Realloc is blocking execution

[Mats Erik Andersson <mats.andersson@gisladisker.se>]

Dear Mentors,

in my efforts to reintroduce the package windowlab-1.37,
I am facing the unexpected fact that realloc() is
repeatedly blocking execution, when I compile the
package on a Debian Lenny system. This blocking
does not happen in Debian Etch, nor in OpenBSD,
nor FreeBSD. 

After getting the upstream author to accept my
patches for the old package windowlab-1.34, it
is only this issue with realloc() that prevents
me from submitting the package to mentors.debian.net.

Is this unavoidable fact that realloc() blocks execution
a known issue with gcc-4.3.2 or glibc-2.7?
Personally, I was under the impression that
malloc/realloc never should block execution,
but would instead return NULL. That Etch and
Lenny behave oppositely disturbs me very much.


Best regards,

Mats Erik Andersson