The impossibility of software raid1

[csmall@eye-net.com.au (Craig Small)]

*sigh*
Anyone ever got software raid1 working on their alpha?  I got an alpha
SX164 and tried pretty much every version of 2.4.x

Todays fun is 2.4.8 and its as broken as every other version.
mount /dev/md2 /mnt
Segmentation fault

and the log:
Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffff6c001cbe127c
mount(1640): Oops 0
pc = [raid1_read_balance+384/512]  ra = [raid1_make_request+476/1088]  ps = 0000
v0 = 0000000000000000  t0 = fffffffffffffffc  t1 = 0000000000000004
t2 = ffff6c001cbe129c  t3 = 0000000000000000  t4 = ffff6c001cbe127c
t5 = ffff6c001cbe1274  t6 = 0000000000000002  t7 = fffffc0005054000
s0 = fffffc0001da81e0  s1 = 0000000000000902  s2 = fffffc000f908800
s3 = fffffc0001da81e0  s4 = fffffc000f904ee0  s5 = 0000000000000000
s6 = fffffc000f9f22a0
a0 = fffffc000f908800  a1 = fffffc0001da81e0  a2 = 0000000000000000
a3 = fffffc000b7b3e78  a4 = 0000000000000008  a5 = fffffc000f908818
t8 = 0000000000000000  t9 = ffff70000d2d8a80  t10 = 0000000000000004
t11= fffffc000f908820  pv = fffffc0000527280  at 
gp = fffffc0000627018  sp = fffffc0005057bb8
Trace:fffffc00004827f0 fffffc0000351434 fffffc00004009d4 fffffc0000400a90
fffffc0000400cfc fffffc00003511cc fffffc0000383400 fffffc0000356194
fffffc0000356654 fffffc00003576ac fffffc0000357648 fffffc0000357b58
fffffc0000357c58 fffffc0000357c34 fffffc0000310b60 
Code: 42fc0403  2fe00000  42f90405 a0f003d8  40a49525  40c49526 <a0250000> 40649523