166
Are there any things in Linux that need to be started over from scratch? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
267 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm curious how software can be created and evolve over time. I'm afraid that at some point, we'll realize there are issues with the software we're using that can only be remedied by massive changes or a complete rewrite.

Are there any instances of this happening? Where something is designed with a flaw that doesn't get realized until much later, necessitating scrapping the whole thing and starting from scratch?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

You were the one who brought up assembly.

And stop acting like you don't know what I am talking about. Syscalls implement operations that are called by someone who has certain permissions and operate on various kinds of objects. Nobody who wants to debug why that call returned "Permission denied" or "File does not exist" without any detail cares that there is hardware several layers of abstraction deeper down that doesn't know anything about those concepts. Nothing in the hardware forces people to make APIs with bad error reporting.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    And why "Permission denied" is bad reporting?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Because if a program dies and just prints strerror(errno) it just gives me "Permission denied" without any detail on which operation had permissions denied to do what. So basically I have not enough information to fix the issue or in many cases even to reproduce it.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago*

    It may just not print anything at all. This is logging issue, not "C based assumption". I wouldn't be surprised if you will call "403 Forbidden" a "C based assumtion" too.

    But since we are talking about local program, competent sysadmin can strace program. It will print arguments and error codes.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent