I just noticed this

If I put a little debug tracing in my Perl C sources, ...

This implies that you are compiling the sources yourself (with modification)?

If so, have you seen the hang with a binary distribution of AS 809?

Given that at least two other running AS 809 on XP aren't able to reproduce the problem, the obvious (though probably annoying, sorry!), conclusion is that it's something you are changing that is causing it.

That said, debugging my binary install of as 809, I cannot see any path from Perl_op_free() to S_cop_free() as shown on your trace. 

0331fe08 28016b83 01d58014 0197308c 01d58014 perl58!S_cop_free+0x33 (F
+PO: [2,0,3]) (CONV: cdecl) [..\op.c @ 529]
0331fe20 28016b55 01d58014 0197308c 01d58014 perl58!Perl_op_free+0xb8 
+(FPO: [2,0,3]) (CONV: cdecl) [..\op.c @ 360]

[download]

which tends to suggest that your build is quite different to mine. Perhaps you are building with debug or without some of the patches AS applied? Here's my perl -V output, maybe it will allow you to see something that could explain the differnce between your's and mine. 

P:\test>perl -V
Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 8 subversion 3) configuration:
  Platform:
    osname=MSWin32, osvers=4.0, archname=MSWin32-x86-multi-thread
    uname=''
    config_args='undef'
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=undef
    usethreads=undef use5005threads=undef useithreads=define usemultip
+licity=define
    useperlio=define d_sfio=undef uselargefiles=define usesocks=undef
    use64bitint=undef use64bitall=undef uselongdouble=undef
    usemymalloc=n, bincompat5005=undef
  Compiler:
    cc='cl', ccflags ='-nologo -Gf -W3 -MD -Zi -DNDEBUG -O1 -DWIN32 -D
+_CONSOLE -DNO_STRICT -DHAVE_DES_FCRYPT  -DNO_HASH_SEED -DPERL_IMPLICI
+T_CONTEXT -DPERL_IMPLICIT_SYS -DUSE_PERLIO -DPERL_MSVCRT_READFIX',
    optimize='-MD -Zi -DNDEBUG -O1',
    cppflags='-DWIN32'
    ccversion='', gccversion='', gccosandvers=''
    intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8, byteorder=1234
    d_longlong=undef, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=10
    ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='__int64
+', lseeksize=8
    alignbytes=8, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='link', ldflags ='-nologo -nodefaultlib -debug -opt:ref,icf  -l
+ibpath:"c:\Perl\lib\CORE"  -machine:x86'
    libpth=C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\VC98\lib
    libs=  oldnames.lib kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib
+  comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib  netap
+i32.lib uuid.lib wsock32.lib mpr.lib winmm.lib  version.lib odbc32.li
+b odbccp32.lib msvcrt.lib
    perllibs=  oldnames.lib kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool
+.lib  comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib  n
+etapi32.lib uuid.lib wsock32.lib mpr.lib winmm.lib  version.lib odbc3
+2.lib odbccp32.lib msvcrt.lib
    libc=msvcrt.lib, so=dll, useshrplib=yes, libperl=perl58.lib
    gnulibc_version='undef'
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_win32.xs, dlext=dll, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags=' '
    cccdlflags=' ', lddlflags='-dll -nologo -nodefaultlib -debug -opt:
+ref,icf  -libpath:"c:\Perl\lib\CORE"  -machine:x86'


Characteristics of this binary (from libperl):
  Compile-time options: MULTIPLICITY USE_ITHREADS USE_LARGE_FILES PERL
+_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS
  Locally applied patches:
        ActivePerl Build 809
        22218 Remove the caveat about detached threads crashing on Win
+dows
        22201 Avoid threads+win32 crash by freeing Perl interpreter sl
+ightly later
        22169 Display 'out of memeory' errors using low-level I/O
        22159 Upgrade to Time::Hires 1.55
        22120 Make 'Configure -Dcf_by=...' work
        22051 Upgrade to Time::HiRes 1.54
        21540 Fix backward-compatibility issues in if.pm
  Built under MSWin32
  Compiled at Feb  3 2004 00:28:51
  @INC:
    c:/Perl/lib
    c:/Perl/site/lib
    .

[download]
Examine what is said, not who speaks.
"Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
"Think for yourself!" - Abigail

In reply to Re^5: Perl threads test intermittently hangs on Windows by BrowserUk
in thread Perl threads test intermittently hangs on Windows by eyepopslikeamosquito

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