[Pkg-openssl-devel] Bug#699692: "Illegal instruction" when installing (creating certificate) with Wheezy's version 1.0.1c-4 of openssl on a system with Cyrix MII / IBM 6x86

[Hans-Juergen Mauser]

Package: openssl
Version: 1.0.1c-4

Hello!

When trying a new Wheezy install on a machine with Cyrix MII /  IBM 6x86 
CPU, openssl cannot complete it's install routine because the creation 
of the default certificate fails reproducibly ith the result "illegal 
instruction".

It seems as if the package is compiled with some optimisation not 
suitable for regular Pentium machine.

I suggest checking the compilation options, as encryption is a basic 
requirement of any system and should not be privileged to most recent 
processors. SSL and/or SSH failing at install time even prevents 
establishing a secure remote connection to take care of the problem.

Expected behaviour: installation / certificate ceration succeeds, as 
Debian should be able of being installed on any Pentium or (with manual 
work) even on a 486 machine. The MII/6x86 is supposed to be similar to a 
Pentium Pro by its instruction set, and from my experience, anything 
optimised for "686" is able to run on this CPU.

WORKAROUND: Using openssl 0.9.8o-4squeeze13 allows installation completion.


THEORETICAL DANGER: Maybe this "illegal instruction" problem can also 
occur on more recent CPUs when performing a new Debian installation / 
certificate creation and is possibly "hidden" as long as existing 
certificates are present!


Please resolve this problem by removing "special" optimisations or by 
providing a separate package for "older" processors.


Best regards,

Hans-Juergen Mauser