From: Hans-Bernhard Broeker <broeker AT physik DOT rwth-aachen DOT de>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: Runtime mystery
Date: 1 Nov 2000 17:40:59 GMT
Organization: Aachen University of Technology (RWTH)
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Tom Hutto <huttothomas AT hotmail DOT com> wrote:

> intellegent questions :-(  Furthermore, if I could duplicate the problem
> in a small program then I could fix it myself, nicht war?

Depends on now much expertise in debugging you have. Actually, part of
the point in asking bug reports to be self-contained is that a
significant fraction of reports will be found even before the problem
reaches the newsgroup. Often, the bug will sort of stand out like a
sore thumb once you've started tracking it down to the minimal
program.  It's a bit like that old saying of giving a man a fishing
rod, instead of just a fish.

The other purpose is that it's a whole lot easier to debug the
program, for the real experts around here, if it's a small program.

> When the act of loading a program into the debugger fixes a runtime
> problem, is the 'fix' usually due to changed memory alignment due to the
> fact that the target is loaded into a different place in memory?

Not alignment, as such. But the random garbage that the program finds
in uninitialized variables it uses will be different. Most of the
time, _that's_ the reason of a bug that vanishes if you run in a
debugger.

-- 
Hans-Bernhard Broeker (broeker AT physik DOT rwth-aachen DOT de)
Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.