win32+fork "Application Error", bug?

[bsb]

While trying to debug another program on Windows XP I was overwhelmed by the errors from the following program. I had to ctrl+alt+delete to end process then click away another 10 or so error dialogs.

perl -e "fork or warn 1 while 1; die 2"

The popup error is:

perl.exe - Application error

The instruction at "0x..." referenced memory at "0x00000004". The memory could not be "written".

Click on OK to terminate the program
Click on CANCEL to debug the program

This is AS perl 5.8.8, build 817, replicated on another machine. Do others get this behaviour? Does blead?

Brad

[jettero]

I don't think a fork while 1 style application should er... not cause a memory error. You've instructed your computer to fork as fast as it can, apparently before it can get to the die 2. It consumes all your memory and that'd be why you have to hit the three finger salute.

[bart]

Indeed.

This kind of junk is commonly called a "fork bomb". I don't think it's even reasonable to expect that this will behave nicely.

fork or die while 1;

might behave just a little bit better.

[Anonymous Monk]

Works on perl v5.8.7, ActivePerl Build 813