RE: TBTF for 11/10/97: Blum Blum Shub

Robert Harley (Robert.Harley@inria.fr)
Thu, 13 Nov 1997 16:32:58 +0100 (MET)


Rare ear job wrote:
>Does it work on every single x86 compatible chip known to man?

AFAIK, it works on everything except multi-processor Intel Pentiums,
which require an additional patch.

>What's the performance impact of the fix???

On Intel Pentiums: about 50 cycles handling traps like "invalid
opcode" i.e., damn close to nil.

On anything else: nil.

There's a BSDI fix too but it does have a performance hit.

>P.S. one *could* argue that a fix is much more urgent in Unix

More urgent than systems with Active X? The Web is already awash with
hacks to bring those to a halt. Now irretrievable crashes are nearer
than ever: just a click away!

Joy of joys.