3 ms·

Unintended adverse side effects from a tiny change to a small component of a complex OS kernel that runs on complex modern processors that are part of mindboggl

by cs702 14y ago

Unintended adverse side effects from a tiny change to a small component of a complex OS kernel that runs on complex modern processors that are part of mindbogglingly complex computer systems, on which we run the ridiculously vast software ecosystem which makes possible the massively complex global network of applications and services we call "the Web." Every time I read or hear about unintended-consequence incidents like this one, I'm reminded me of Jean-Baptiste Queru's essay, "Dizzying but Invisible Depth" -- highly recommended if you haven't read it.[1] -- [1] https://plus.google.com/u/0/112218872649456413744/posts/dfydM2Cnepe https://plus.google.com/u/0/112218872649456413744/posts/dfyd...

Florin_Andrei 14y ago
Well, living creatures are like that, too. You just arched an eyebrow. Simple, isn't it? Well, when you know a bit about biology...
- jdc 14y ago
  What a tease.
rwmj 14y ago
The problem is that no testing is done. I found 3 bugs in fcntl/dup2/dup3 in the latest kernel release, things which were easily found when I ran the gnulib test suite, but had been bugs in the kernel for at least 2 months: http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58725.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58725.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58752.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58752.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58799.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58799.html
- chris_wot 14y ago
  Does the Linux kernel have test suites?
  - rwmj 14y ago
    It has autotest. It has gnulib (not a test suite, but a very comprehensive POSIX API test). It has the poor saps who have to use it. However none of these things gate commits to the kernel.
Someone 14y ago
Nice, but I think "I, pencil" (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/I,_Pencil http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/I,_Pencil) is better.

by cs702 14y ago

Florin_Andrei 14y ago

Well, living creatures are like that, too. You just arched an eyebrow. Simple, isn't it? Well, when you know a bit about biology...

jdc 14y ago
What a tease.

rwmj 14y ago

The problem is that no testing is done. I found 3 bugs in fcntl/dup2/dup3 in the latest kernel release, things which were easily found when I ran the gnulib test suite, but had been bugs in the kernel for at least 2 months: http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58725.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58725.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58752.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58752.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58799.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg58799.html

chris_wot 14y ago
Does the Linux kernel have test suites?
- rwmj 14y ago
  It has autotest. It has gnulib (not a test suite, but a very comprehensive POSIX API test). It has the poor saps who have to use it. However none of these things gate commits to the kernel.

Someone 14y ago

Nice, but I think "I, pencil" (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/I,_Pencil http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/I,_Pencil) is better.