From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <6e680bde0bcfb96fa20d42f2371e075f@hamnavoe.com> References: <20130104194803.02fa087b@zinc.9fans.fr> <6e680bde0bcfb96fa20d42f2371e075f@hamnavoe.com> Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 10:31:37 -0900 Message-ID: From: Jack Johnson To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=20cf307c9bd22c078c04d27b877e Subject: Re: [9fans] 9atom Topicbox-Message-UUID: fdff64d6-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --20cf307c9bd22c078c04d27b877e Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On Jan 4, 2013 10:07 AM, "Richard Miller" <9fans@hamnavoe.com> wrote: > > > It contains the full file system from the Plan 9 CD image, > > unmodified, except a single line change in the kernel binary. > > I can't contain my curiosity: what's the line? > > I once worked with a colleague who had a superstition that any > one-line change to production software was almost certain to > introduce a bug. (Actually what he said was "one-card change", > which indicates how long ago this was.) If he had to make > a modification simple enough to be done in one line, he would > always combine it with some other random harmless change like > renaming a variable. It's funny, if you were correcting someone else's bug unknowingly introduced by a one-line change your fix could justifiably be one line, but then you would think the odds of it reoccurring in the future would be non-zero, and you might as well add a comment for future fumblers. :) -Jack --20cf307c9bd22c078c04d27b877e Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable


On Jan 4, 2013 10:07 AM, "Richard Miller" <9fans@hamnavoe.com> wrote:
>
> > It contains the full file system from the Plan 9 CD image,
> > unmodified, except a single line change in the kernel binary.
>
> I can't contain my curiosity: what's the line?
>
> I once worked with a colleague who had a superstition that any
> one-line change to production software was almost certain to
> introduce a bug. =A0(Actually what he said was "one-card change&q= uot;,
> which indicates how long ago this was.) =A0 If he had to make
> a modification simple enough to be done in one line, he would
> always combine it with some other random harmless change like
> renaming a variable.

It's funny, if you were correcting someone else's bu= g unknowingly introduced by a one-line change your fix could justifiably be= one line, but then you would think the odds of it reoccurring in the futur= e would be non-zero, and you might as well add a comment for future fumbler= s. :)

-Jack

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