linux-kernel - Re: kernel + gcc 4.1 = several problems

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Date:	Thu, 4 Jan 2007 09:47:01 -0800 (PST)
From:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...l.org>
To:	Segher Boessenkool <segher@...nel.crashing.org>
cc:	Albert Cahalan <acahalan@...il.com>, akpm@...l.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, s0348365@....ed.ac.uk,
	bunk@...sta.de, mikpe@...uu.se
Subject: Re: kernel + gcc 4.1 = several problems

On Thu, 4 Jan 2007, Segher Boessenkool wrote:
> 
> > (in which case, nearly all real-world code is broken)
> 
> Not "nearly all" -- but lots of code, yes.

I wouldn't say "lots of code". I would say "all real projects".

NOBODY will guarantee you that they follow all standards to the letter. 
Some use compiler extensions knowingly, but pretty much _everybody_ ends 
up depending on subtle issues without even realizing it. It's almost 
impossible to write a real program that has no bugs, and if they don't 
show up in testing (because the compiler didn't generate buggy assembly 
code from source code that had the _potential_ for bugs), they often won't 
get fixed.

The kernel does things like compare pointers across objects, and the 
kernel EXPECTS it to work. I seriously doubt that the kernel is even 
unusual in this. The common way to avoid AB-BA deadlocks in any threaded 
code (whether kernel or user space) is to just take two locks in a 
specific order, and the common way to do that for locks of the same type 
is simply to compare the addresses).

The fact that this is "undefined" behaviour matters not a _whit_. Not for 
the kernel, and I bet not for a lot of other applications either.

So "nearly all" is probably _understating_ things rather than overstating 
it as you claim. Anybody who thinks that they have proven the correctness 
of their program is likely lying. It's a good thing if they have _tested_ 
all the code-paths, but they've invariably been tested with a compiler 
that doesn't go out of its way to try to generate "legal but idiotic" 
code. So the testing won't generally find cases where the compiler may 
have been _allowed_ to do something else.

The end result: any nontrivial project always has dodgy code. Because 
people simply don't write perfect code.

Compiler people who don't realize this aren't compiler people. They're 
academics involved with mental masturbation.

		Linus
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