On Wed, Oct 09, 2002 at 01:08:46PM -0400, Nelson, Trent . wrote: > > > The report 'identifies' that it would be possible to certify Linux to > > SIL 1 > > > and SIL 2 quite easily, and SIL 3 with a little work.
I've seen this game before with other certification efforts, ie. U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's DO-178B for certification of software used in airborne systems and equipment. Certification is usually an expensive undertaking, so it usually requires a company with enough $$$ to jump through all the hoops of the certification process (ie. submitting to special tests, fixing the bugs, etc.). No one would go through this stuff unless there was an anticipated reward, ie. $$$. WindRiver has done this kind of stuff for VxWorks. Now, if the UK govt. is looking to certify Linux, what version and what vendor would they certify? Linux has a lot of buzz these days, and there are a number of vendors who are trying to pitch it in real-time and embedded systems markets, and many companies who are providing Linux-based services. I'm sure that any FreeBSD could be certified, but the questions would be: - which companies have the resources to submit to such an SIL certification and jump through all the hoops? - is there enough of a financial incentive to do so? - has the UK govt heard of BSD, and would they even care if someone wanted to certify it? Unfortunately marketing and mindshare plays a lot in these kinds of things. -- Craig Rodrigues http://www.gis.net/~craigr [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe: send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
