Bonum Certa Men Certa

Reboots Should Never be Necessary

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jul 14, 2025,
updated Jul 15, 2025

happy birthday, netbsd!

Good, solid, reliable systems should be designed to maximise uptime (without compromising aspects such as security). That means they ought to minimise a repeated "need" (or supposed requirement) to bootstrap over and over again. That isn't technically infeasible.

At the moment we have three machines here with an uptime of around 500 days and more. They're not reachable from the outside world, except if someone does something to them through the browser (which they themselves access), malicious attachment in E-mail, and so on. My main laptop will exceed 2 years' uptime a few months from now:

$ uptime
 20:55:14 up 644 days,  2:40, 38 users,  load average: 0.79, 0.69, 0.56

To me, each reboot represents some kind of failure. I still patch the software by the way.

Earlier today I rebooted one other machine, which is neither primary nor secondary. It was already chronically low on RAM, I assume due to accumulation of memory leaks. They add up. What really should have taken about 5 minutes (at most) took almost half an hour because the HDMI "cable" (they're computers shaped like cables) decided to throw tantrums. It's not the first time a reboot over here caused monitor-related perils. HDMI is, after all, just a DRM carrier. Then, restoring the session (about a dozen windows) took quite some time. Connecting to other machines and running things on them demands a lot of manual work. So it's hard to imagine having to do this every week. It would severely harm productivity.

The idea that reboots are "normal" was 'popularised' (people meant to assume this was acceptable) by Windows. Prior to the 90s, as homes did not have Internet access, it was common to power off the PC while it wasn't in use. So reboots weren't yet "a thing".

Years ago I complained that IBM's design was rather bad; when installing Flatpak support the user would be expected to then reboot the PC. Why? Whose idea was this? There must be another way.

Society already wastes a lot of money and time on worthless "apps" and other supposedly 'modern' nonsense. Need we also expect everyone to reboot machines and try to restore sessions, lessening not only productivity but also reliability?

"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"

Yes, security. That's what they always tell us. The vast majority of computers aren't servers and don't sit there on the Net with a publicly- or world-facing IP address. They're not multi-user, either. This means that patching one's browser is mostly enough for most computers (also, browsers are pressured to do much more than render pages; that's wrong and leads to hidden dangers).

I regularly update my Net-facing machines, but there are only two such machines. For machines used to do work it would be risky to constantly make changes at every level.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Torvalds Capitulated on Rust and Slop, Now He's Paying the Price
they are pushing Microsoft and slop for grifters and scammers
 
SLAPP Censorship - Part 82 Out of 200: British Government Intervenes in the SLAPPs by Brett Wilson LLP
At this stage our matters are dealt with by a layer below that of the Prime Minister (adjacent to it)
LinkedIn Communications Reveal That LinkedIn - Like GitHub - Will Vanish Inside the Belly of Microsoft
This is definitely going to happen.
In Wall Street, Financial Difficulties Drive Shares Up
Wall Street doesn't work that way
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVIII - European Patent Office (EPO) Guidebook Says Report Crimes Committed on EPO Premises. Some Did, But President Campinos Covers up for the Culprits.
The staff has long been on strike and the union (SUEPO) organised an enhanced day of action just two days ago
Gemini Links 20/05/2026: Fall of an Empire, "High Tech is a Social Exercise", and Big Cameras
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 19, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, May 19, 2026
LinkedIn Layoffs at Microsoft: Probably Well More Than 5% of Staff
In short, it's difficult to believe only 5% are impacted
It's Not Just a Widespread Theory, It's Apparently a Verified Fact: Home Appliances Not Made to Last Long
Washing machine repair man asserts that the machines sold a decade ago could maybe last a decade; now they last barely 5 years.
Whistleblowers Needed: We Are Seeing Many Layoffs in Red Hat (Not Just in China), We Want to Know More
Last week we learned about some people who said they had left Red Hat or are leaving Red Hat
Links 19/05/2026: More Obituaries for Peter G. Neumann, Taiwan Abandoned by Cheeto House for Don's Personal Gain
Links for the day
Links 19/05/2026: Online 'Storage' (Surveillance) Accounts Lower Thresholds (Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos), Slop Debacles Expand (False Promises Made to Staff Regarding Compensation)
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 81 Out of 200: SLAPP Censorship Does Not Work If Your Sole Strategy is Revenge (and You Attack the Family)
Both yours and others'
Techrights at 20 (Soon)
It does not seek popularity or affirmation from "Establishment" outlets
We Pay More for Less, for Things That Last Less Time and Are Almost Impossible to Repair
Ever noticed how "modern" or "smart" TVs come with dumber and dumber (worse) controllers?
Vista 11 Turns 5 in a Couple of Months. Not Many People Use It.
It is the only supported version of Windows; many people move elsewhere
Head of GitHub Recently Left, Microsoft Need No Longer Report Mass Layoffs There (User Activity is Declining)
We've long said that LinkedIn and GitHub, which Microsoft bought, would likely end up like Skype
The Slop Bubble is Already Bursting
Slop is not desirable and the general public is growingly impatient, seeing that slop has improved nothing for them
Gemini Links 19/05/2026: Reliable Old Tech, Collection of Essays
Links for the day
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVII - European Patent Office (EPO) Became a "Toxic Work Environment" When Cocaine Addicts Put in Charge
They are putting at risk colleagues by abusing them
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 18, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, May 18, 2026
Links 18/05/2026: Slop-induced Shortages, Solicitors Regulation Authority Says It's Unable to Deal With Complaints Load (So Regulation Does Not Really Exist)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Ghost Essay and World Wide Web Considered Broken
Links for the day
Cooperation and Collaboration, on a More Personal Level
Rianne, to me, isn't just a wife; she is also my best friend
IBM Has Payroll Problems (Just Like Microsoft)
It's a good thing that many nations around the world are, accordingly if not proactively, divesting from GAFAM
Links 18/05/2026: 25 Years of OLDaily and Dangers of "Living With Too Much Tech"
Links for the day
Trips to London
London isn't a bad place, but it's a long journey and we'd rather stay in Manchester and write about technology
SLAPP Censorship - Part 80 Out of 200: Having Run Out of Time to Meet a Judge's Deadline, Microsoft's Graveley Had Garrett's Lawyers Argued My ~190-Page Defence and CounterClaim (DCC) Was Unclear About My Position
Nothing could be further from the truth
Working in the Shell (and Fish)
Yesterday we spent about 5 hours on the shells and fish
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVI - Campinos Has Put Unfit-for-Employment Drug Addicts in Charge of the European Patent Office (EPO)
How many months has Campinos got left before the delegates show him the door?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 17, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, May 17, 2026
Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Poetry, Sauna, and GNU Taler
Links for the day