From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S932456AbWFGWvL (ORCPT ); Wed, 7 Jun 2006 18:51:11 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S932457AbWFGWvL (ORCPT ); Wed, 7 Jun 2006 18:51:11 -0400 Received: from mailout.stusta.mhn.de ([141.84.69.5]:45071 "HELO mailout.stusta.mhn.de") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id S932456AbWFGWvK (ORCPT ); Wed, 7 Jun 2006 18:51:10 -0400 Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 00:51:11 +0200 From: Adrian Bunk To: Jordi Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Automatic bug hunting Message-ID: <20060607225111.GV3955@stusta.de> References: <200606080009.06089.raigengo@yahoo.es> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200606080009.06089.raigengo@yahoo.es> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.11+cvs20060403 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Thu, Jun 08, 2006 at 12:09:04AM +0200, Jordi wrote: > > Related with the recent times _perceived_ increase in the number of bugs of > the Kernel. I have found the following website: > http://scan.coverity.com/ > > They use automatic statis source code test for a number of projects including > the Linux kernel. > > I've not registered so I don't know what kind of bugs have been found but it's > very unlikely that they have found "I don't have the hardware to fix this" > kind of bugs. They surely are clear bugs, similar to those found by the > automatic test for locking problems. "They surely are clear bugs" is wrong, the proof is the trivial fact that not less than 148 kernel issues have already been marked as FALSE inside the Coverity tracker. > I think this is a good source to check before doing a stable release. Unlikely > human's bugs report, those report should be clear enought. We may aim for > being "coverity free" before each major version (check it before 2.6.17). If you'd have followed linux-kernel for a while, you'd have seen how many patches have already been sent and merged for issues listed there. You can set any aim you want, but since the vast majority of these issues are not regressions from 2.6.16 there's no reason delaying 2.6.17 for it. Even more considering that even many of the Coverity issues are often harmless issues like e.g. dead code. > Jordi Polo cu Adrian -- "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days. "Only a promise," Lao Er said. Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed