How far does the recall go? Should there just be a recall for Meltdown, or does that also extend to Spectre?
There wasn't a software workaround for the FDIV bug, which is why there was a recall. The F00F bug did have a software workaround, which is why there wasn't a recall for that bug. Meltdown also has a software workaround, though one with a potentially significant performance hit. Meltdown seems more like the F00F bug in that respect. Arguably, Spectre is a better candidate for a recall than Meltdown. A
by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Monday January 08, 2018 @09:39AM (#55884601)
Oh sure, just disable the 8087 hardware calls, trap and emulate.
But the math co-processor is just that. An optional co-processor.
When the main CPU is bugged you are kinda screwed.
Remember SUN and their E10K faults at launch bringing down top level DNS servers?
We've had these kinds of issues since forever (16-bit sw only i386 anyone?). This is just a really big one as it goes all the way back to the Pentium Pro.
"I want repaired processors for free" (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, he's not wrong. This is, in impact, way bigger than Intel's FDIV fiasco and that ended up in recalls.
Re: "I want repaired processors for free" (Score:4, Insightful)
How far does the recall go? Should there just be a recall for Meltdown, or does that also extend to Spectre?
There wasn't a software workaround for the FDIV bug, which is why there was a recall. The F00F bug did have a software workaround, which is why there wasn't a recall for that bug. Meltdown also has a software workaround, though one with a potentially significant performance hit. Meltdown seems more like the F00F bug in that respect. Arguably, Spectre is a better candidate for a recall than Meltdown. A
Re: (Score:1)
FDIV was absolutely possible to workaround in software. Not without a significant performance hit though.
Re: "I want repaired processors for free" (Score:1)
Oh sure, just disable the 8087 hardware calls, trap and emulate.
But the math co-processor is just that. An optional co-processor.
When the main CPU is bugged you are kinda screwed.
Remember SUN and their E10K faults at launch bringing down top level DNS servers?
We've had these kinds of issues since forever (16-bit sw only i386 anyone?). This is just a really big one as it goes all the way back to the Pentium Pro.
Re: (Score:0)
> Remember SUN and their E10K faults at launch bringing down top level DNS servers?
Google doesn't.