null pointer problems and AT&T (was: att & osf)

[Doug Gwyn]

In article <1988Aug26.194505.25724 at utzoo.uucp> henry at utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
>a little bird tells me that *THE SVVS ITSELF* has NULL-pointer problems!!!

???  What could this possibly mean?  I don't recall seeing any SOURCE CODE
in the SVID!  And how could an INTERFACE SPEC have a "null pointer problem"?

I think one of the reasons that bugs have persisted for a long time in UNIX
System V products is that it is a major hassle getting one removed.  It was
not considered acceptable (I was told by a vendor doing a "validated port")
to simply quietly fix a bug; instead EVERY change to the source code had to
be thoroughly documented and justified.  The kind of people who are best at
idenitifying and fixing portability bugs are probably not eager to spend a
lot of effort on such trivial matters, so as a result they don't bother to
fix the problems UNLESS they have to (because their system is directly
affected).  That's another managerial problem..