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A compiler front-end is pretty boring software in terms of memory safety. Lots of things that the front-end allocates are simply never freed. Have you ever see
by bonzini 6y ago
A compiler front-end is pretty boring software in terms of memory safety. Lots of things that the front-end allocates are simply never freed.
Have you ever seen GCC crash with a SIGSEGV? I rarely did even when I used to be a GCC developer.
- pm215 6y agoIndeed. Notoriously, a SEGV in gcc during compilation used to usually mean "your hardware is flaky": https://tldp.org/FAQ/sig11/html/index.html https://tldp.org/FAQ/sig11/html/index.html
- zzz11 6y agoThat was before the invention of fuzzing.
- jjnoakes 6y agoThere are still out-of-bounds concerns and chasing through NULL pointers. (Not arguing against gcc's quality or stability, just listing memory safety concerns that transcend memory deallocation)