Subject: [DGD] dgd crashes on fatal errors
From: dgd at list.imaginary.com (Felix A. Croes)
Date: Fri Oct 24 08:07:01 2003

Soja wrote:

> I have discovered that dgd crashes (dumps core) after reporting a fatal 
> error. For example if you remove the binary_connect() function from a driver
> object, dgd crashes with following messages: 
>
>   Oct 23 19:31:34 ** DGD 1.2.66
>   Oct 23 19:31:34 ** Initializing...
>   Oct 23 19:31:36 ** Initialization complete. 
>
>   Fatal error: missing function in driver object: binary_connect
>   Aborted (core dumped) 

A momentous discovery.  This is how things are supposed to be :)

Fatal errors are for when something is <really> wrong, and a coredump
helps debugging such a case.  So why for missing functions in the
driver object?  Because this may mean that the function table of the
driver object was trashed (this has happened with some bugs in the
past), rather than the programmer forgetting to include a function.
And in the latter case, hopefully the programmer is pointed out the
error of his ways with additional emphasis.

Regards,
Dworkin