[Vm-dev] VM Crash LocaleTest>> beginning with Cog Spur 16.13 on Windows

[David T. Lewis]

On Thu, May 19, 2016 at 04:40:17AM -0700, Patrick R. wrote:
>  
> Hi everyone,
> 
> just wanted to let you know that the LocaleTest crashes the VM for builds
> after and including Cog with Spur on Windows version number 16.13. The crash
> dump does neither contain a Smalltalk nor a C trace and the VM crashes at
> the primitive 117. It is somewhat unclear what the issue might be. Are there
> any more information that could help you on that?
> 

Background information on the UUID bug is here:

http://bugs.squeak.org/view.php?id=7358

In that bug report, we were treating this as a "Linux issue". But presumably
it is a Gnu library problem, and if the Windows VM uses the same libraries,
then it may be subject to the same bug.

Key points from Mantis 7358:

- The bug exists in some, but not all, versions of the runtime library.

- Compiling the plugin as an internal plugin makes the problem go away.

- If you compile the plugin as an internal plugin, but the user does not
  have the uuid runtime installed, then the VM will crash.

- Therefore: No matter what you do, you are screwed.

This is the reason that I was very happy when recent improvements in
Squeak trunk made UUID generation so fast that the plugin is really not
needed any more.

Dave