[Freedos-kernel] Distribution for REAL USE (was Re: CRITICAL BUG - crosslinked files - 2039 unusable)

2010-01-08 Thread Pat Villani
Hello Alain,

I probably missed it.  What is different about your distribution?  f it is a
major imrpvement to what we have, why not distribute it as a FreeDOS
distribution?

Pat


On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 7:54 AM, Alain Mouette ala...@pobox.com wrote:

 Hi all,

 first of all, Happy ne year :)

 Is there anyone working on, o willing to work on this cross-linked files
 bug? It seams to me that this can be very important for FreeDOS use, I
 allways assume that if a bug exists somewhere hidden, it could also
 atack under other circumstances, ie. not only on a 4Gb 99.9% full disk :(

 I have prepeared a new FreeDOS distribution for REAL USE in the field
 and this is holding me back. I never had problems with disks (older
 kernel), maybe even lass then with MS-DOS 7.10, and the latest kernel
 that I tested is even better (near to no lost cluster on reset). So this
 new version is very exciting :)

 Thanks for all,
 Alain

 Eric Auer escreveu:
  Hi dos386 :-)
 
  1. No new details to the Crosslink-BUG ... cluster size is 4 KiB :-|
 
  However, it is very interesting that it involves broken high 16 bits
  on FAT32 on almost full disks. I hope this helped Bart to zoom in on
  potential causes for the bug :-).
 
  http://sourceforge.net/support/tracker.php?aid=2901916
 
 www.mail-archive.com/freedos-kernel%40lists.sourceforge.net/msg02431.html
 
  To summarize your 19 Dec 2009 mail: Use kernel 2039 on a FAT32 (FAT28)
  disk, for example 6 GB with 4 kB/cluster and quite full, for example
  95 p/c, with fragmented free space. Copy some files, delete some, copy
  some more files. Then, you say, many cross-links show up, mostly in the
  freshly copied two sets of files, also lost cluster chains. You are very
  right that the INTERESTING thing is that the broken files all have bad
  starting cluster numbers, all below 0x1, even though there were no
  free clusters in the first 65536 clusters before the experiment!
 
 
 
  2. Discovered a NEW BUG:
 
  Half of it is not a bug, the other half is...
 
  1. Get WDE or similar
  2. Overwrite both entries in FS-info sector with $'
  3. Reboot to FreeDOS
  4. DIR - there is a massive delay at the end
 
  This is because DIR tells you how much space is used / free.
  For that, DOS has to count all used / free FAT clusters by
  reading the whole FAT, which is big in FAT32. The FS-Info
  sector caches the information, but by setting the values to
  the  which you mention, you force a recalculation...
 
  5. DIR - no delay anymore
 
  See above :-)
 
  6. Try to brew a file or SUBDIR (MD)
  - expected result: should work
  - effective result: DOESN'T WORK
 
  Do you also get problems with file creation or growth, as
  far as those involve allocation of more clusters? If yes,
  which problems, just failure? Or creation of cross links?
 
  7. Retry and it will work now
 
  Interesting!
 
  EDR-DOS doesn't have this bug.
 
  It probably also has the delay? I assume by bug you only mean
  the problem of creating a directory after invalidating FS-Info?
 
  Eric
 
  PS: I think 2039 got less publicity than 2038 and 2038
  has more conservative updates. Combined, this means in
  2039 you have more changes but (yet) fewer testers...
 



 --
 This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community
 Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support
 A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and
 easy
 Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers
 http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev
 ___
 Freedos-kernel mailing list
 Freedos-kernel@lists.sourceforge.net
 https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-kernel

--
This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community
Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support
A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy
Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers
http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev ___
Freedos-kernel mailing list
Freedos-kernel@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-kernel


Re: [Freedos-kernel] Distribution for REAL USE (was Re: CRITICAL BUG - crosslinked files - 2039 unusable)

2010-01-08 Thread Alain Mouette
I made a very simple distribution, close to the original MS-DOS disks. 
Main carachteristics:

- Single floppy
- Single language
- No fancy program or interface at all, but complete functionality
- Simple batch menu, with most functions are for partitioning, formating 
and installing.
- Config optional with a supplied Congif+Autoexec containing a simple 
but advanced setup.

I was making a new version, allong with required files for GPL 
distribution, including a very good windows floppy generation executable 
(I create it with a licenced program).

I just put it on wait for the new kernel. So far I found 2 BIG 
advantages in the new kernel:
- Better SATA operation, at least in one machine only the new kernel worked
- better security: I use a database program and the new kernel rarely 
has lost clusters after system crashes

I am glad to know that there is work on the new kernel's bug :)
Alain


Pat Villani escreveu:
 Hello Alain,
 
 I probably missed it.  What is different about your distribution?  f it 
 is a major imrpvement to what we have, why not distribute it as a 
 FreeDOS distribution?
 
 Pat
 
 
 On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 7:54 AM, Alain Mouette ala...@pobox.com 
 mailto:ala...@pobox.com wrote:
 
 Hi all,
 
 first of all, Happy ne year :)
 
 Is there anyone working on, o willing to work on this cross-linked files
 bug? It seams to me that this can be very important for FreeDOS use, I
 allways assume that if a bug exists somewhere hidden, it could also
 atack under other circumstances, ie. not only on a 4Gb 99.9% full
 disk :(
 
 I have prepeared a new FreeDOS distribution for REAL USE in the field
 and this is holding me back. I never had problems with disks (older
 kernel), maybe even lass then with MS-DOS 7.10, and the latest kernel
 that I tested is even better (near to no lost cluster on reset). So this
 new version is very exciting :)
 
 Thanks for all,
 Alain
 
 Eric Auer escreveu:
   Hi dos386 :-)
  
   1. No new details to the Crosslink-BUG ... cluster size is 4
 KiB :-|
  
   However, it is very interesting that it involves broken high 16 bits
   on FAT32 on almost full disks. I hope this helped Bart to zoom in on
   potential causes for the bug :-).
  
   http://sourceforge.net/support/tracker.php?aid=2901916
  
 www.mail-archive.com/freedos-kernel%40lists.sourceforge.net/msg02431.html
 
 http://www.mail-archive.com/freedos-kernel%40lists.sourceforge.net/msg02431.html
  
   To summarize your 19 Dec 2009 mail: Use kernel 2039 on a FAT32
 (FAT28)
   disk, for example 6 GB with 4 kB/cluster and quite full, for example
   95 p/c, with fragmented free space. Copy some files, delete some,
 copy
   some more files. Then, you say, many cross-links show up, mostly
 in the
   freshly copied two sets of files, also lost cluster chains. You
 are very
   right that the INTERESTING thing is that the broken files all
 have bad
   starting cluster numbers, all below 0x1, even though there
 were no
   free clusters in the first 65536 clusters before the experiment!
  
  
  
   2. Discovered a NEW BUG:
  
   Half of it is not a bug, the other half is...
  
   1. Get WDE or similar
   2. Overwrite both entries in FS-info sector with $'
   3. Reboot to FreeDOS
   4. DIR - there is a massive delay at the end
  
   This is because DIR tells you how much space is used / free.
   For that, DOS has to count all used / free FAT clusters by
   reading the whole FAT, which is big in FAT32. The FS-Info
   sector caches the information, but by setting the values to
   the  which you mention, you force a recalculation...
  
   5. DIR - no delay anymore
  
   See above :-)
  
   6. Try to brew a file or SUBDIR (MD)
   - expected result: should work
   - effective result: DOESN'T WORK
  
   Do you also get problems with file creation or growth, as
   far as those involve allocation of more clusters? If yes,
   which problems, just failure? Or creation of cross links?
  
   7. Retry and it will work now
  
   Interesting!
  
   EDR-DOS doesn't have this bug.
  
   It probably also has the delay? I assume by bug you only mean
   the problem of creating a directory after invalidating FS-Info?
  
   Eric
  
   PS: I think 2039 got less publicity than 2038 and 2038
   has more conservative updates. Combined, this means in
   2039 you have more changes but (yet) fewer testers...
  
 
 
 
 --
 This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community
 Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support
 A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app