Re: filenames starting with tilde character
> I was told by someone that this is a known bug in UNIX.
No. Maybe a known SCO bug, but not Unix in general.
> On the SCO UNIX system at work, a
> MS-DOS program accessing the UNIX filesystem via NFS created
> several temporary files which started with the tilde character
> (which seems to be a standard practice under MS-DOS). UNIX
> programs trying to read the directory containing these files
> would freeze up so thoroughly that even 'kill -9' wouldn't kill
> the processes; they only went away once the system was rebooted.
Here we touch on a difference between SCO and Linux. My _hypothetical_
SCO scenario: A SCO customer would report the bug to SCO, where it would
be processed by a customer service agent. Customer service would hold a
meeting to prioritize bugs. The bugs would be passed to Engineering,
which would hold a meeting to delegate bugs and estimate the time to
repair them. Engineers would eventually get to, and solve that "~" bug.
Perhaps a patch would be issued, but the bug would stay in many systems
until the next major release. Perhaps the bug would live for two years.
Contrast this to Linux. Someone would report the bug to the linux-kernel
mailing list. 100 curious hackers would verify that the bug really did
exist and wedge their own systems. One or more hackers would find the
problem in the kernel (and this sort of thing isn't all that complicated)
and submit a patch to the linux-kernel list. Linus would incorporate the
patch into his next development kernel. Simon Shapiro would package that
kernel in a .deb file and release it. Perhaps the bug would live for a
month.
Now, I know that lots of people are still running 1.2.13 and that's
been static for a long time, and some of those people won't upgrade
until they get a new CD - however, I think you get the point. Because
of our open model, anyone can fix a bug and usually they do. Commercial
software houses can't afford to work that way, and move much more slowly.
I guess the moral to the story is that if you find a way to crash Linux,
it won't be allowed to exist for very long.
Thanks
Bruce
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