BPQ Application Patches


A problem has been discovered which very occasionally occurs when decoding nodes broadcasts. The problem manifests itself as a GPF in BPQDLL.DLL if the Windows application using it calls the function in the DLL which decodes monitored frames, and a crash in PAC4.EXE and SWITCH.EXE if monitoring is enabled. The problem occurs very rarely, because, for a nodes broadcast to trigger it, the broadcast itself must have a very unusual structure!

The problem was discovered as a result of GPFs occurring when using BPQDLL.DLL with WinPack, also crashes in PAC4.EXE were noted. I would like to thank G4ZEC, who was lucky, or unlucky, enough to regularly get the GPFs, for his help and persistence in tracking down this problem. Once the cause was found, a suitably constructed nodes broadcast would always crash the programs, but finding the cause was a very prolonged exercise!

The versions of the programs which have been patched were from the BPQ 4.08a release. Normally I would not consider issuing altered versions of someone else's software, but my understanding is that the author no longer actively supports the programs. The patches have no effect other than to make these programs more robust, and so I feel that, in this case, releasing the patches is justified.

Click here to download BPQPATCH.ZIP

Please read BPQPATCH.TXT in the ZIP before you use any of the files!


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