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    SubjectRe: kill -9 <pid of X>
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    On Wed, 12 Aug 1998, Jon M. Taylor wrote:
    > On 12 Aug 1998, Linus Torvalds wrote:
    > > So "that's not the kernel's job" is correct.
    >
    > I stand by my claim. If userspace cannot, by its nature, properly
    > guarantee the atomicity of those critical sections, video card programming
    > cannot be done properly in userspace. Thus, it *is* the kernel's job.

    Remember, we're talking about defending against signals from a hostile
    root who wants to crash the video card. In this scenario, not even the
    kernel can do it -- root can install a kernel module which overwrites
    the CLI instruction in the "atomic" code with a NOP. It's a little
    more work than "killall -9 XF86_SVGA".

    > Sorry> trusting the X server, you convinced me of that. I will NOT buy the X
    > server being unable to handle signal 9 correctly.

    Boy, it's no wonder Linus is grumpy these days.

    Kragen


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