Timeline for Is Agent Smith a bug in the Matrix or a virus?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
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| Apr 7, 2018 at 19:58 | history | edited | FuzzyBoots | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Feb 2, 2017 at 16:26 | comment | added | Joshua | @reirab: Ah but kill -9 -1 will strike down fork bombs. (Caution: on older systems this would kill init, which you do not want.) | |
| Feb 2, 2017 at 12:58 | comment | added | Holger |
@reirab: no, while(true) { fork(); } implies self-cloning capability, but Smith was only capable of copying itself over other entities (humans and other programs). It’s like forcing all other existing processes to execute an exec("Smith")…
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| Feb 2, 2017 at 2:07 | comment | added | Integration | @DavidFoerster Smith is definitely pushing the Matrix (v3 I think) towards a buffer overrun. I suppose to the Deus Ex Machina Neo is garbage collection? | |
| Feb 2, 2017 at 1:54 | comment | added | David Foerster |
@Withywindle: To follow up on reirab's comment… what Smith really needed was for The Matrix to define a suitable ulimit for him to cut him off of further resources. Alas as a different commenter observed, Smith's behaviour was to some extent an intended though hidden “feature” included by the architect.
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| Feb 1, 2017 at 19:12 | comment | added | reirab |
@Withywindle Speaking from personal experience with the mid-2000s OS X kernel, kill -9 isn't necessarily effective against a fork bomb. Even killall struggles, as all of the forking processes may keep forking faster than killall can kill them. Also, the fork bomb may use up all of the available pids before the kill or killall command can be issued, preventing it from starting.
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| Feb 1, 2017 at 19:08 | comment | added | reirab |
So, Agent Smith was really while(true) { fork(); }?
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| Feb 1, 2017 at 17:54 | comment | added | Integration | I think that's a great real world description. Smith needs a kill -9. However, I'm still curious if he has canonically been described as a virus (or otherwise) or is that what everyone has just tacitly agreed him to be. Thanks! | |
| Feb 1, 2017 at 17:51 | history | answered | FuzzyBoots | CC BY-SA 3.0 |