Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262153AbUKDKIA (ORCPT ); Thu, 4 Nov 2004 05:08:00 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262154AbUKDKIA (ORCPT ); Thu, 4 Nov 2004 05:08:00 -0500 Received: from krusty.dt.e-technik.Uni-Dortmund.DE ([129.217.163.1]:33989 "EHLO mail.dt.e-technik.uni-dortmund.de") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262153AbUKDKHx (ORCPT ); Thu, 4 Nov 2004 05:07:53 -0500 Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 11:07:49 +0100 From: Matthias Andree To: Gene Heskett Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: is killing zombies possible w/o a reboot? Message-ID: <20041104100749.GA23996@merlin.emma.line.org> Mail-Followup-To: Gene Heskett , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org References: <200411030751.39578.gene.heskett@verizon.net> <200411031124.19179.gene.heskett@verizon.net> <20041103201322.GA10816@hh.idb.hist.no> <200411031540.03598.gene.heskett@verizon.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200411031540.03598.gene.heskett@verizon.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1273 Lines: 28 On Wed, 03 Nov 2004, Gene Heskett wrote: > >Yes it does - the problem is that not all resources are managed > >by processes. Some allocations are managed by drivers, so a driver > >bug can get the device into a unuseable state _and_ tie up the > >process(es) that were using the driver at the moment. > > This from my viewpoint, is wrong. The kernel, and only the kernel > should be ultimately responsible for handing out resources, and > reclaiming at its convienience. Linux's driver model is the way it is. If you want the kernel to clean up after a driver has puked, you need something like a microkernel I believe, where only a minimal core kernel is a real kernel and where all the drivers are actually in user-space, but that's no longer Linux then. I'm not reflecting the down- and upsides to of this as I have no experience with microkernels (and have never used OS9 or GNU Hurd either). I know there have been attempts to port Linux to a Microkernel but I don't know what's come out of it. -- Matthias Andree - 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/