Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Andrew Johnson <[email protected]> · Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:52:29 -0500

Hi,

On 2012-09-10 manta santosh aditya santosh_aditya wrote:
>  I have a query for you or whom so ever it concerns. You know that there
>  are certain standards like Do-178B/C, IEC 60880 etc.The systems and code
>  must be adhered to standards. How can I guarantee that the system
>  developed using EPICS will be compliant to the coding and other respective
>  standards?. I feel much of the code is auto generated and thus we
>  developers of system has less coding intervention. Please can you explain
>  the compliance of the EPICS tool with standards. Thank You

The EPICS License that makes the software available to you includes the 
following conditions:

 6. WARRANTY DISCLAIMER. THE SOFTWARE IS SUPPLIED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY
    OF ANY KIND. THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS, THEIR THIRD PARTY LICENSORS, THE
    UNITED STATES, THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, AND THEIR
    EMPLOYEES: (1) DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
    BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
    FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, (2) DO NOT ASSUME
    ANY LEGAL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS,
    OR USEFULNESS OF THE SOFTWARE, (3) DO NOT REPRESENT THAT USE OF THE
    SOFTWARE WOULD NOT INFRINGE PRIVATELY OWNED RIGHTS, (4) DO NOT WARRANT
    THAT THE SOFTWARE WILL FUNCTION UNINTERRUPTED, THAT IT IS ERROR-FREE
    OR THAT ANY ERRORS WILL BE CORRECTED.

 7. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT WILL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS, THEIR
    THIRD PARTY LICENSORS, THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT
    OF ENERGY, OR THEIR EMPLOYEES: BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
    CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND OR NATURE,
    INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF PROFITS OR LOSS OF DATA, FOR ANY
    REASON WHATSOEVER, WHETHER SUCH LIABILITY IS ASSERTED ON THE BASIS OF
    CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR STRICT LIABILITY), OR
    OTHERWISE, EVEN IF ANY OF SAID PARTIES HAS BEEN WARNED OF THE
    POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS OR DAMAGES.

If you are required to meet specific standards you will have to work out how 
to do that yourself (there may be exceptions for code that you don't develop 
yourself for example).  The EPICS developers can not make any legal promises 
about the quality or behaviour of the code we publish, and we can't be held 
liable for any damage that might be caused by it not doing what you expect it 
to do.  If our code doesn't meet your standards then you may not be able to 
use it at all for example, or it may be that you will have to run specific 
tests on it before making use of a new version.

You may still be able to use EPICS to build control systems, but you have to 
take the responsibility to design and test the systems you develop to ensure 
that their behaviour meets your requirements, and that bugs in the software 
cannot cause catastrophic failures.  EPICS should never be relied on for 
safety-critical operations, although it is used at many sites to monitor such 
equipment and personnel protection systems and to transport information about 
status and faults from them.

Sorry, but this kind of response is normal for Open Source software projects.

- Andrew
-- 
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
-- Napoleon Bonaparte

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System