times(2) sys call bug?

[Gabriel Paubert]

On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 10:52:14AM +1100, Paul Mackerras wrote:
> Joakim Tjernlund writes:
> 
> > This little hack changes the kernel sys call handling in an crude
> > way and then it works. Apperently the kernel thinks is an error if the
> > syscall returns a value between -_LAST_ERRNO and -1.
> 
> Try this patch and let me if it fixes it.  If it does I'll push it
> upstream.

With your patch, you won't get EFAULT if you pass a bad
address, but a constant, time independent value, unless
I miss something. 

Of course there are peoaple who claim that EFAULT is a
bad idea to start with and that you should send a SIGSEGV
instead, and I can see their point. 

But with the current implementation, it is a game that 
you can't win: any syscall that wants to return an
arbitrary integer multiplexed with an error value is
broken beyond repair, by design.

Oh, well. 

	Gabriel