Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S264819AbUD1OYa (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Apr 2004 10:24:30 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S264820AbUD1OYa (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Apr 2004 10:24:30 -0400 Received: from mx1.actcom.net.il ([192.114.47.13]:44699 "EHLO smtp1.actcom.co.il") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S264819AbUD1OYU (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Apr 2004 10:24:20 -0400 Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 17:22:20 +0300 From: Muli Ben-Yehuda To: =?iso-8859-1?Q?M=E5ns_Rullg=E5rd?= Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: What does tainting actually mean? Message-ID: <20040428142219.GC9820@mulix.org> References: <20040428042742.GA1177@middle.of.nowhere> <408F3EE4.1080603@nortelnetworks.com> <20040428121009.GA2844@thunk.org> <20040428130402.GB9820@mulix.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="z4+8/lEcDcG5Ke9S" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.5.1+cvs20040105i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2136 Lines: 58 --z4+8/lEcDcG5Ke9S Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Wed, Apr 28, 2004 at 03:27:00PM +0200, M=E5ns Rullg=E5rd wrote: > Muli Ben-Yehuda writes: >=20 > > On Wed, Apr 28, 2004 at 02:48:30PM +0200, M=E5ns Rullg=E5rd wrote: > >> > Stack overflows in a badly written device driver can overwrite task > >> > structures and cause apparent filesystem problems which are blamed on > >> > the hapless filesystem authors instead of where the blame properly > >> > lies, namely the device driver author. > >>=20 > >> Wouldn't the problem be just as difficult to pin to a certain module > >> even if the source code was open? I prefer open source modules (I > >> have Alpha machines), but I just can't see this argument work. > > > > No. If the code is open, you can read it and find the bug - just by > > reading it. If the code is closed, your only recourse is to observe > > the corruption while it happens or read the assembly, which is quite a > > lot more difficult.=20 >=20 > Something has to hint to as to which code to read. The usual way to > find the offending module is to remove modules until the problem goes > away. The availability of source code only matters when you have > found which module actually has the bug. =20 If it's closed, you may think you have found the bug, but you can't verify. If it's open, you can.=20 Cheers,=20 Muli=20 --=20 Muli Ben-Yehuda http://www.mulix.org | http://mulix.livejournal.com/ --z4+8/lEcDcG5Ke9S Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: Digital signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFAj74bKRs727/VN8sRAnDUAJsEBE9lNt7LxdbzE3SelEMwV8TAXgCgnF0K 1rhNEHSz/YC4GJ6DhvOlL34= =Ay57 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --z4+8/lEcDcG5Ke9S-- - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/