Re: [PATCH x86_64] Live Patching Function on 2.6.11.7

From: Valdis . Kletnieks
Date: Mon Apr 25 2005 - 11:46:38 EST


On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 19:39:51 +0900, Takashi Ikebe said:

> Unfortunately, we carrier have very many exiting software and try to run
> on Linux.
> We need to seek the way which can apply to exiting software also...

You *really* want to take the time to re-write the software to do things
The Linux Way. If you're looking at doing on-the-fly patching, you're
probably also carrying around a lot of *other* ugly cruft to make this
creeping horror work on Linux. In fact, I'd not be surprised if you have
a shim layer to make the compatibility layer for the *previous* system
work on Linux...

I'm reminded of a (possibly apocryphal) quote from an ATT spokesperson from
1988 or so, when a misplaced comma in a patch kept crashing the long-distance
phone network. When asked "Why don't you just reboot the affected switches?"
his response was "This assumes that the switch had ever been booted in the
first place". (Apparently, the *whole thing* had been on-the-fly replaced/patched
without an actual reload happening...)

Gaaahhh! :)

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