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It is a well known design feature (I would call it a flaw) of Unix/Linux which makes forking processes with copy-on-write memory possible. You can run out of b
by andreasvc 11y ago
It is a well known design feature (I would call it a flaw) of Unix/Linux which makes forking processes with copy-on-write memory possible.
You can run out of both physical memory and swap space. Or your system is swapping is so heavily that, for all practical purposes, the system becomes unusable.
- nickpsecurity 11y agoProbably one of the best examples of my claim that UNIX has bad architecture. A well-designed system will either prevent or catch this sort of thing with apps able to detect and/or recover from it without geniuses writing them. Then, there's UNIX/Linux... I should probably add this to my list of non-security reasons (or an angle at least) for using Nizza-style architecture [1] where critical functionality is taken out of Linux part to run on microkernel or small runtime. Maybe even potential to go further and have such apps that monitor for this sort of thing with a signal to apps that works across platforms. Not just this design flaw, but potentially others where app doesn't have necessary visibility. What you think? [1] http://genode-labs.com/publications/nizza-2005.pdf http://genode-labs.com/publications/nizza-2005.pdf