Bug 75067 – SSE3 introduces instability in xorg-x11

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED FIXED

[Description Andrew D. Keyser (aka Legoguy) 2004-12-20 09:01:31 UTC]

For those wonderful people who have the latest greatest processors, such as myself, the new -march=prescott flag enables SSE3. Appears that Xorg has the same or similar problems with that as it does SSE2. So it would be a good idea to disable sse3 as well with -mno-sse3. I'm recompiling with the "-mno-sse3" in my commandline CFLAGS, hoping it is the true cause of my pseudo-random X crashes.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1.
2.
3.




Portage 2.0.51-r8 (default-linux/x86/2004.3, gcc-3.4.3, glibc-2.3.4.20041102-r0,
2.6.10-rc3 i686)
=================================================================
System uname: 2.6.10-rc3 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz
Gentoo Base System version 1.6.8
Python:              dev-lang/python-2.3.4 [2.3.4 (#1, Sep 24 2004, 01:59:55)]
distcc 2.18.3 i686-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [disabled]
ccache version 2.3 [enabled]
dev-lang/python:     2.3.4
sys-devel/autoconf:  2.59-r6, 2.13
sys-devel/automake:  1.8.5-r2, 1.5, 1.4_p6, 1.6.3, 1.7.9, 1.9.3
sys-devel/binutils:  2.15.92.0.2-r2
sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.10-r2
virtual/os-headers:  2.6.8.1-r1
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86"
AUTOCLEAN="yes"
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=prescott -fomit-frame-pointer -ftracer -fprefetch-loop-arrays
-pipe"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/2/share/config
/usr/kde/3.3/env /usr/kde/3.3/share/config /usr/kde/3.3/shutdown
/usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/lib/fax /usr/lib/mozilla/defaults/pref
/usr/share/config /var/qmail/control /var/spool/fax/etc"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d"
CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=prescott -fomit-frame-pointer -ftracer
-fprefetch-loop-arrays -pipe"
DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"
FEATURES="autoaddcvs autoconfig ccache distlocks sandbox sfperms"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://lug.mtu.edu/gentoo/"
MAKEOPTS="-j2"
PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="3ds X Xaw3d acpi adns aim alsa apache2 arts audiofile avi berkdb
bitmap-fonts cairo cdparanoia cdr crypt cups dba dvd dvdr encode esd f77 fam
flac flash foomaticdb fortran freetype ftp gb gd gdbm gif gimp gimpprint gnome
gphoto2 gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 gtkhtml hal icq imagemagick imlib jabber jack
java joystick jpeg jpeg2k junit kde ladcca ldap libg++ libwww lm_sensors
lzw-tiff mad mbox mhash mikmod mmx mng motif mozilla mp3 mpeg msn mysql ncurses
nls nptl nvidia objc offensive oggvorbis opengl pam pcmcia pdflib perl php pic
png ppds python qt quicktime readline samba scanner sdl slang socks5 spell sse
ssl svg svga tcltk tcpd tga tidy tiff truetype truetype-fonts trusted
type1-fonts usb userlocales v4l v4l2 wavelan wmf wxwindows x86 xgetdefault xine
xml xml2 xmms xosd xprint xrandr xscreensaver xv yahoo zlib"

[Comment 1 Donnie Berkholz (RETIRED) 2004-12-20 09:44:59 UTC]

Hold on, let me get this straight. You haven't actually proven that -mno-sse3 solves your problems, yet you want me to add it? I'm a little confused.

[Comment 2 Andrew D. Keyser (aka Legoguy) 2004-12-20 10:05:41 UTC]

I have finished recompiling and my prediction is correct. It solves the problems of random crashing.
Sorry for not testing first, but I was fairly certain it was the solution, and behold, it is.

[Comment 3 Donnie Berkholz (RETIRED) 2004-12-20 11:19:33 UTC]

Fixed in 6.8.x, thanks for the report.

[Comment 4 Donnie Berkholz (RETIRED) 2005-01-10 08:51:50 UTC]

Reopening for a hopefully real fix from toolchain.

[Comment 5 Donnie Berkholz (RETIRED) 2005-01-10 08:52:46 UTC]

Perhaps you guys have some idea.

[Comment 6 Jeremy Huddleston (RETIRED) 2005-01-10 18:25:08 UTC]

well I don't have anything that can use sse3 (and I wouldn't want to debug x86 asm anyways)... but this MIGHT be associated with bug #57602.  I'll let you know when I commit a new gcc ebuil (-*) to test out.

[Comment 7 Jeremy Huddleston (RETIRED) 2005-01-11 00:53:22 UTC]

Please try gcc-3.4.3.20050110

[Comment 8 Jeremy Huddleston (RETIRED) 2005-01-11 00:58:52 UTC]

oh, and if testing off of cvs, make sure to 'cvs up' in eclass first.

[Comment 9 Jeremy Huddleston (RETIRED) 2005-01-14 05:03:02 UTC]

Andrew?  Can you please test this new gcc version.

[Comment 10 Andrew D. Keyser (aka Legoguy) 2005-01-14 20:52:27 UTC]

Ah, sorry for not getting to this earlier. I'll test this tonight and report back asap; just wanted to make sure you know you aren't being ignored ;)

[Comment 11 Jeremy Huddleston (RETIRED) 2005-01-16 20:28:13 UTC]

This is reportedly fixed in >=gcc-3.4.3.20050110.

[Comment 12 [e-mail] 2005-03-15 20:57:52 UTC]

"new -march=prescott flag enables SSE3."

did they stop blocking it?  I had to unpatch my mannilas to get sse2 and sse3 w/out their flags for gcc-3.4.3.20050110.  I havent seen any problems with instablity in Xorg even after unflaging the build (its kind of getting to be a hassle really).  My prescott boxes run just a couple of clicks faster than the p4s now too where as they were dead on.  i was seeing eip pagefaults from an abused cups but fixeswere impilamented.  

similar to:
# ssh ${HOSTNAME}

I think lcd screens are the biggest waste of money though and i cant even stand to work on one anymore thinking im going to have to live with this for i dont even know how long and i could have had two 21' crts.  they would be good right next to a crt because it wouldn't interfere with the emfs which means id have to buy a crt for somebody elses computer that i dont even really use just so i have a reason not to be pissed i gave into someone who had no idea what the difference is, all for at foot and a half of space that none uses anyhow.