Bug 16485 - Problem with latest upgrade to mailx: core dump
Summary: Problem with latest upgrade to mailx: core dump
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Linux
Classification: Retired
Component: mailx
Version: 6.2
Hardware: i386
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Florian La Roche
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
: 17461 17535 (view as bug list)
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2000-08-17 23:28 UTC by Rick San Soucie
Modified: 2008-05-01 15:37 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2000-11-02 14:12:47 UTC
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description Rick San Soucie 2000-08-17 23:28:43 UTC
I have RH 6.2 installed.  Using the upgrade agent, I upgraded 
my  mailx-8.1.1-10.i386.rpm to  mailx-8.1.1-16.i386.rpm.

After the upgrade, whenever I run mail, open a message to view, and then exit mail, I
get a segmentation fault and core dump.

See the support incident #154690.

I have uninstalled mailx-8.1.1-16.i386.rpm, and restored mailx-8.1.1-10.i386.rpm.  Mail now
works properly.

I have core files I can email to you if necessary.

Comment 1 John Franks 2000-08-20 15:04:56 UTC
I have observed the same problem.  It does not always core dump, but can
be reliably made to do so by almost any activity in mail and then the 
'q' command.

Comment 2 John Franks 2000-08-24 21:25:28 UTC
I got some free time and decided to look at this myself.
The bug was introduced with the patch mailx-8.1.1-environ.patch.

After applying this patch, the file fio.c contains

	case '&':
		if (name[1] == 0 && (name = value("MBOX")) == NOSTR)
		if (name[1] == 0 && (name = getenv("MBOX")) == NOSTR)
			name = "~/mbox";
		/* fall through */

The first "if" results in name == NULL and the second if evaluates
name[1].  Hence the core dump.  

It should look like
	case '&':
		if (name[1] == 0 && (name = value("MBOX")) == NOSTR)
		if ( (name = getenv("MBOX")) == NOSTR)
			name = "~/mbox";
		/* fall through */

A diff for the patch is appended.  Though patching patches may not
be a good idea.

John Franks 
john.edu

--- mailx-8.1.1-environ.patch.orig	Thu Aug 24 15:54:19 2000
+++ mailx-8.1.1-environ.patch	Thu Aug 24 15:58:33 2000
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
  		return savestr(prevfile);
  	case '&':
  		if (name[1] == 0 && (name = value("MBOX")) == NOSTR)
-+		if (name[1] == 0 && (name = getenv("MBOX")) == NOSTR)
++		if ((name = getenv("MBOX")) == NOSTR)
  			name = "~/mbox";
  		/* fall through */
  	}





Comment 3 Jeff Johnson 2000-08-25 11:40:03 UTC
This is the same problem as bug #15728, fixed in Raw Hide but not in the Red Hat
6.2 errata.

Comment 4 John Franks 2000-08-25 13:50:10 UTC
Well, many of us are not permitted to see bug #15728.  I should have 
mentioned that a workaround is to add the line 

set MBOX=~/mbox

to your .mailrc file.

Comment 5 Hugh Bragg 2000-09-15 11:34:44 UTC
I have the same problem upgrading from mailx-8.1.1-10.i386.rpm and
mailx-8.1.1-11.i386.rpm.
I have many users do not want to remember yet another admin step.
Can't mailx be officially re-released with the fix some time soon?

Comment 6 Jeff Johnson 2000-11-02 13:49:10 UTC
*** Bug 17535 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7 Jeff Johnson 2000-11-02 14:12:45 UTC
*** Bug 17461 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 8 Jeff Johnson 2000-11-02 14:15:06 UTC
Fixes for bugs #14010, #15278, and  #10074 were not included in the released
errata.

Re-releasing mailx-8.1.1-20

Comment 9 jonathan 2001-01-09 16:27:43 UTC
job wrote:

> Re-releasing mailx-8.1.1-20

But it has not yet shown up a sa Red Hat 6.2 erratum.  Wil it ever do so?

Thanks,

Jonathan Marsden <jonathan>



Comment 10 Hugh Bragg 2001-04-23 06:22:10 UTC
If this is fixed then why is the lates version of mailx in the redhat updates
directory still
mailx-8.1.1-16.i386.rpm and mailx-8.1.1-16.src.rpm ?

Comment 11 Hugh Bragg 2001-05-11 14:23:14 UTC
Still no mailx-8.1.1-20 on the updates site in the SRPM or the i386 directories.
Why has this been resolved?

Comment 12 Hugh Bragg 2001-06-08 12:37:57 UTC
I can find mailx-8.1.1-21.*.rpm from Polished linux on rpmfind network.
Up2date wants to install mailx-8.1.1-16 when using mailx-8.1.1-10 from RH 6.2
unless the Polished version is installed. Once mailx-8.1.1-16 is installed, it
just crashes.


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