[Coco] Re: OS Vulnerabilities (Was: Paypal )

[David Hazelton]

KnudsenMJ at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 2/28/04 1:15:56 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
> davehazelton at access-4-free.com writes:
> 
> 
>>Luckily Linux can be patched on the fly without a reboot and one doesn't 
>> have to wait to the second Tuesday of the Month to patch 500+ machines.
> 
> 
> There's a utility to patch Linux drivers and kernel while they're running?  
> Hadn't heard about that, not that I bother with patches.  What's it called?  
> Thanks, Mike K.
> 

I wasn't trying to say that drivers and Kernels can be patched on the 
fly, so much. but sort of comparing Linux to Windows where every patch 
is a reboot, no matter if it is a IE or an Outlook or a Media player 
patch.  Most, if not all, programs on Linux can be patched or upgraded 
without a reboot.  With Kernels, it's a reboot on Linux,  I'm not sure 
if your Linux drivers are modules, if a reboot is actually needed for 
drivers.  Actually I updated some sound drivers without rebooting, so if 
the drivers are module, a driver replacement is possible. If it is built 
into the Kernel than a reboot....But that is only my guess, I've never 
patched a kernel, just upgraded mine a few times.  I also have found no 
need to patch or upgrade kernel, I just do to keep semi-current.

I do know that when I put Mandrake 8.2 on my Athlon PC, it was extremely 
slow and they were kernel patches to allow the VIA chipset to handle 
ATA/100 correctly, the Kernel had a bug that it would run the drives at 
ATA/33 instead.  Since I was just testing the Desktop mode (as opposed 
to server mode). I just ripped it off there and never loaded another 
Linux on that PC again.

~David Hazelton