25-year-old software bug discovered
14/05/2008 11:57:53
A Swiss software developer has discovered a bug in BSD open source software – 25 years after it was first created.
With open source software commonly regarded as being quickest to patch due to the large number of development contributors, discovery of the flaw after such a long period un-noticed has turned heads in the industry.
Reporting his finding in his blog, BSD developer Marc Balmer said the discovery had come as much of a surprise.
“I not only found this problem in all other BSDs or BSD-derived systems like Mac OS X, but also in very old BSD versions," he announced.
Balmer added that the long delay in discovering the problem was due its infrequent occurrence, and also the way other programs successfully worked around it.
Software bugs vary in severity, although there is no indication that the finding posed any great data security or personal threat to consumers.
Wired.com reports how in 1962 a glitch in flight software onboard the Mariner I space probe caused a diversion from the intended course, leading to a Mission Control abortion over the Atlantic Ocean.
More recently, in November 2000 eight patients died at the National Cancer Institute, Panama City, when a software problem caused them to be administered overdoses.
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