Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
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From: kjb@cs.vu.nl (Kees J Bot)
Subject: IMPORTANT: Minix-1.7.1 bug fix #1
Nntp-Posting-Host: hornet.cs.vu.nl
Sender: news@cs.vu.nl
Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, VU, Amsterdam
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 1995 12:50:09 GMT
Message-ID: <DHvqBM.21M.0.-s@cs.vu.nl>
Lines: 39

A bug has been found in Minix 1.7.1 that hits when you try to compile a
slim kernel that has only the AT disk driver.

From the 1.7.1/bugs file:

 "The AT disk driver uses a scratch buffer in its initialization
  routine that has not been initialized.  This error is masked if the
  Adaptec SCSI driver is initialized first, because it will then
  initialize the scratch buffer for the AT driver.  This is why the
  installation ROOT floppy works.  A kernel with only the AT driver
  fails on an old AT disk, but an IDE disk will seemingly work.  The
  bug will cause the driver to report wrong parameters to 'part'.
  A fix to this bug is found in fixes/fix-1."

A new directory has been created named

	ftp://ftp.cs.vu.nl/pub/minix/1.7.1/fixes/

that contains fixes to Minix 1.7.1.  Right now only fix-1 is present,
hopefully it stays that way.

Also new is ftp://ftp.cs.vu.nl/pub/minix/1.7.1/upgrade-1.7.0-1.7.1 that
contains a description on how to upgrade from 1.7.0 to 1.7.1 by only
replacing the sources.  Please tell me if I missed something in the
recipe.

You can also reach the Minix files with a web browser using

	http://www.cs.vu.nl/ftp/minix/

The 1.7.1/README.html file there have been updated, the official 1.7
Info Sheet at http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html will probably follow
soon once Andy notices this.  :-)

Thanks to Kochin Chang for noticing the bug, giving a detailed report
on how and when it shows, and for testing the fix.
--
	                        Kees J. Bot  (kjb@cs.vu.nl)
	              Pest Control, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
