As if. At $WORK, we service requests (millions per day) that require access to NFS mounted files [1]. A network hiccup could effect one request but not anothe

As if. At $WORK, we service requests (millions per day) that require access to NFS mounted files [1]. A network hiccup could effect one request but not another. I'm not sure how a "whole-application watchdog" would work for us. As it is, the main thread will schedule a "wakeup" from another thread whose sole existence is to interrupt file system calls stuck in NFS. Yes, it would be nice if such code didn't have to exist. But it does. On the plus side, it's there for a feature that isn't used that often. On the bad side, it's there for a feature that isn't used that often. [1] Like most such decisions, it was a political decision [2] rather than a technical decision. [2] Strippers and steak, baby! Strippers and steak! And those responsible are not bound by their decisions. We lowly engineers are.