Flag day (computing)
A flag day, as used in
system administration, is a change which requires a complete restart or conversion of a sizable body of software or data. The change is large and expensive, and—in the event of failure—similarly difficult and expensive to reverse.[1]
The situation may arise if there are limitations on
en masse
upgrades.
This systems terminology originates from a major change in the Multics operating system's definition of ASCII, which was scheduled for the United States holiday, Flag Day, on June 14, 1966.[1][2]
Another historical flag day was January 1, 1983, when the
TCP/IP protocol suite. This major change required all ARPANET nodes and interfaces to be shut down and restarted across the entire network.[3]
See also
References
- ^ a b "flag day". Retrieved 2008-09-22.
- ISBN 978-0-262-68092-9.
- ^ Jon Postel, NCP/TCP Transition Plan, RFC 801
External links
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