Seth Kurtzberg
There has to be one, because the problem occurs when you compile gcc with gcc. I'll look for a specific bug report. It happens much more frequently with 3.x than with 2.95, in my testing, but that was not a test of compiling Haskell, so I have no frequency information, specifically.
Sounds like a CPU-overheating problem to me. It is well known that running an inadequately cooled processor at 100% for an extended period will cause random crashes. There are third-party reports that it happens with Linux kernel builds, and I have personally seen it with builds of nhc98 and Hat. When I replaced the CPU fan, the problems disappeared.
The other problem for the gcc people is the fact that it occurs randomly. The behavior has changed; 3.4 will crash in a different place than 3.3. If the program is large enough, it will happen.
Non-repeatable crashes certainly point the finger first at hardware rather than software. Could also be deteriorating memory chips - but that is likely to bring the whole machine down eventually. Regards, Malcolm