Re: [PATCH] fix an infinite loop with a corrupted pc partition table

[Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko]

On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 6:36 PM, Robert Millan<address@hidden> wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 09:24:31PM +0200, Felix Zielcke wrote:
>> +  loop = 0;
>> +  while (loop < 100000)
>> [...]
>> +  if (loop == 100000)
>> +    return grub_error (GRUB_ERR_BAD_PART_TABLE, "Corrupted partition table 
>> found.");
>
> What does this 100000 represent?  It looks like heuristic, but I'm missing
> some context (I'm not familiar with extended partition layout).
It is a heuristic.It's a number bigger than highest number of "sane"
partitions but an amount of iteration which a computer can handle
easily.
I know that it's an arbitrary limit butusing a correct algorithm (e.g.
record all visited extended partitions offsets) would take place
almost uselessly and other solutions risk to have other problems (as
"invisible" partitions)
>
> --
> Robert Millan
>
>  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
>  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
>  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."
>
>
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-- 
Regards
Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko

Personal git repository: http://repo.or.cz/w/grub2/phcoder.git