Memory safety for the world’s largest software project

Post by pabs3 » Tue, Jun 28, 2022, 1:24 AM UTC

bornfreddy wrote: post #60

pabs3 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Software Freedom Conservancy win their lawsuit against Vizio, then anyone who has received a device containing the Linux kernel (or other copylefted code) will be able to sue for compliance, including source code and installation instructions. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/jul/23/tivoization-and-t... https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/mar/25/install-g…

But how long before the kernel itself is replaced and only the modules (under "permissive" licenses) are used? GPL brought us tons of good.

Google already replaced Linux and Android with the Zircon microkernel and the Fuschia OS on some devices. One company (even Google) doesn't scale like an entire community across many companies does though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zircon_(microkernel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuchsia_(operating_system)

Post by userbinator » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 4:01 AM UTC

Santosh83 wrote: post #46

userbinator wrote: post #21

One critical example of such infrastructure is the Linux kernel, used in most servers in the world as well as in billions of devices. ...billions of devices which the manufacturer does not want you to own, to be fair, and for which full ownership requires breaking through the security features that initiatives like this are trying to strengthen. You might think that's a political/social issue and this is merely a tec…

Ultimately this has to be addressed politically. Technical contortions cannot forever make up for what are essentially broken societies and malfunctioning political systems.

I agree; I'm just saying that if we don't let the political side catch up first, we may have our rights taken away with no means to fight back.

Re: Memory safety for the world’s largest software project

Re: Memory safety for the world’s largest software project