Out of memory?

[Brian A May <bmay@dgs.monash.edu.au>]

Hello,

What is the expected reponse when running a C program that allocates more
memory (as static arrays) then the system can provide?

I would have expected that the linux kernel would give an out-of memory error
message, as I believe it is the kernels job to allocate memory for
static variables. (either that or the startup code in the C program).

However, when I run such a program, I get a "segmentation fault" when
the program attempts to access a global variable.

Is this correct? Is this normal behaviour?

I have a fully up-to-date slink system, and am using linux 2.2.1

Brian May <bmay@csse.monash.edu.au>