Subject: RE: Exception: STATUS_PRIVILEGED_INSTRUCTION occurs before main is executed.
From: "Bruce Adams [TEPG Sunbury]" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Cc: "Max Bowsher" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 16:57:08 -0000

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Max Bowsher [mailto:[email-masked]] 
>Sent: 06 March 2003 14:43
>To: [email-masked]
>Subject: Re: Exception: STATUS_PRIVILEGED_INSTRUCTION occurs 
>before main is executed.
>
>
>> On Thu, 6 Mar 2003, Bruce Adams [TEPG Sunbury] wrote:
>>> I think it would be a great idea if the post setup phase did some 
>>> basic configure style checking (assuming it doesn't already). i.e.
>>>    Checking if the compiler gcc works.... No
>>>
>>> It would have saved me a couple of months of heartache.
>>> I seems very strange that nobody else spotted it though.
>>> How exactly could an installation become so corrupt that nothing 
>>> short of a complete download (from a different mirror site) 
>fixes it 
>>> without the underlying package being in error?
>
>Somehow, it managed it, since there are lots of us who haven't 
>done a clean install for ages.
>
>Igor Pechtchanski wrote:
>> I'm reasonably sure that if you create such a post-install 
>script, it 
>> will be at least thoughfully considered by the gcc maintainer...
>
>Well, I'm not the gcc maintainer, but I'd be surprised if such 
>a script was accepted. Here's why:
>
>1) There is no (good) way for a postinstall script to talk to the user.
>
Is that a limitation of the current postinstall process?  I'm not sure
what your definition of 'good' entails.  
A report that doesn't explain the problem is better than no report at all.
For a first cut I'd be happy with

tk_messageBox -title "Installation Error" -message "Problem with C++
compilation"

Though something more like the below would be preferable for the general
case:

Gcc post install
  IF post-install-error
     Add error to list

Post post install :-)
  IF console-based-install  
      print list of errors found to console
  ELSE // gui-based-install
      print list of errors found to message box instead of "installation ok"

>2) If the package was broken immediately after installation, 
>then wouldn't the maintainer have noticed before releasing it?
>
One would hope so.  But if they did it was not enough to spot my dodgey
installation problem.  Anyway, does it ever hurt to double check?
We wouldn't have to run the complete gcc test-suite (though as an option
it might be nice).  Just a smoke-test of some reasonably simple code.
It wouldn't be such a bad thing if all packages had one, especially
experimental ones.

Regards,
      Bruce A.

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