Gentoo Websites Logo
Go to: Gentoo Home Documentation Forums Lists Bugs Planet Store Wiki Get Gentoo!
Bug 20956 - Warning line needs to be added to /etc/make.conf for people with pentium 4 machines, else floating point in Python breaks
Summary: Warning line needs to be added to /etc/make.conf for people with pentium 4 ma...
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: Gentoo Linux
Classification: Unclassified
Component: [OLD] Core system (show other bugs)
Hardware: x86 Linux
: High normal (vote)
Assignee: Nicholas Jones (RETIRED)
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2003-05-13 14:49 UTC by Brendan-G Becker-BZ
Modified: 2003-05-14 17:08 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:
Package list:
Runtime testing required: ---


Attachments

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description Brendan-G Becker-BZ 2003-05-13 14:49:54 UTC
I recommend the following change for /etc/make.conf -

Somewhere around the CPU-specific opts in the file, please put a warning next to
the pentium 4 flags since gcc borks glibc when compiling it with p4 flags. Maybe
something to the effect of:

# WARNING: Do NOT use the Pentium 4 optimizations EVEN IF YOU ACTUALLY HAVE A 
# PENTIUM 4! It will break glibc and other packages. This is a gcc bug.

Otherwise, users using python will be submit to:

>>> int(18.2)
OverflowError: float too large to convert

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Run python
2. type int(18.2)
3. press enter

Actual Results:  
Python overflows.

Expected Results:  
Python should return 18

The pertinent CFLAG opts were -march=pentium4 or -mcpu=pentium4, depending on
the user (we have several) that have complained about the bug to the pyDDR team.

Removing the opt, or just making it less agressive, and having the user
recompile glibc and python fixed the problem in all cases.

We know how to fix it, but the warning in make.conf would stop a lot of people
from doing stupid things, among them frying glibc and wasting an hour yelling at
us and another hour for them to recompile a lot of their system libs.
Comment 1 Nicholas Jones (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2003-05-14 17:08:25 UTC
Strengthened.