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Linus Torvalds not worried about Core 2 bugs

593 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Shadowrunner340, 
SZayat
Quote:


OpenBSD founder Theo de Raadt publicly denounced Intel's Core 2 processors on the OpenBSD mailing list. Raadt cited 38 pages of processor errata from Intel's published CPU specifications (PDF).

"These processors are buggy as hell, and some of these bugs don't just cause development/debugging problems, but will *ASSUREDLY* be exploitable from userland code," Raadt said. "Some of these are things that cannot be fixed in running code, and some are things that every operating system will do until about mid-2008, because that is how the MMU has always been managed on all generations of Intel/AMD/whoeverelse hardware."

Linux coordinator and former Transmeta employee Linus Torvalds, thought otherwise and considers these bugs "totally insignificant."

Processor errata is nothing new, Torvalds said. Commodity CPUs such as chips based on the Intel Core 2 architecture have a considerably lower bug rate than proprietary boutique CPUs.

"Yeah, x86 errata get more attention," said Torvalds. "But those things are pretty damn well tested. Better than most."

The errata document specifically mentions the Core 2 Duo E4000, E6000, and X6800 series processors. None of the errata are nearly as insidious or widespread as more infamous problems, like the original Pentium floating-point bug, although some can lead to buffer overflow exploits, claims de Raalt. All of the current errata have patches in the works or can be - and have been - worked around by developers.

In a statement from Intel Global Communications, Nick Knuppfer writes:
"Months ago, we addressed a processor issue by providing a BIOS update for our customers that in no way affects system performance. We publicly documented this as an erratum in April. All processors from all companies have errata, and Intel has a well-known errata communication process to inform our customers and the public. Keep in mind the probability of encountering this issue is extremely low."

"Specification Updates for the affected processors are available at http://developer.intel.com. All errata are thoroughly investigated for issues and vulnerabilities, should they have any we fix them, usually through a microcode update."

[Source: DailyTech]
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Grim
2
***!


Trovalds was still alive!
(he's a living legend isnt he.... )

Anyhow, yeah.
His word sure is credible. No doubt about that.

Lets just hope he still has his integrity left over the years,
and wasnt paid to say such......
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S
Torvalds!
my hero...

anyway, torvalds > de vallt or whatever his name is, yeah that right
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Emmanuel
OMG***PWNING1337SAUCE
This is what I kept repeating, no one encounters issues with this "mysterious" bugs.
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Grim
indeed.

This Guy is THE MAN HIMSELF.

So long as his comments are genuine..
I wouldnt doubt him at all.

I dunno. Perhaps the comments were because of how BSD functions (its fundamentals).

Linux gets more complicated as the source code is built upon and customized....
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IcedEarth
2
Quote:


Originally Posted by Emmanuel
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OMG***PWNING1337SAUCE
This is what I kept repeating, no one encounters issues with this "mysterious" bugs.

Thats because no one knew they were there until these idiots started to publicly dish it out over the net


Besides, most are not problems anyways. But i guess it is good to hear that they are only minor issues.
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t4ct1c47
The king has spoken.
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SZayat
3
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Originally Posted by IcedEarth
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Thats because no one knew they were there until these idiots started to publicly dish it out over the net


Besides, most are not problems anyways. But i guess it is good to hear that they are only minor issues.

Intel & Microsoft Pointed Out it with their 'High-Priority' Patches, IcedEarth
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IcedEarth
4
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Originally Posted by SZayat
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Intel & Microsoft Pointed Out it with their 'High-Priority' Patches, IcedEarth


Ahh my bad, well Intel are idiots for giving away their own structural faults then


They could have released a patch and not give indepth details of what it fixed (if that is even legal
)
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L
Everyone is conflicted.
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S
3
Quote:


Originally Posted by IcedEarth
View Post

Ahh my bad, well Intel are idiots for giving away their own structural faults then


They could have released a patch and not give indepth details of what it fixed (if that is even legal
)

they did that and everyone was like "what are the problems? i've never had any problems"
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