Tux Enlisted for U.S. Defense Program 312
An anonymous reader writes "Linux is a key part of the Army's massive $200B FCS (Future Computing System) initiative, it seems. RTOS vendor LynuxWorks was chosen to provide the OS for 18 weapons platforms under development, because its LynxOS-178 real-time OS can run Linux binaries -- including the "common operating environment" that Boeing is developing for FCS."
Lots of open source in FCS... (Score:5, Informative)
Also, there's a bunch of COUGAAR support software written in Ruby, i.e., ACME [cougaar.org].
It's Future COMBAT system... (Score:5, Informative)
Does LynxOS really contain Linux code? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:is linux guilty of murder now? (Score:2, Informative)
The Tuxinator; he'll never stop EVER, until you are dead!
Re:Don't expect compliance with the GPL (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It's Future COMBAT system... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Don't expect compliance with the GPL (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Now I have a mental image (Score:2, Informative)
bonzai! [phlak.org]
Re:Hardly suprising... (Score:0, Informative)
LynxOS (Score:5, Informative)
Too bad... (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35
Re:Exploits (Score:3, Informative)
No (Score:5, Informative)
Crappy application not fully tested (and they knew that and accepted the risks) didn't know how to handle an improper user input. A zero went into the database. The app couldn't handle the DIV0, and crashed.
The Navy report concluded it was the application and human error [gcn.com], and not NT.
Mod parent up. LynxOS is not Linux (Score:5, Informative)
LynxOS is not Linux. It's a completely different, and much smaller, kernel. It's not as minimal as QNX [qnx.com]; LynxOS has drivers in the kernel. But it's far smaller than Linux. It's small enough to get through the expensive and difficult examination process required for avionics.
Confusingly, the company that sells LynxOS recently changed their name to LynuxWorks [lynuxworks.com], and also distributes BlueCat Linux [lynuxworks.com], an embedded Linux distro based on the 2.6 Linux kernel. LynuxWorks had a huge booth at the Embedded Systems Conference last month.
LynxOS, BlueCat Linux, and QNX all use the GNU compilers and tools. All are POSIX compatible, and will run most commmand line programs with a recompile.
Re:Yay, no BSOD (Score:2, Informative)
I suppose these [microsoft.com] are why you chose "pretty much," huh?
Linux has NOT been picked officially (Score:5, Informative)
Lynxworks can say whatever they want, but the Army isn't picking an OS until 2006. See this link: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2005/0214/web-fcs
Here is one quote that may be interesting:
"Cartwright and Muilenberg downplayed rumors that they decided not to use Microsoft's Windows operating system in FCS because of security issues. The officials said they have made no such decision to date."
Further reading (Score:5, Informative)
In a letter to the "Comment and Discussion" department, published in the Aug 98 _Naval_Institute_Proceedings_, page 22, Captain Richard T. Rushton, then-CO of _Yorktown_, categorically states, "The _Yorktown_ was never towed as a result of any Smart Ship initiative. During my command, we lost propulsion power twice while using the new technology. Each time, we knew what caused the interrupt and were underway again in about 30 minutes. The September 1997 incident was caused by incorrect data insertion by a well-trained crewman. The _Yorktown_ returned to port using two FFG-7 emergency control units that specifically had been requested by me, and supported by other commands as a risk reducer. We knew there were some risks in the engineering development model propulsion-control system installed under a rapid prototyping development effort. The bottom line: The data field safeguards found in production-level systems were not installed yet in the _Yorktown_ by intention, until complete wring-out was accomplished."
Further: ... She went on to execute a five-month Caribbean deployment that included extensive Smart Ship assessments by the Operational Test and Evaluation Force and Navy Manpower Analysis Center. Both organizations evaluated the _Yorktown_ as fully capable in meeting the required operational capabilities in a projected operating environment. ..."
"The _Yorktown_ never missed an operational commitment, nor did she suffer a mission-degrading casualty during the Smart Ship assessment period. During that time she certified to deploy under the normal fleet training and assessment process.
Re:Don't expect compliance with the GPL (Score:4, Informative)
This is legally fine, because if you can hire an 'employee' and have him write some code for you, you retain all rights to that code. It would be silly if you lost it because you hire an employee to write code for you.
Nothing unusual.
Under GPL public does not get source, only cust. (Score:3, Informative)
No. The GPL only requires you to give source to your customers if they ask for it. Making it avaiable to anyone via the web is not required, it is just a convenient way to implement the preceeding for some. Subcontractor give source to Boeing and Boeing gives source to Pentagon, public never sees it, and no GPL violation has occurred.
Re:What, don't you realize (Score:2, Informative)
The most widely-used is the NIPRNet, which is the network that most business operations on the base use. All machines connected to it must conform to a standard Windows image, and the network is monitored and internet access moderately restricted (i.e. gaming sites, porn sites, "mp3 sites", direct ip connections, etc. are blocked). Software on these machines must undergo a lengthy approval process before being loaded by a qualified WGM (basically, your workgroup's local tech person with admin access to the machines). Most resident contractors are put on this network, with a few exceptions.
Next, we have the SIPRNet. This is the secure network, and is rigidly monitored and the machines accessing it are restricted to only the things deemed essential for the classified project. SIPRNet machines must be isolated both physically and electronically from any other computers on the base and from the intranet/internet.
Finally, we have the DREN. This is the "research" network, and is where people like me get things done. Internet access is unrestricted, and software is loosly, if at all, controlled (basically, if you're not causing alarms to go off in the network guy's building, you're ok...just don't go using it for Bittorrent or the like). Individuals have full control of their computers, and can install and run their own programs (including, as in my case, Linux). A firewall still blocks most ports to the outside world, but 80 and 21 are open (I am forced to ssh to my home box through port 80, however, and CVS isn't an option in most cases). The research supercomputers are on this network, and a kerberos authentication scheme is used for access. Frankly, this is the only machine I can get anything resembling real work done on, but we're all forced to have a separate NIPRNet box for e-mail, active directory stuff, and the like. If their work demands it, contractors may, in certain cases, have access to this network. It is not reachable at all from the outside except through kerberized ssh and ftp.
Hope this settles a few things. I know there's distinctions on different levels that I'm not aware of and/or not allowed to know, but that's how things generally look from a DoD-employed researcher's perspective.