[Crash-utility] [ANNOUNCE] crash version 4.1.2 is available

[Dave Anderson]

 - Fix for 2.6.31 or later x86_64 CONFIG_NEED_MULTIPLE_NODES kernels
   running on systems that have multiple NUMA nodes.  By default, those
   kernels use the "page" (or "lpage") percpu memory allocators, which 
   utilize vmalloc space for percpu memory.  Without the patch, the
   crash session would fail during initialization with the error message
   "crash: cannot determine idle task addresses from init_tasks[] or
   runqueues[]", followed by "crash: cannot resolve init_task_union".
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the snap.c extension module to properly handle NUMA systems
   with multiple nodes, or single node systems whose first unity-mapped
   PT_LOAD segment starts on a non-zero physical address.  Without the 
   patch, a crash session on the resultant vmcore would fail with the 
   error message: "crash: vmlinux and <filename> do not match!"
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Added a defensive mechanism to handle corrupt Elf32_Phdr/Elf64_Phdr 
   structures in an ELF vmcore.  Without the patch, a hand-carved bogus
   p_offset field in a Elf32_Phdr/Elf64_Phdr structure could possibly 
   cause a segmentation violation during inialization.  With the fix, 
   if an invalid Elf32_Phdr or Elf64_Phdr p_offset field is encountered, 
   a warning message will be displayed, and the crash session will bail 
   out gracefully, or continue on if possible.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Added a defensive mechanism to handle corrupt Elf32_Ehdr/Elf64_Ehdr
   structures in an ELF vmcore.  Without the patch, a hand-carved bogus
   e_phnum field in a Elf32_Phdr/Elf64_Phdr structure could possibly
   cause a segmentation violation during inialization.  With the fix,
   if an invalid Elf32_Ehdr or Elf64_Ehdr e_phnum field is encountered, 
   a warning message will be displayed and the crash session will bail
   out gracefully.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - More non-functional changes for future integration of gdb-7.0 and 
   for addressing Fedora packaging guidelines.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the x86 "bt [-t|-T]" commands when the backtrace passes 
   through three stacks, which can happen when an interrupt is taken 
   while operating on a per-cpu soft IRQ stack, and the crash occurs
   while operating on the per-cpu hard IRQ stack.  Without the patch, 
   the "bt" command terminates after displaying backtrace on the hard 
   IRQ stack; "bt -t" displays the stack contents of the hard IRQ stack
   but stops with the error message "bt: non-process stack address for 
   this task: <task-address>"; "bt -T" displays the the same error
   message as "bt -t", but displays the stack contents of the process
   stack.  With the fix, all three "bt" invocations will display the
   backtraces or kernel text addresses on all three stacks, correctly
   transitioning from the hard IRQ stack to the soft IRQ stack to the
   process stack.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - When handcrafting the backtrace starting points for the "bt" command
   by using the -S options, and the starting stack address is not in 
   the task's process stack, a message gets displayed that indicates
   "non-process stack address for this task".  However, if the starting
   stack address is a legitimate non-process stack address, such as a
   hard or soft IRQ stack address, or an x86_64 exception stack address,
   the message is confusing, and has been removed.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 Download from: http://people.redhat.com/anderson