Re: propolice support for linux

[Arjan van de Ven <arjan@infradead.org>]

> Well I suggest it here as well:
>   http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=199891
> 
> But got zero replies. Could you be so kind to point out to these
> people it's a good idea?


there are other alternatives to PP that don't require code changes; for
example Jakub wrote a patch for gcc4 and 3.4 that has the effect of
detecting buffer overflows but that
1) Does not require code changes in userspace (only CFLAGS)
2) is supposedly better in line with the gcc architecture (but I'm not a
gcc export to judge that)

Before people say "NIH NIH NIH" I have to say this: Propolice is a great
piece of work. But if it's architecture is not suitable for gcc mainline
(especially with the SSA changes in gcc4) then it's most likely not
going anywhere (as a way of "proof": PP is around for a long time, but
it still hasn't made gcc mainline, I don't even know if it has been
submitted for that even). The functionality of detecting buffer
overflows is useful, and Jakubs patch addresses that functionality as
well, but in a way that is more in line with the gcc design. 
(It's actually quite cool stuff, current rawhide is getting compiled
with it for example and working quite nicely there)