I tested that on SuSE 7.3, Kernel 2.4.15aa1 while logged in as normal user on /dev/tty. I did not get the system to it's knees BUT:
During the 'while' run i was also logged in as root on the second console. The following happened:
root[root]# top Segmentation fault root[root]# man top Segmentation fault root[root]# killall sleep root[root]# top [...] top runs [...] root[root]# man top [...] man top [...]
Of course no coredumps are written (file with 0 bytes, ulimit -c > 0). Don't know how many binaries are affected by that but man (link to mandb) runs setuid root.
Also to mention: The segfaults don't occur when man or top are executed as normal user. Bash then complaints about too many open files and goes back to the normal prompt.
Best regards, --Andreas
Can you please try again with the kernel from ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/mantel/next/RPM/ ? Roman. -- - - | Roman Drahtmüller <draht@suse.de> // "You don't need eyes to see, | SuSE GmbH - Security Phone: // you need vision!" | Nürnberg, Germany +49-911-740530 // Maxi Jazz, Faithless | - -