Intel/Linux BUG (fwd)

[James Simmons]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 09:32:46 -0500 (EST)
From: Richard B. Johnson <root at chaos.analogic.com>
To: Linux kernel <linux-kernel at vger.rutgers.edu>
Subject: Intel/Linux BUG


Boston, Massachusetts, April 1, 2000;

We all know that Intel has included the rdtsc instruction in their
processors for quite some time now. This is a count of the number
of CPU clocks that have occurred since the processor was started.

The length of the count (a long long) has always been assumed to
be 2^64. Nobody has questioned what the result will be when it
wraps.

Dr. Robert Mandl, a former mathematics professor at MIT, now working as an
independent consultant has found that when the timer wraps, the processor
will no longer recognize any `mov` instructions.

When questioned, an unnamed Intel spokesman stated; "The machine should
be shut down before this event can occur. No known operating system,
except Linux, would allow a CPU to run for such a long time anyway."

Because of this, this newly discovered Intel bug has been named the
"Linux BUG".


Cheers,
Dick Johnson

Penguin : Linux version 2.3.41 on an i686 machine (800.63 BogoMips).


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