Linux code is gloriously defect-free Same can't be said of its OS rivals...

Silicon.com ^ | Thu 20 February 2003 11:14AM GMT | Silicon.com

[Forgiven_Sinner]

A consulting group that scrutinises the source code underlying several operating systems has found that a key networking component of Linux is of higher quality in many regards than competing closed-source software.

Reasoning, which sells automated software inspection services, examined part of the code of Linux and five operating systems, comparing the number and rate of programming defects. Specifically, Reasoning examined the implementation of TCP/IP, a key networking technology, and found fewer errors in Linux.

Reasoning declined to disclose which operating systems it compared with Linux, but said two of the three general-purpose operating systems were versions of Unix. The comparison was done with version 2.4.19 of the Linux kernel. For the comparison products, the company had access to the source code that for proprietary software normally is a closely guarded secret.

The company said in its report: "The open-source implementation of TCP/IP in the Linux kernel clearly exhibits a higher code quality than commercial implementations in general-purpose operating systems."

Reasoning also compared the code with that used in two special-purpose networking products and found it superior to one of them.

Source code is the collection of instructions written by people and later translated into "binaries" that computers can understand. Companies such as Oracle and Microsoft typically sell binaries incomprehensible to humans rather than the comparatively understandable source code.

The Linux defect rate was 0.1 defects per 1,000 lines of code, Reasoning found. The rate for the general-purpose operating systems - two of them versions of Unix - was between 0.6 and 0.7 per 1,000 lines of code. The rates for the two embedded operating systems were 0.1 and 0.3 per 1,000 lines of code.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

I've always thought open source was a good idea. Perhaps this will lead to greater use of Linux by businesses.

[go star go]

me? i believe this. sun and microsoft both gave these people access to their proprietary source code. yep. i believe that.

[First_Salute]

We use a simple Linux setup as the office WINS server; easily the preferred machine.

[RS]

"me? i believe this. sun and microsoft both gave these people access to their proprietary source code. yep. i believe that."

It has to be true - The French hired Hans Blix and Scott Ridder to work on the project !

[Fresh Wind]

Reasoning, which sells automated software inspection services...

Of course, there's no money in developing, debugging, or maintaining code that is free to the user. So, naturally, "Reasoning" is going to "find" problems with closed source OS's, so they can sell their services to whoever owns those OS's.

[American in Israel]

I imagine that Windoze was not tested because the machine kept crashing. You got to get it runing to test it.

[DallasMike]

I love my Linux box and I love my Windows box, but pretty much every week I get at least one notice from Redhat that I need to download a patch to fix a security flaw. The idea that Linux is "gloriously defect-free" is a bunch of baloney.

[Republicanus_Tyrannus]

See, I just don't understand your statement. I've heard it many a time from people who use linux. But it makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

I have never had Windows 2k, NT, 98, or ME crash on me in the last 5 years. Never.

Except for when the power when out.

I've installed Red Hat on an extra machine of mine out of curiosity. You know what? It took me 3 days. Nine installs. Crashed like heck.

So, what am I missing? Why is my experience so different from linux users? (by the way, my work, my hobby, and my entertainment are all on my computers - I test game software for fun, and even with putting BETA code on my HOME machine, I've not had it go down.)

I use my machines each and every day. I install, use, uninstall, test, upgrade, and work with dozens of applications including languages, business applications, communications packages, terminal emulations--- still I am not subject to crashes.

I'm not an idiot either - I've got a minor in CSE and my major was in Accounting. I help develop, test, maintain, and deploy fund accounting systems.

So--- why are linux users so adamant that Windows crashes alot? I would really like to know.

[Starwind]

I'd be curious to understand how Reasoning's automated inspections work.

They presumably examined 'source code', which in Linux and Unix is going to be mostly C and C++, which means it needs to be compiled and so assumptions are made about the complier, the object code produced, and the instruction set on which the object code runs.

Further assumptions need to be made about the run-time OS services which support the TCP/IP component, i.e., is the 'defect' in TCP/IP or a co-requisite system service?

Lastly, I wonder how the inspection identifies a defect by looking at source code without executing it under a test case or data on which the source code operates.

[ShadowAce]

..And how many defects are being patched onn your Windows machine? Once a quarter? Whenever MS decides to release a Service Pack?

RH, at least, is keeping up with the vulnerabilities and keeping you protected, where MS is letting you flap in the breeze until they are forced to release something.

[colderwater]

You have more luck with MS products than I do. Windows ME suffers to give me an irrecoverable crash about 1-2 times per week. Never mind, the recoverable quirks (e.g. failure to shut down) that can be cured by pulling the plug or a soft reboot. It's enough to drive one to Linux. If there were a version easy to install/uninstall, I would do it. The one Linux out there I have in mind for a candidate is Xandros. Research continues...

-CW.

[yevgenie]

LOL, DallasMike, I know what you mean. I may be missing a few . . . I delete a lot of messages . . .

Feb 11 RHN Errata Alert: Updated openldap packages available
Feb 12 RHN Errata Alert: Updated apache, httpd, and mod_ssl packages available
Feb 14 RHN Errata Alert: Updated openldap packages available
Feb 15 RHN Errata Alert: Updated apache, httpd, and mod_ssl packages available
Feb 17 RHN Errata Alert: Updated lynx packages fix CRLF injection vulnerability
Feb 19 RHN Errata Alert: Updated WindowMaker packages fix vulnerability in theme-loading
Feb 19 RHN Errata Alert: Updated Xpdf packages fix security vulnerability
Feb 20 RHN Errata Alert: Updated libpng packages fix buffer overflow
Feb 21 RHN Errata Alert: Updated shadow-utils packages fix exposure
Feb 21 RHN Errata Alert: Updated 2.4 kernel fixes various vulnerabilities

[PatrioticAmerican]

If they compared closed-sourced, where did they get the source code? Did Microsoft give them their source? If not, how do they know how many lines or bug were involved?
They compared two, 2, items, and that is their rational for a scientific conclusion that one OS is superior to another? Two items? They need to go back and learn science.

[PatrioticAmerican]

"MS is letting you flap in the breeze until they are forced to release something."

That ignorant statement show the little that you know of Microsoft, and it shows your bigotry against them.

When they release patches, you bitch that the code is buggy and needs the patches, and if they don't release patches, you bitch that they are not responsive enough.

When Linux releases patches, you claim what a responding enterprise Linux is, and when Linux doesn't, you shout what stability they must have. Jeez, you sound like you received your education from the old Soviet Union propagandists.

[yevgenie]

One more bothersome thing, "The Linux defect rate was 0.1 defects per 1,000 lines of code, Reasoning found."
And how many thousands of lines of code are we talking about!!! You think 0.1 per 1000 is good??? Crazy nuts. LOL. I love how they don't discuss specifics. I can think of a whole bunch of "defects" that really don't amount to much unless you are root anyway. By that time, it really doesn't matter.

got root?
I do.

[George from New England]

I have never had Windows 2k, NT, 98, or ME crash on me in the last 5 years. Never.

What planet are you writing from?

Sorry to be sarcastic, but do you ever use the Start button to do anything but Shut Down for the night?

Oh I forgot that most Windows WON'T Shut Down either.

To be serious...

Win2k seems to be the most stable, but every 98 or 95 system I have will no run more than a week without a reboot.

[conservagrrrl]

Win2k seems to be the most stable, but every 98 or 95 system I have will no run more than a week without a reboot.

In regards to Windows 98, I will have to disagree.

I used to have Windows 95 installed on my computer -- had it there for a VERY long time (like, up until the beginning of last year). For the last year and a half I had it, I would encounter the dreaded BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) about once a day or once every other day if I was lucky. Once I installed Windows 98, I stopped seeing that. I've needed to reboot about five times -- but three of those times were when I left the computer on without knowing that someone was going to come over to the house and disconnect power from my room for about an hour. Win98 got very ticked off at that, as did I. But the last time I had to reboot Win98 was last September, and I keep my computer on 24/7 most of the time.

I LOVE Windows 98. It's so much more stable than Windows 95 and so much nicer to use than Windows 3.1. I've gotten absolutely spoiled on this OS. I don't want to move on past Windows 2k because I heard that newer versions of Windows don't want to work with files created under earlier versions of Windows and I have a LOT of files dating back to as early as pre-Windows 3.1 on my system right now and I will NOT use an OS that won't cooperate with them.

Hmmmm. Would that make me a techno-friendly Neo-Luddite?

[Forgiven_Sinner]

Regarding my MS experience, I first got a PC in 1984 at work--a genuine IBM XT with a 10 MB hard drive and a 5 1/4" floppy. I think it cost $4,000. So I first learned DOS.

I got my own PC in 1987, a nice Zenith 286. I got it at discount through my company, Control Data for half price. With an Epson printer, it cost $2,600. Still Dos, but I also had Windows 1.0. I thought it was more trouble than it was worth, so I stuck to DOS.

DOS has never crashed on me, but some applications locked up the computer and I had to reboot. I also had a disk crash at work.

I got Windows 3.0 with my next computer, an Epson 386. That also never crashed on its own.

At work, I stayed on Windows 3, until we went to Windows 98. That was the buggiest version I ever saw. I got a blue screen of death every week. I also got Win98 on my next home computer, a 486/Athlon clone. I eventually replaced it with Windows NT 4/SP6.

Windows NT 4 rarely crashed. I'm now at Win 2000 at work and Win ME and XP at home. The home editions "lock up" frequently. I have 192 MB on my ME 700 mHz laptop and 256 MB on my XP desktop. Win 2000 seems to rarely lock up, but that has 1 GB RAM. I suspect my home computers are running out of memory.

That's been my experience.

[Mr. K]

"...a key networking component of Linux is of higher quality in many regards ..."

This does not even closely match the title of this article.

This is why Linux fanatics seem like liberals to me- they are willing to lie and distort their message to convince others.

And I am a full-time Linux AND Microsoft SOFTWARE ENGINEER who knows the benefits and deficeincies of both, and I believe Linux is superior in many ways (NOT ALL- after 30 years (including UNIX)it is still a geek tool with no simple user interface.)

Now the Linux people will flame me- acting MORE like liberals

[PatrioticAmerican]

Again, what is a defect by the study? Of course, you do not know that answer but are willing to accept such a general statement. So, how's that liberal arts degree coming?