fandango on core

fandango on core
 n.

   [Unix/C hackers, from the Iberian dance] In C, a wild pointer that
   runs out of bounds, causing a {core dump}, or corrupts the malloc(3)
   {arena} in such a way as to cause mysterious failures later on, is
   sometimes said to have `done a fandango on core'. On low-end personal
   machines without an MMU (or Windows boxes, which have an MMU but use
   it incompetently), this can corrupt the OS itself, causing massive
   lossage. Other frenetic dances, such as the cha-cha or the watusi, may
   be substituted. See {aliasing bug}, {precedence lossage}, {smash the
   stack}, {memory leak}, {memory smash}, {overrun screw}, {core}.
    

fandango on core

   <jargon, programming> (Unix/C, from the Mexican dance) In {C},
   a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a {core dump},
   or corrupts the {malloc} {arena} in such a way as to cause
   mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said to have "done
   a fandango on core".  On low-end personal machines without an
   {MMU}, this can corrupt the {operating system} itself, causing
   massive lossage.  Other frenetic dances such as the rhumba,
   cha-cha, or watusi, may be substituted.

   See {aliasing bug}, {precedence lossage}, {smash the stack},
   {memory leak}, {memory smash}, {overrun screw}, {core}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1994-12-16)