RHBA-2011:1651 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated valgrind packages that fix several bugs and add an enhancement are
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

Valgrind is a tool to help users find memory management problems in programs.
Valgrind can detect a lot of problems that are otherwise very hard to find or
diagnose.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• When building the valgrind package with macros to prevent application of any

downstream patches, the rebuild process failed. This bug has been fixed and
valgrind can now be properly rebuilt in the described scenario. (BZ#708522)

• Previously, the JIT (Just in Time Compiler) in some versions of the JDK (Java

Development Kit) generated useless, but valid, instruction prefixes, which
valgrind could not emulate. Consequently, Java applications running under
valgrind sometimes terminated unexpectedly. With this update, valgrind has been
changed to emulate instructions even with these useless prefixes, the JVM
process now exits properly, and valgrind displays memory leak summary
information in the described scenario. (BZ#713956)

• In a Coverity Scan analysis, a redundant check was discovered in one of the

backported patches applied to the valgrind package. An upstream patch has been
applied to address this issue and the redundant check is no longer performed.
(BZ#717218)

This update adds the following enhancement:

• With this update, the valgrind package has been updated to provide support for

64-bit IBM POWER7 Series hardware. (BZ#694598)

Users of valgrind are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs and add this enhancement.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 708522 - avoid a build failure without downstream patches and introduce a way to exclude test-suite
• BZ - 713956 - valgrind causes jvm to crash
• BZ - 717218 - Defect revealed by Coverity scan

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)