan
1996-10-28  0:00 Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-28  0:00 Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-93
1996-10-29  0:00 ` Ken Garlington
1996-11-08  0:00   ` robin
1996-10-31  0:00 Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-93
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