Re: patent on O_ATOMICLOOKUP [Re: [PATCH] loopable tmpfs (2.4.17)]

Robert Kaiser
2002-05-29T11:23:34Z

>> isn't really up to it. Right now we are building cathedrals in the same
>> way as a medaeival master mason, by intutition, experience, and testing.
>> We have no more idea than they do if any given edifice will come
>> crashing down (as several large medaeival ones indeed did).

Now, that's a really nice comparison!

> Well, inability to prove cathedral stability did not stop those people
> from building them, and inability to prove stability of Linx does not
> stop people from using it, too.

As for really safety critical stuff, it definitely does. I know from personal
experience what it takes to certify software for use in aircrafts. Believe
me, there is no chance that Linux as we know it could ever pass a DO-178B
certification process. And for software in aircraft, that is a requirement.
(Mind you, any form of Windoze doesn't stand a chance either). Similar
regulations apply to other fields (such as medical devices) and it would
scare me if that wasn't so. Just do a web search for "Therac-25" if you are
interested in a (sad) story about what can happen if software in a medical
device goes wrong.

> (I've seen machine for monitoring patients
> build from "not to use in life-support" chips and running linux.)

As long as the machine only *monitors*, that may be possible. If the machine
were to e.g. administer medication, that would be a totally different story.

Rob

----------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Kaiser email: rkaiser@sysgo.de
SYSGO RTS GmbH
Am Pfaffenstein 14 phone: (49) 6136 9948-762
D-55270 Klein-Winternheim / Germany fax: (49) 6136 9948-10