On 14 April 2012 20:06, Joe Zeff <joe@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I'd think that there'd have to be a special command, requiring root, to do it for exactly that reason. There's no way you can safely automate that decision, and it's probably best if the average user doesn't have direct access to it; if nothing else, having to use either su or sudo along with a password (and possibly a confirmation dialog) would remind people that this isn't something you do lightly. How it gets done, alas, is beyond me because I don't know enough about such things.
I'm not an expert at this low a level of the kernel either, but I think that it would, in theory, be possible for the kernel to forcibly unload a program, then try to cleanly close any open file handles and similar "tidy up" operations.
That still leaves the problem of dealing the actual device which caused the lockup in the first place, which is now in an unknown state. Depending on what it is you might want to "offline" it until the next reboot, "reset" it (rmmod, insmod), or even perform an immediate shutdown of the system. In many cases the kernel just isn't going to know the correct course of action, especially if the device is remote or a more unusual peripheral.
Could get messy, and who is the user going to blame for *their* incorrect call? I'd assume that the current status quo is the safest bet with regards to potential data loss.
--
Andy
The only person to have all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe
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