[Axiom-developer] Re: Trying to build axiom

[Peter Simons]

Camm Maguire writes:

 > I'm guessing that the problematic step here is the
 > attempt to load code into pages in the executable's .data
 > section, mprotect those pages +PROT_EXEC, and then
 > execute the code. [...] My hunch is that these security
 > patches have placed a similar obstacle in this sequence.

Alright, I finally managed to compile Axiom and the problem
described above turned out to be what disturbed the build
process all along. Here is how to fix it:

 1) Build ET_EXEC binaries by adding 
     
        -yet_exec -yno_propolice

    to CFLAGS. Instead of "-yno_propolice" the flag
    "-fno-stack-protector" might also work, but should be
    more portable. The patched GCC identifies itself as
    follows:

        peti:/usr/local/src/axiom-current# gcc --version | head -1
        gcc (GCC) 3.3.2 20031022 (Gentoo Linux 3.3.2-r2, propolice)

    Generally, if the compiler understands the
    -fstack-protector flag, it's an indication that these
    patches are active.

 2) Disable the stack protection features in the kernel
    (PaX) for the compiled binaries with chpax(1). For
    example:
    
        chpax -pEmrxs unixport/saved_gcl

    This command must be executed right after the binary has
    been linked. If the binary is used before the chpax
    call, the process will be killed:

        Nov 24 03:55:30 peti PAX: terminating task:
            /usr/local/[...]/gcl-2.6.1/unixport/saved_gcl(saved_gcl):1297,
            uid/euid: 1000/1000, PC: 085e7b00, SP: 5f3ed5ac

    And that is what disturbed the build process all the
    time. (BTW: On some platforms chpax can be called by
    root only; thus it would be best to make the exact shell
    command configurable by a make variable, such as CHPAX,
    so that people can set this to "sudo chpax" or
    something.)


Tim, there is one more problem: When I run
${AXIOM}/bin/axiom, clef returns the following error and
terminates:

    clef trying to get terminal initial settings: Bad file descriptor
    peti:/usr/local/src/axiom-current$ dup2 0 failed: Bad file descriptor
    dup2 1 failed: Bad file descriptor
    dup2 2 failed: Bad file descriptor
    clef trying to dup2: Bad file descriptor

Peter