DOCUMENT:Q195374  12-FEB-2002  [visualc]
TITLE   :BUG: PLIST Corruption or Crash with Call Attributive Profiling
PRODUCT :Microsoft C Compiler
PROD/VER::5.0,6.0
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:kbMiscTools kbVC500bug kbVC600bug kbNoUpdate

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The information in this article applies to:

 - The Source Profiler, included with:
    - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Enterprise Edition, versions 5.0, 6.0 
    - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Professional Edition, versions 5.0, 6.0 
    - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Learning Edition, version 6.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When using PLIST to format the output of a profile session in which you have
used call attributive profiling, the output could be corrupt or you could
receive an access violation such as the following.

   The instruction at "0x004064ab" referenced memory at "0x73207373". The memory
   could not be "read".

   The instruction at "0x004050fe" referenced memory at "0xa34d34f0". The memory
   could not be "read".

Call attributive profiling is enabled by using the /AT switch with PREP.

CAUSE
=====

An internal buffer used to store the symbol name plus the module name is limited
to 255 characters.

RESOLUTION
==========

Use one of the following two workarounds:

 - Do not use call attributive profiling; i.e. do not use the /AT switch with
   PREP.

   -or-

 - Use #define before any #includes to rename symbols to a shorter name. For
   instance, "#define basic_string bs" will shorten the name of the Standard C++
   Library string type from 12 characters to 2. The main drawback of this method
   is that the names of the symbols are more difficult to read. There also may
   be some symbols that cannot be reduced enough through this method to work
   around this bug.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the
beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION
================

This bug is more typical among code that makes use of templates. In the Steps to
Reproduce case below, notice that through each iteration of Proftest.bat, the
output from plist is different, and if run through enough iterations, will
generate an access violation.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior
---------------------------

      // test.cpp
      // compile with: CL.EXE /Zi /GX t.cpp /link /profile
      #pragma warning ( disable : 4786)
      #include <map>
      #include <string>
      int main ()
      {
         using namespace std;
         map< int, map< int, string > > m;
         map<int,string> q;
         q[100] = string("100");
         m[2] = q;
         return 0;
      }

      // proftest.bat
      @echo off
      :top
      prep /at test
      profile test
      prep /m test
      plist test
      goto top

Additional query words: kbDSupport

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Keywords          : kbMiscTools kbVC500bug kbVC600bug kbNoUpdate 
Technology        : kbVCsearch kbAudDeveloper kbSProfilerSearch kbVC32bitSearch kbSProfiler100
Version           : :5.0,6.0
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbpending

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