Re: Definition of Kernel BUG

Alistair Riddell (alistair@watsons.edin.sch.uk)
Thu, 11 Dec 1997 01:52:34 +0000 (GMT)


On Tue, 9 Dec 1997, Royans K Tharakan wrote:
> What is a Kernel BUG ??
>
> I don't know whether this should be here atall.
>
> To Begin with, is it a bug to hang the machine, even
> if I actually intended to do it. Which means that
> is it technically possible to hang a perfect bug-free
> linux machine even from root. I know one can't get
> bug free system, but I wish to know whether 2.0.32
> is buggy just because I can make it hang with root access.

I don't think you can call a kernel buggy because root can crash it - by
its very nature, root can do anything.

cat /dev/urandom > /dev/kmem is always going to do nasty things as root,
securelevels aside.

--
Alistair Riddell - BOFH
IT Support Department, George Watson's College, Edinburgh
Tel: +44 131 447 7931 Ext 176       Fax: +44 131 452 8594