> and even worse the executable seems so dodgy that gdb segfaults too
> when trying to load it, so I can't even debug the problem.

That is a bug in gdb.  (It may be a bug in the executable in question,
too, but gdb should _never_ segfault, no matter what sort of trash you
throw at it.)

Whether it's a NetBSD bug or an FSF bug, that's another question. :-)

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