Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Tue, 28 Dec 1999 09:47:28 -0500 (EST)
From:      Vivek Khera <khera@kciLink.com>
To:        Mike Smith <msmith@freebsd.org>
Cc:        stable@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: panic 
Message-ID:  <14440.52608.752256.799982@onceler.kcilink.com>
In-Reply-To: <199912280626.WAA01224@mass.cdrom.com>
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.02A.9912272133280.10922-100000@shell.uniserve.ca> <199912280626.WAA01224@mass.cdrom.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
>>>>> "MS" == Mike Smith <msmith@freebsd.org> writes:

>> FreeBSD has a tendency to panic in out of mbuf situations.  That
>> shouldn't happen.

MS> The semantics of "should" and "shouldn't" are debatable.  In this case, 
MS> the panic is a simple indicator that the administrator hasn't correctly 
MS> tuned the system.  Many would argue that this is a much better outcome 
MS> than a system that performs poorly for no immediately perceptible reason, 
MS> and it certainly encourages the prompt application of a correct 
MS> adjustment.

I come from the school of thought that nothing should make the system
crash. It should try its hardest to handle the workload thrown at it.
Under no circumstances is a panic acceptable.  The system should at
worst drop some connections and issue a warning, or plod through and
issue a warning.  Kernel panic is *never* the right thing to do, and
should be considered an error in the kernel.

It is this kind of cavalier attitude towards system problems that
makes people scared of using open source systems.

-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Vivek Khera, Ph.D.                Khera Communications, Inc.
Internet: khera@kciLink.com       Rockville, MD       +1-301-545-6996
PGP & MIME spoken here            http://www.kciLink.com/home/khera/


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?14440.52608.752256.799982>