[Xorp-hackers] xorp_fea crashes when interface is removed from OS at in-opportune time.

[Pavlin Radoslavov]

> >>> Seems xorp is very fragile when it comes to adding/deleting
> >>> interfaces.  I think a lot of these errors should just be warnings,
> >>> not asserts.
> >>>       
> >> And another related to the first:
> >>     
> >
> > Please provide instructions how to replicate the asserts
> > triggering.
> > Those asserts are intentionally there to catch problems that might
> > be somewhere else.
> >   
> I have a very complex set of apps driving xorp through xorpsh in an 
> automated fashion,
> while creating/deleting network interfaces.  I don't think I can give 
> you an easy
> way to reproduce it.  You *might* be able to cause it by unloading an 
> ethernet driver
> out from under xorp, but it could take more luck than that to hit the race.
> 
> However, you can imagine that at any time an interface may leave, and if it
> leaves before Xorp notices, then you can get those crashes.  I'm all for 
> having
> errors in the logs, but allowing an external event to crash the router seems
> like a bad idea.

Absolutely agree, an external event should not crash the router.
Again, the assert is there to tell the developer there is an unusual
problem that needs to be investigated.

> Part of the automation in my test case is done by a third party, so I 
> can't offer you that code,
> but I *can* offer you a beta build of our tool which can at least create 
> large virtual networks
> of Xorp routers on a single machine.  Our tool can be scripted to create 
> dynamic
> changes, but it would not be easy to exactly duplicate the kinds of 
> changes that were causing
> this crash.

If the tool can be used to easily reproduce the problem, then yes
please send me a copy of it with simple instructions how to use it
to trigger the problem.

Thanks,
Pavlin