##manager.scheduler.building##: Bergen Kunstmuseum/Stenersen
##manager.scheduler.room##: Auditoriet
Date: 19-11-2009 15:30 – 16:15
Last modified: 2009-11-14
Abstract
re:buntu is an illustration of a system making decisions by itself, committing to self-maintenance and self-destruction. The system is continuously reloading a copy of itself within itself until the memory runs out. When no free memory is left the system needs to decide which one of the copies of itself it shall kill in order to reproduce itself again, again and again...
re:buntu is an OS intervention.
The kernel picks out a program process with the lowest "pid" and highest "oom_score" run by "non-root" user and terminates it to free up some memory to run new, more demanding program.
It did not take long and suddenly Linux (yes, the kernel) is everywhere around us. On our daily routes when we listen to the GPS navigation system, in our telephone conversations, in our precious on-line half-lifes. It controls motors of big machines and renders augmented realities. Many of us use Linux kernel at home - the degree of some ultimate intimacy.
But are we actually in charge of the situation, in control of the way Linux kernel manipulates our data and deals with the programs we run? It would seems logical that the User must have the ultimate control over the system she interacts with, - remember the movie Tron?
- "He's not any kind of program, Sark. He's a User!" Yes, the User is the intelligence and thus shall be placed above any software, even above the Linux kernel.However, the situation is not in our favor. For some numerous reasons the developers of Linux kernel decided to have something called "OOM-Killer" lurking around computer memory and deciding on its own when to crash User programs - all in order to keep System routines running. Simply put, when you open something huge on your computer and that something huge suddenly crashes - it is very likely that Linux kernel decided that you shouldn't open such huge files. Okay, not a big deal, can reboot and try again, but what about all those unmanned machines and devices working under the control of the very similar Linux kernel? It seems like we are getting closer and closer to the moment of happy singularity when our tools will not ask us anymore questions and will shut-off any root access...