In short - Linux is nearly flawless in comparison to proprietary code.
Link to first storyAccording to San Francisco-based Coverity, its source-code auditing tool found the Linux 2.6 kernel had 985 bugs in its 5.7 million lines of code. The typical commercial software program averages bug densities from 10 to 20 flaws per 1000 lines of code, explained Coverity CEO Seth Hallem.
He maintained that there is a relationship between how buggy a program is and how secure it is from hacker Latest News about hacker attacks. "Almost any bug that can be triggered by a user from the outside -- and, honestly, almost every bug can -- is a security Get a Free E-Commerce Start-up Kit from Verisign vulnerability," Hallem told LinuxInsider.
So according to this the Linux kernal has 985 bugs and a proprietary program of the same size (say Windows for example) would have ~15x1000x(5.7 million/1000)= 85,500 bugs.
Link to second storyCommercial software typically has 20 to 30 bugs for every 1,000 lines of code, according to Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab Sustainable Computing Consortium. This would be equivalent to 114,000 to 171,000 bugs in 5.7 million lines of code.
The study identified 0.17 bugs per 1,000 lines of code in the Linux kernel. Of the 985 bugs identified, 627 were in critical parts of the kernel. Another 569 could cause a system crash, 100 were security holes, and 33 of the bugs could result in less-than-optimal system performance.
Seth Hallem, CEO of Coverity, a provider of source-code analysis, noted that the majority of the bugs documented in the study have already been fixed by members of the open-source development community.
So compared to proprietary code Linux has (.17/25x100=0.68%) 0.68% the number of defects. Sound
superb to me.
Link to third storyA new study has found that Linux is more secure than most commercial software -- results that echo what its proponents have long said.
A four-year study released today by Coverity, reports Linux has a low bug count, making the code more stable and secure. The 2.6 Linux production kernel, now being shipped with software from Novell and other Linux vendors, contains 985 bugs in 5.7 million lines of code, far below the industry average, said Seth Hallem, Coverity's CEO.
"Our findings show that Linux contains an extremely low defect rate and is evidence of the strong security of Linux," Hallem said. "Many security holes in software are the result of software bugs that can be eliminated with good programming processes."
More of the same all good for Linux vs Proprietary.
Link to fourth storyCoverity researchers began running audits of the Linux kernel four years ago, before the company even officially existed and while many of its founders still were graduate students at Stanford.
In that time, the number of bugs in the OS has dropped by nearly a factor of 10, officials said.
A factor of 10 drop in bugs in four years? Where will Linux be in another four? Can Microsoft say the same (with a straight face)?
Link to fifth storyLinux has revolutionized the computing world by providing a reliable server platform at a fraction of the traditional IT costs. As a service to the Linux community, and as a quality assurance test for our tools, we periodically analyze the latest Linux kernels and make the results available to our visitors through this website.
Reliable, stable and cheap.
Topic: Linux vs Proprietary on the bug front. (Read 1770 times)