Subject: Linux-Development Digest #238
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 11:13:14 EDT

Linux-Development Digest #238, Volume #2         Wed, 28 Sep 94 11:13:14 EDT

Contents:
  Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development ("Eric Jeschke")
  Re: Digi Intelligent Boards?
  Re: Trouble using "execl" (Michael Edward Chastain)
  Re: mount/umount bug (/etc/mtab~) (Davor Jadrijevic)
  Re: Trouble using "execl" (NightHawk)
  Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development (Steve Davies)
  Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development (Kai Petzke)
  3c503 problem (Davyd Luque)
  Re: Does Quicken work under DOSEMU? (Jason ROOT George)
  Re: SMail security hole? (Patrick Schaaf)
  Re: PROMISE DC4030VL-2 IDE Controller (Christian Nelson)
  Re: Try this IPX bridging code ... (Rob Janssen)
  Re: Alpha Linux (Rob Janssen)
  Re: Missing stdarg.h and (sort of) varargs.h (Alan Cox)
  Is there a lockd? (Koen J.Mulders (BI92))
  Driver support for PS/2 (MCA) version of SMC/WD? (James F. Morris)
  Compiling progs using port I/O (Joe Nardone)

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

From: "Eric Jeschke" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 14:29:04 -0500

[email-masked] (Kai Petzke) writes:

:[email-masked] (Mats 'MaDsen' Wikholm) writes:

:> I'm no programmer (yet) so hang me if I'm  way off but wouldn't it be
:>possible to automagically mount the floppy only when it is accessed. I
:>mean that you don't have  to have it mounted before  you access it  so
:>when you try to access it the system checks if it is mounted and if it
:>isn't it  gets mounted. If there's   no disk in  it you  get a flaming
:>error.

:That sounds like a good idea.  Actually, the NFS automounter works
:that way.  Can it be changed to handle floppy mounts as well?

I'm pretty sure I had this set up a while back, before a disk crash
wiped it out.  When you cd into the amd mount point it mounts it.
I think there might be some examples in the amd package on sunsite.

-- 
Eric Jeschke                      |          Indiana University
[email-masked]            |     Computer Science Department

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

From: [email-masked] ()
Subject: Re: Digi Intelligent Boards?
Date: 27 Sep 1994 16:00:56 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

: Well, I'm responsible for the maintenance/development of our SCO serial 
: drivers and the development of the Linux driver for our PC/Xe product, 
: and I haven't heard anything like that yet.  Plans are to release a 
: Linux driver for our PC/Xe line of products this fall. 

: --
: Troy De Jongh   Digiboard   ([email-masked])

I'm glad to hear that -- perhaps the marketing types making the rounds
at Interop should be careful with what they say.  The reason I chose
to spend my time at the Digiboard booth (out of thousands to choose
from) was because of your Linux support.  After reading the recent
article in the Linux Journal, and seeing Digiboards advertisement, I
expected to be warmly received -- instead, I got the line I posted
earlier.  

Again, I'm glad to see this is not Digiboard's policy.  Maybe you could
give the marketing folks who were representing Digiboard at Interop a
call to let them know that if thay spread that sort of message, the
Linux community will get the work back to you.

If you need additional info, don't hesitate to call me at (205) 870-6283.
And thanks for clearing this up.

--Bob  

([email-masked])

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

From: [email-masked] (Michael Edward Chastain)
Subject: Re: Trouble using "execl"
Date: 26 Sep 1994 10:55:03 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Ronald.Geens <[email-masked]> wrote:
> What args are wrong here ? This program works perfectly allright on SunOS
> 4.3 and Solaris, but not on Slackware ...
>
> [... program deleted ...]
>   if (execl("a.out",NULL)<0) perror("What the fuck\n");
                      ^^^^

This arg is wrong.  You want to call:

    execl( "a.out", "a.out", NULL );

Your call to 'execl' doesn't set arg[0] to the name of the program.
Now, the kernel doesn't mind, and exec's your program.  But the
dynamic-linking stuff in the C runtime code looks for that program
name.  When it is missing, as it is in your call, the target program
interprets that as a request to print the shared library list.  It
prints this list and exits without ever calling 'main(argc, argv)'.

Michael Chastain
[email-masked]

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

From: [email-masked] (Davor Jadrijevic)
Subject: Re: mount/umount bug (/etc/mtab~)
Date: 28 Sep 1994 12:01:52 GMT

: Is this a bug or a feature?

Did anybody consider doing mounts with my /proc/mtab ?
Maybe it can completely avoid such mtab~ etc problems.

Best regards, Davor
--
<[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>
================ Davor Jadrijevic ====================

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

From: [email-masked] (NightHawk)
Subject: Re: Trouble using "execl"
Date: 26 Sep 1994 06:53:49 -0400

Ronald.Geens ([email-masked]) wrote:

: >In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] writes:
: >|> 
: >|> 
: >|> I am trying to get a task to transform into another program
: >|> using the "execl" function call. The task appears to die
: >|> with the following displayed on the screen:
: >|> 
: >|>         libc.so.4 (DLL Jump 4.5pl26) => /lib/libc.so.4.5.26
: >|> 
: >|> Can anyone tell me what this means, what I'm doing wrong, and/or
: >|> how to fix it?
: >|> 
: >|> A trace line just before the "execl" prints but I don't get tracing
: >|> from after the "execl" or from the beginning of the target program.
: >
: >Use the correct arguments to execl() and it will work as doccumented/expected.
: >

: No way it won't. 

: What args are wrong here ? This program works perfectly allright on SunOS 4.3 and
: Solaris, but not on Slackware ...

: #include <stdio.h>
: #include <unistd.h>
:  
: main()
: {
:   char *args[1];
:   args[0]=NULL;
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

For me args [0] is the name of the program.

NH

:   printf("pid = %d, pgrp = %d\n",getpid(),getpgrp());
:   if (execl("a.out",NULL)<0) perror("What the fuck\n");
: /* or if (execve("a.out",args,args)<0) perror("What the fuck\n"); */
:   printf("What is this\n");
:   return 0;
: }

: >Mitch

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

From: [email-masked] (Steve Davies)
Subject: Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development
Date: 28 Sep 1994 14:03:16 +0200

In article <[email-masked]>, Alain Knaff <[email-masked]> wrote:
> Yes, but what we need to know is not when the floppy has been
>changed, but rather when it is inserted. The DISK CHANGE LINE is set
>when the floppy is _removed_ not when it is inserted. It is cleared
>when a disk is in the drive _and_ a seek is done. Thus, in order to
>detect a disk _insertion_ the drive has to be seeked endlessly. If the
>period of the poll is too small, the noise gets annoying, if it is too
>long the feature gets useless.

You sound like you know what you are talking about,  but...

Acorn's Archimedes A300 series machines had a 3 1/2 drive with a
disk change line.

Somehow (?) their operating system was able to take advantage of it
such that as you dropped a disk into the drive it would automatically
bring up a browser.  It could also ask you to change the disk in the
drive and would automatically pick up and continue as you dropped the
disk into the drive.

The drive access light/motor was *not* on whilst it waited.

Steve

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

From: [email-masked] (Kai Petzke)
Subject: Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development
Date: 26 Sep 94 11:20:39 GMT

[email-masked] (Mats 'MaDsen' Wikholm) writes:

> I'm no programmer (yet) so hang me if I'm  way off but wouldn't it be
>possible to automagically mount the floppy only when it is accessed. I
>mean that you don't have  to have it mounted before  you access it  so
>when you try to access it the system checks if it is mounted and if it
>isn't it  gets mounted. If there's   no disk in  it you  get a flaming
>error.

That sounds like a good idea.  Actually, the NFS automounter works
that way.  Can it be changed to handle floppy mounts as well?

Kai
-- 
Kai Petzke                      | How fast can computers get?
Technical University of Berlin  |
Berlin, Germany                 | Sol 9, of course, on Star Trek.
[email-masked]   |

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

From: [email-masked] (Davyd Luque)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: 3c503 problem
Date: 28 Sep 1994 11:49:45 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

I've an 386 with ASTFOURPORTS, Adaptec SCSI, IDE controller & standard RS, and
a 3c503 ethernet card.

boot info:

        3c503 probe at 0x300: 02 60 8C 3F 60 6A
        eth0: 3C503 with shared memory at 0xdc000-0xddfff,

# ifconfig
lo        Link encap Local Loopback  
          inet addr 127.0.0.1  Bcast 127.0.255.255  Mask 255.255.0.0
          UP BROADCAST LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU 2000  Metric 0
          RX packets 0 errors 0 dropped 0 overrun 0
          TX packets 14 errors 0 dropped 0 overrun 0
 
eth0      Link encap 10Mbps Ethernet  HWaddr 02:60:8C:3F:60:6A
          inet addr 192.90.15.1  Bcast 192.90.255.255  Mask 255.255.0.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING  MTU 1500  Metric 0
          RX packets 0 errors 27 dropped 0 overrun 0
          TX packets 20 errors 0 dropped 0 overrun 0

and all of trafic increase the RX error counter.
        RX packets 0 errors XX dropped 0 overrun 0

and i can't connect via tcp/ip to my machine.

---
   .oooO   _   _   Oooo.    e-mail: [email-masked]       Fax:343-440-0899
   (   )  / ) ( \  (   )            [email-masked]  Data:343-440-0899
    \ (  / (   ) \  ) /                   http://www.upc.es/~davyd
 ----\_)(   ) (   )(_/---|)/\/`/(|-
        .oooO-Oooo.                  Todo lo que me gusta es inmoral
                                           ilegal o engorda.

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

From: [email-masked] (Jason ROOT George)
Subject: Re: Does Quicken work under DOSEMU?
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 1994 06:03:34 GMT

Michael E. Mendis ([email-masked]) wrote:
:    The title pretty much says it all: doe any of the DOS flavors of
:    Quicken work under DOSEMU?  If not, are there any financial packages
:    that *do* work under it?

: I haven't tried the beta version .53 but I have using .52 with quicken.
: You can get .52 from sunsite.unc.edu or from the home base tsx-11.mit.edu
: -mike

I've been using Quicken 6.0 for DOS under DOSEMU 0.50p1 for months now.

--Jason George
[email-masked]
[email-masked]
UofA Hybrid Electric Vehicle Project 1995 Administration
^^^^ 1993 - 1st    1994 - 3rd  DoE/SAE Hybrid Challenge

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

From: [email-masked] (Patrick Schaaf)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Re: SMail security hole?
Date: 28 Sep 1994 13:07:00 -0000

[email-masked] (John Henders) writes:

>>  For example, if a person puts a .forward into their account, and
>>  specifies, say, for example:
>>  /foofle
>>  as the line in the .forward, rather than looking for a user named 
>>  "foofle" it will put the text of the letter into the root directory 
>>  as a file named "foofle".

>       If smail is doing this, it must be misconfigured. In the
>transports file there should be a line in the appendfile driver that
>tells smail to do the file append as the user who the mail is addressed
>to. The syntax is append_as_user. The above .forward hack doesn't work
>here, as the following debug extract will show.

Your conclusion (smail must be misconfigured) is correct, your proof
is not; the hole mentioned allows unwanted _creation_ of files in
inaccessible directories, with the file being owned by the user
(when append_as_user is set). Checking the source of transports/appendfile.c
you'll find that the attribute to set in the transport is called
'check_path'. The bug is gone now. I have no idea why that isn't the
default setting - does anybody know?

Patrick

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

From: [email-masked] (Christian Nelson)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: PROMISE DC4030VL-2 IDE Controller
Date: 26 Sep 1994 13:15:31 -0400

I also have one of these controllers, though I only use two drives
with it... so I'm not going to be much help.  I'm almost positive
you'll need to acquire the patch that allows you to use two IDE
controllers simutaneously.  The promise card, as far as using a 3d and
4th drive is concerned, acts like two controllers.

Have you have any trouble with your controllers, ie: system locking-up
when doing intensive (disk intensive) activities?  Mine does, but ONLY
when I have it set on defered write.  Let me know if you also have
this problem.  I think it might me related to my drive
configuration... That Promise controller doesn't like WD drives in a
two drive configuration.

-- 
Christian                 |
[email-masked] |
[email-masked] |

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

From: [email-masked] (Rob Janssen)
Subject: Re: Try this IPX bridging code ...
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 07:06:34 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Jay Ashworth) writes:

>[email-masked] (Rob Janssen) writes:
>} In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Jay Ashworth) writes:
>} >[email-masked] (Rob Janssen) writes:
>} >>Why do you want bridging when there already is IPX *routing* available
>} >>in the kernel?
>} >Hmmmm... _you_ have a Linux Kernel that speaks NetWare?
>} >You could save lots of people lots of work.  Where is it?

>} It is in the 1.1.x series of kernels.

>} I believe you mis-understand that IPX routing is the same as being able
>} to access a Netware fileserver.  It isn't.

>No... I _think_ I understand the difference between IPX/SPX and NCP.  I
>just wasn't aware IPX was rout_able_.  I'd always understood that it
>wasn't.

That certainly was a mis-understanding...

BTW, SPX isn't available in Linux either.  It is just IPX.
IPX (and its associated routing protocols RIP and SAP) are the only
protocols publicly documented by Novell.  SPX and NCP you either have
to buy or to reverse-engineer.

Rob
-- 
=========================================================================
| Rob Janssen                | AMPRnet:   [email-masked]           |
| e-mail: [email-masked]     | AX.25 BBS: PE1CHL@PI8UTR.#UTR.NLD.EU     |
=========================================================================

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

From: [email-masked] (Rob Janssen)
Subject: Re: Alpha Linux
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 07:11:53 GMT

In <[email-masked]> lm@fubar (Larry McVoy) writes:

>: > None of these is the best solution. The best solution is to say exactly
>: > what you mean. E.g. If you want to store numbers between -500 and +1000
>: > you should declare this and let the compiler work out how many bits to
>: > use. e.g. int{-500,1000} foo; int{0,65535} bar;

>#define        int8    char
>#define        int16   short
>#define        int32   int
>#define        int64   long

>These should have been in sys/types.h a long time ago along with the
>unsigned versions.  I've ported the TCP stack several times to weird
>hardware where this sort of thing was desperately needed.

>Before everyone says that "My weird ass machine doesn't have 16 bit 
>integers" note that you use these types when THESE ARE EXACTLY WHAT 
>YOU NEED.  Like in protocol structures, where the size is determined
>by the bits on the wire, not "My weird ass machine".   Then if your 
>machine doesn't work, at least you get the errors right up front and
>can go diddle your way around it.

If you want a protocol stack to be portable, it is not a good idea to
map header formats directly (using structures).  You will make yourself
dependent on the availability of right-sized data items, item alignment,
and the correct byte order.  Variable-length headers are also a pain
in this scheme.

It is better to use conversion functions from "network format" headers
to "host format" structures.  In that case the exact size of the data
items is much less of a problem, as long as they are large enough to
hold the number of bits defined in the protocol.

Rob
-- 
=========================================================================
| Rob Janssen                | AMPRnet:   [email-masked]           |
| e-mail: [email-masked]     | AX.25 BBS: PE1CHL@PI8UTR.#UTR.NLD.EU     |
=========================================================================

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

From: [email-masked] (Alan Cox)
Subject: Re: Missing stdarg.h and (sort of) varargs.h
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 12:00:17 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Stephen Vance) writes:
>Has anyone noticed the conspicuous absence of stdarg.h?  Or that there is
>a <sys/varargs.h> which tries to include a non-existant <varargs.h>?  This
>is true of the 1.0.8 source tree as well as a 1.1.49 tree patched up from
>a 1.1.29 base.  It sort of complicates a port I'm working on, but I'll
>create one for everyone if I need to.

Whats wrong with the one that comes with the compiler and (if installed
properly) lives in /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.5.8/include (and is
searched by cpp). Check your install and permissions.

Alan

-- 
  ..-----------,,----------------------------,,----------------------------,,
 // Alan Cox  //  [email-masked]   //  GW4PTS@GB7SWN.#45.GBR.EU  //
 ``----------'`----------------------------'`----------------------------''

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

From: [email-masked] (Koen J.Mulders (BI92))
Subject: Is there a lockd?
Date: 28 Sep 1994 12:47:28 GMT

Is there a lockd (under development) anywhere?

Please let me know!

Koen Mulders
[email-masked]
-- 
Koen Mulders
[email-masked]    

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
From: [email-masked] (James F. Morris)
Subject: Driver support for PS/2 (MCA) version of SMC/WD?
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 04:47:05 GMT

I have been working on getting Linux up and running on an IBM PS/2 Model
70, which has not been an enviable task, to say the least!  But, beggars
can't be choosers, either.

I have no problem with the Adaptec AHA-1640 SCSI host adapter, which Linux
detects and uses as an AHA-1542.  My 1.7GB SCSI-2 drive and 2GB Archive tape
drive work flawlessly under Linux.

Which leaves me stuck with the following problem:  network support.  I
originally had an NE/2 adapter in this machine, which was not supported by
Linux at all.  For that matter, the Crynwr packet drivers for the NE/2
under DOS don't work either (Russ Nelson says he hasn't tested them).

So, to make a long story short, I was able to scrounge an IBM PS/2 Ethernet
Adapter /A.  This is a microchannel version of an SMC Ultra, from what I
have been able to tell.  Under DOS, the same SMC_WD.COM packet driver is used
for this card, as for an ISA based SMC Ultra or WD8013.  Biggest difference
is that the I/O port address range is up at 0x800, rather than 0x300 - no 
big deal, and the RAM address is fixed in the PS/2 setup program.

Problem is, even with the 0x800 I/O port range added to the scan list in the
WD.C and SMC-ULTRA.C kernel driver, the card just doesn't work right (under
Linux - works fine under DOS).  I get TX status 3 (timeout on TX) when
attempting to access the network.

Looking through the Crynwr packet drivers shows that there are differences
between operation of the NS (8390?) chip used on these boards on the ISA
vs. MCA bus.  Specifically, the MCA bus has twice as fast a clock cycle as
the ISA bus.  The Crynwr driver inserts extra delays if it detects operation
on a Microchannel machine.  Other differences are some extra setup in
certain registers on the NIC's ASIC.

Has anyone done this work already?  I.e., does anyone have Linux working
with an IBM Ethernet /A?  If so, PLEASE share it with me!

If not, then I intend to rewrite the SMC/WD kernel drivers in Linux to
support the microchannel version, as my contribution to the Linux
community.  I just hate to duplicate the work, or spend time I don't
have on this project...

Thanks!
--
Jim Morris ([email-masked])

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

From: [email-masked] (Joe Nardone)
Subject: Compiling progs using port I/O
Date: 28 Sep 1994 12:14:56 GMT

Hey net-folks--

I'm trying to compile a program that uses the inb and outb
functions (macros, actually) but when it comes to link time
all my inb/outb calls are represented as unresolved references
to ___outb (or ___outcb) and ___inb...

Am I missing a library, or a path to one?  gcc -v looks like it's
looking in all the right places for library files...

I'm running GCC 2.5.8 on Linux Kernel 1.1.50 w/ a 486dx2/66.

Any help would be much appreciated-

Joe

--
===========================================================
 Joe Nardone                             [email-masked]

 "Exploitation?  I know all about that stuff.  I've
     been exploited all my life."  -- Elwood

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

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End of Linux-Development Digest
******************************